Stuttering/struggling career start

[nursesl2012]

I sure could use some help, advice, reinforcement, ideas. I became a nurse on the speed track, after deciding to change careers in my early thirties. I got my CNA license the week I started LPN school, spent a year getting my LPN and a year getting my RN. I've officially been an RN for about 18 months, but spent 5 of those months on bedrest then maternity leave.

I am getting frustrated with myself for the things I don't know. Well, it's not so much the things I don't know, as the things I can't do well. I'm in an IV drought and have only had one successful IV at first attempt in two months. (It doesn't help that I haven't had many opportunities to start them, so probably one success in ten attempts?)

I'm also so frustrated in my lack of instinctive CNA skills. They told us we didn't need to be a CNA prior to starting LPN school, but in hindsight, it really makes a tremendous difference. I'm still learning the best ways to care for a patient at the CNA level, the turning and cleaning and lifting and such. The meds? Got it. Assessments? Got it. Diagnoses? got it. Care plans? no problem. Basic patient cares...eh?

But how can I get those skills at this point? It's not like I can get hired as a CNA now! I help my aids with as much as I can, learning from the good ones as much as I can. I volunteer for any IV start that needs to be done. But the frustration and feelings of failure just keep building.

Help!

[SubSippi]

Quit being so hard on yourself! Being bad at starting IVs and being kind of clumsy giving a bed bath doesn't mean you're a bad nurse.

[RNperdiem, RN]

There comes a time in any new venture where the newness wears off and the morale sinks.

If you have ever learned to play a musical instrument, do you remember how long it took before you could actually play something?

If you ever studied a foreign language, there was a long period before you could start to understand what was being said, much less actually communicate?

You could make a comparision with parenting in a way, but kids are always changing and parents are starting anew as as kids grow.

Nursing is the same way. The more you do, the better you get. Eventually you do get it.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

Just keep practicing. None of these skills came easily for those you see performing them easily. They all had to work at it too. Nobody gets to skip that part. It sounds to me like you are doing just fine.

[Emergent, RN]

CNAs are your best resource for CNA skills. Working closely with them will teach you. As far as starting IVs, that just takes practice. I wouldn't get hung up on that