Survival Tips for First Year Nurses

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hey everybody! i am giving a speech to an class of upcoming new nurses. what are some of the best survival tips you have for a nurse's first year. thank for your input!

hey everybody! i am giving a speech to an class of upcoming new nurses. what are some of the best survival tips you have for a nurse's first year. thank for your input!

remind the new grads that those "under" them may have been doing it for longer then they have been on this earth!

they are a fount of knowledge covering things that might not have been covered in school. things like... "i turned him, put a pillow behind his back, and he's got that drain kinked again!" :)

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

These tips are awesome! I will definitely be remembering them next year at about this time when I am getting ready to start as a "real nurse" instead of a student!! :uhoh21: scary but these tips definitely help.

take care all!

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Specializes in ED, PCU, Addiction, Home Health.
Get a little, pocket-sized notebook and WRITE IT DOWN! What all do I need to get to the bedside for a central line placement? Oh...it's all here in my little book!! What is RT's pager #? Right here in the little book.... Saves me from hunting down the info or asking the same question more than once.

I TOTALLY agree with this. When I started on a med/surg floor last year, everyone there picked on me for carrying a notebook and writing stuff down. I recently started in the ER at same hospital - and was told right out by my head nurse - you WILL get a notebook and you WILL write stuff down for the first year.....(I knew right then that I'd like her :)

Dawn in PA

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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

Excellent advice on the notebook. With 30 years as an RN I still do that. One tip, I use a pocket size address book. That way you have it alphabetized for you.

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Another tip. Anytime you talk to someone in a different department (i.e., lab, radiology, etc.), ALWAYS get the full name of the person you are speaking with. Then when lab tells you to draw blood in a blue tube, and lab calls back later to say you should have sent it in a purple tube, you at least can say who gave you the wrong instructions!!!

Same for when Joe in radiology tells you to bring the patient down at 10:00 and then you get there and Susie tells you they won't be ready until 11:00, you can say "Joe told me 10:00" - goes a lot farther than, "well, somebody told me 10:00"!!!

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i needed to hear that. thanks. Aide for 14 yrs (and a darn good one) and now RN in first year....you describe me to the t!

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i needed to hear that. thanks. Aide for 14 yrs (and a darn good one) and now RN in first year....you describe me to the t!

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Leave your ego at home - nothing is harder to deal with than a new grad with "grad-itis" that think they know everything. The art of Nursing is rarely something learned from a book!

There is no dumb questions, ever - and if you don't like an answer, verify with someone else. Trust your gut.

Don't be afraid to share your grief with a family/friends in need. They will truely care that their loved one was so special to those that cared for them to the end.

I like it that people keep on reminding to leave the ego behind. My ego makes me nervous and stressed out easily so it really is good to hear that other people have problems with putting too much of their ego into their work and not following their intuition.

But is it true that you should share your grief with the family? I mean, to me, that would be unhelpful and rude because I imagine the family/person being like, We've already got enought grief here buddy, we don't need to be taking care of yours too. He was our family member/friend/, not yours.

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Leave your ego at home - nothing is harder to deal with than a new grad with "grad-itis" that think they know everything. The art of Nursing is rarely something learned from a book!

There is no dumb questions, ever - and if you don't like an answer, verify with someone else. Trust your gut.

Don't be afraid to share your grief with a family/friends in need. They will truely care that their loved one was so special to those that cared for them to the end.

I like it that people keep on reminding to leave the ego behind. My ego makes me nervous and stressed out easily so it really is good to hear that other people have problems with putting too much of their ego into their work and not following their intuition.

But is it true that you should share your grief with the family? I mean, to me, that would be unhelpful and rude because I imagine the family/person being like, We've already got enought grief here buddy, we don't need to be taking care of yours too. He was our family member/friend/, not yours.

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Specializes in ER.

If a hypotensive patient says they "have to take a crap RIGHT NOW!!!" they are about to code on you. Don't let them get out of bed under any circumstances, and make sure you have IV access-you will need it.

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Interesting about the hypotensive pt. I'll remember--thanks to all for the interesting tidbits.

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thanks for all these wonderful tips. hope to hear for more, esp. tips in the e.d., about taking telephone orders?

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