Support Stickie for New nurses who are not coping

Nurses New Nurse

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I have read through lot of threads recently regarding new nurses who feel they are struggling and not coping with being an new RN. So I thought it would be good to start a support thread where all new nurses could post about their feelings and experiences. You are not alone, all new nurses feel this way and if they dont I would be extreemly concerned.

Specializes in ER/Trauma.

I am glad I found this thread as well. I am a seasoned LPN who graduated a bridge program in June. Took boards in Sept. I have been working on a specialty med surg floor since July, and it is quite an eye opener! I have had to go through the whole new nurse thing all over again and let me tell you, this time seems worse. I feel there is an expectation that I should be better than I am because of my previous experience, but this environment is like nothing I have ever worked in before. I am learning, and it is getting better. I don't dread my work days now like I did. Before I seriously made myself physically ill the night before my shifts.

I will be checking this thread frequently....heads up peeps...we can do this!

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Specializes in Adolescent Psych, PICU.

This is a GREAT thread! I totally belong here.

I'm a May 08 new grad and went straight into the ICU at a teaching hospital level 1 trauma center. I even worked in this unit as a tech for a year and I'm still way overwhelmed and want to quit a lot of days.

I'm doing ok and learning everyday but most of the time I feel that I'm in over my head. Somehow I am still able to give good care and have made no big mistakes (knock on wood; I also dbl check everything and ask lots of questions) and my patients like me as far as I know....so maybe I am being too hard on myself?

What I hate is I can't sleep before my shift and am sick to my stomach and get diahrea--so I go into work already worn out from being up alllllll night. I can't even really relax and enjoy my days off! I've gone on Buspar for my anxiety which I'm not sure if its helping or not. I usually have a drink or two to relax and that has helped me get to sleep.

I'm almost at my 6 month mark (december) and I keep telling myself to stick it out for a year (which would be June) and then reevaluate but there are times when I leave work crying that I can't imagine being able to make it to the year mark. I'm just taking it day by day, week by week.

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this thread is wonderful! i am feeling the exact same way. i work on a med-surg floor. i am 3 months in and just survived my first week alone. the nurses on my unit are very nice but sometimes i think they make fun of me behind my back because i'm so slow! sometimes i think they forget that i am a NEW nurse. grrr. also, i am the only new grad on the floor so there isn't anyone else to understand what i'm going through. i have a really good friend who graduated with me to turn to but she isn't always available to talk to since i work nights and she is on days. i can't wait until the day i'm more "comfortable."

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

I totally understand how hard it is for you, I do think other more seasoned staff often forget that they once felt that way. You can all make a difference in the future if you hold on to what you are feeling like now as a memory abit a bad one and make sure you support and have patience with new nurses in the future. I am 19 years in the proffession and I have never forgot, I am very comfortable in my practice I still love nursing, the best part of my practice involves students and new nurses. They always say when they work with me you are so patient-I am not really especially when I am really busy but I stand and l allow them to have as much time as they need without pressure then I make up the time elsewhere.

All you all need is practice and each day think of something which you are now becoming comfortable in.

Maybe when you notice somebody being inpatient with you just say 'Hey I am new at this and I just need a little longer thank you"

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As a student in my first semester of a second degree program, I am already scared ******** of this happening to me.

Did anyone have looming thoughts waay before graduation?

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I too am a new grad, graduated in May, got my license in June, and started work on a cardiac intermediate care unit. I feel so overwhelmed, like I'm always messing something up. It's so hard dealing with the jerk doctors and techs who give you attitude. Giving report is a nightmare to me sometimes, the night shift nurses can make me feel like a complete idiot. I dread going to work, can't sleep the night before my first day back because I dread what kind of patients I will get... and what else I might screw up... I want to just skip this new unexperienced nurse part and fast forward to the experienced nurse part! Don't get me wrong, I love being a nurse, love taking care of patients, but the stress can be so overwhelming! Thank goodness for 4 days off!

ditto to BeachyRN--Except I started in March with another new RN who work circles around me (she is also 1/2 my age) Im at the 8 month mark now and I have learned a lot, but I still dont have the organizational skills. I leave late almost q day. I cant help but compare myself to this other RN that started with me. She never leaves late. Ive had terrible days where I cried my eyes out in front of my manager. I really regret my crying and Im sorry it happened because Ive noticed that Im treated differently by my once warm manager. I tried approaching the other new rn for advice and she wasnt much help. She is quite immature and feels she is competing with me. Which btw, if it were a competition she would be ahead for sure.

Im just paranoid that I will miss something in the chart that should have been handled. Forget a simple policy or procedure for discharge, forget to chart something, forget to follow up on something, the list goes on and on.

It's funny that patient care isnt what I feel Im lacking confidence in so much. My preceptor was transferred to another floor, and I think that I might have gotten ripped off during my orientation, due to the fact that she left and I got another preceptor that didnt really do a great job. But, by the time I realized this I was on my own. Ive gotten some help from other nurses but they dont realize how lost I really can be sometimes. and it seems the more time that goes by the more Im feeling worse because now Im past the "6 month" mark. any ideas?

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I'm in the same boat, second career R.N.

I'm older and tend not to be nearly as "submissive" as I see young new nurses be in the shadow of their preceptors and charge nurses.

Not enough good preceptors to go around, preceptors using the opportunity to "orient" a new nurse to sit on their butts and surf the net or shoot the bull.

Because I reported problems with my preceptors, they turned nasty as expected, and, yet, they were still allowed to have input into my evaluations after I asked for a new one.

Der.

I have a real problem with someone evaluating my "prioritization abilities" and "skills" who doesn't have their own priorities in order.

All of my former classmates are experiencing the same problems as are listed here.

I agonized the 24 hrs prior to going in for my shift, and often get physically ill at the thought of trying to handle as many as 7 patients.

Think the preceptor would actually be of assistance,,,not a chance!

When I went to a nurse supervisor who is in charge of the entire unit, and described to her what was happening, she said,,"they really do eat their young, it's tragic".

Although my supervisor tried to play off the problems that I reported about my preceptors, I learned that these are exactly the same problems they've had with preceptors in the past.

I'm sure being a good preceptor has it's challenges, but being a bad preceptor who abuses the privilege seems to be a pretty sweet deal.

In fact, I heard one preceptor say that.

The problem as I see it is nurse:patient ratios.

The nurses cannot possibly safely care for patients under the circumstances, often having to do CNA and unit secretary tasks.

Here is a possible solution.

Go to this website and read the proposed legislation.

If you have questions, contact them, as I don't have the answers.

But, PLEASE,,,take the poll on this website!

The A.N.A. really needs this information to establish the root of the problem so they can lobby to legislate effective changes;

http://www.safestaffingsaveslives.org/WhatisSafeStaffing/SafeStaffingPrinciples.aspx

If someone else has a similar or better idea,,,PLEASE let me know!

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Specializes in Psych, med surg.

I, too, am thankful for this post. I graudated in late June and started on a med-surg floor in September. I've been off orientation for two weeks and its been kinda dreadful. I had a few really good nights right at first, then everything has been awful. Thankfully, I great co-workers, and great managers, and a wonderful assigned mentor. Without their support, I don't know what I'd do. Usually I get through the shift ok, or at lease without crying. Then when I give report to the day shift I discover three or four major things I either forgot to do or didn't know that I needed to do at all. That's when I lose it. I run myself ragged all shift just trying to survive only to discover at the end of the shift that I failed.

After a particualriy bad night this last week, a senior staff nurse said, "Hey, you're not crying." Of course, I started crying. Then she started crying. She was wonderful. She said that all the patients were still breathing so it had been a good night. She also said that we do what we can and what we can't get done will get picked up by the next shift, just like we sometimes have to pick up for them. Other people had told me that before but this time it sunk in. The next night I also ran myelf ragged but at the end of the shift, I gave report and left, appologizing for anything I might not have gotten done.

I hope it gets better. It gets better, right? Tell me it gets better.

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Specializes in Oncology, ICU.

I too, am at the 6 month mark and quite discouraged. I am on a busy med/surg unit, night shift. We are going to team nursing where the RN (me) is responsible for 10-13 patients while the LPN gives meds to these patients. The LPNs have quite a negative attitude toward a brand-new RN "supervising" them...most of whom have 15-20 years experience. I feel that I will be putting my license in jeopardy.

I am thinking of trying to find another job where there is no team nursing. What do you think?

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Go to this website and read the proposed legislation on safe nurse:patient ratios.

At this rate, I would welcome 4-5 patients on Acute Med/Surg,,as opposed to 6, 7, or 8!

The ANA proposed safe nurse/patient ratio legislation does take into consideration the acuities, too.

If you have questions, contact them, as I don't have the answers.

But, PLEASE,,,take the poll on this website!

And, pass it on to all of the nurses you know and have them take the poll, too!

The A.N.A. really needs this information to present to the legislature, to establish the root of the problem so they can lobby to legislate effective changes;

http://www.safestaffingsaveslives.or...rinciples.aspx

If someone else has a similar or better idea,,,PLEASE let me know!

I think we would all breath a sigh of relief if we could get our nurse/patient status lowered. Just think of how many nurses could be retained, and not burn out or leave nursing.

I've already presented the evidence based practice statistics to my hospital's Nurse Supervisor to present to the COO, because it actually drives up the hospital's earnings, which should push this thing over for us, unless the bean counters really dig their heels in.

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Thank goodness for this topic! I graduated in May, and I've been on a cardiovascular surgical unit since June, so I'm coming up on my 6-month anniversary in December. I work nights, and I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of things... but then I have a night like last night. I followed the advice of my charge nurse on something, and the day nurse I gave report to chewed me out, and... it's just frustrating. She's probably right, but I'm so tired of always feeling stupid. I'm trying so hard to do everything I'm supposed to do, and I feel like I'm supposed to be perfect and know everything ... but I'm not, and I can't. Why can't things be a learning experience (okay, do this differently next time), instead of a chance to make the new grad feel small?

:crying2:

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Specializes in Oncology, ICU.

Exact same situation here. Every chance to take a shot and it is taken.

I'm a second-career nurse and I've had the opportunity to mentor new hire computer programmers (my previous occupation for 20 years). I never made them feel small, only encouraged then to try a different way in the future when mistakes were made.

Anyone who has mentored previously, or raised children, or trained a dog knows that slamming, terrorizing, and belittling is counterproductive. So why is that the story on nursing units?????????????

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