Tips for nurses in their first year of nursing

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Please share any tips you might have for our new nurses. Hopefully, this will become a great resource of nursing tips from all of our experienced nurses from around the globe.

i am in my last semester. i feel so unprepared to go onto an actual floor and take care of actual patients. we are in our advanced med/surg clinicals, and i guess the worst thing that has happened was a nurse of 20 years let me know up front that she did not get paid to teach students that it was not part of her job description...so i changed beds and gave baths. i was so disappointed because this is my last chance to learn on the floor before i am the nurse. they would not even let us do piggybacks. so i will graduate w/o ever doing one.

the other girl in my group had the opportunity for 3 nurses to fight over who had to take her, in front of her. once decided, she was told to go get breakfast and take a break.

this is a teaching facility that we were at, and i am sure that all nurses are not like that....because i had a wonderful experience in neuro icu. it was simply that the nurse told me to stop apolgizing for my lack of knowledge that we all had to learn. he did not make me feel stupid... so that is my worst and my best.

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I think you will find that many nursing students have had this experience. You are not alone. (I did not really get to experience IV Meds until I worked on a Med Surg Unit.) Do not let the treatment you receive as a student determine your future.

You, too, will get plenty of opportunity to do IV's and Piggy backs, and IV Push meds as a nurse on the floor.

Just be proactive with your preceptorship and make sure your preceptor is someone you are comfortable with. If you are not comfortable with your preceptor go talk to the Director of Nursing and ask her/him if they can reassign you to a new preceptor.

Whatever you do do not allow anyone to bully you or make you feel bad.

As a new nurse you hold as much value to the profession as do more experienced nurses.

Right now, don't worry too much about your first work experience and put the treatment you have received in the past behind you. The only thing you should be worrying about right now is moving forward, because it is the only way to move.

When you do become a nurse and have students on your floor remember how it felt when no one had the time to take a moment to pass their valuable knowledge and experience to you and don't repeat that mistake.

I know there are days when I feel like I just don't have enough time to do it all but I always try to include students when I am doing something I think might be of interest to them. Simply because I do remember the nurse who looked at me and made a snotty remark when I asked her to show me how to do something. Also, you might want to gleen info from any LPN's you come into contact with. I found the LPN's more willing to help and teach than the RN's most of the time. Go figure.

I love being an RN but we are a funny group of people.

The nursing profession will be what we make it. It can be a supportive place that grows through welcoming, supporting and encouraging its young or it can be a profession that dies out because we "eat our young". The choice is ours as RN's.

Much luck to you in the future and I hope you have a long and rewarding career.:nurse:

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thanks...that was very encouraging....we have all vowed in our group to never treat students in a negative way. does the feeling of " they can't be seriously thinking that i can do this?" go away anytime soon? hehe

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Specializes in Cardiac.

This has helped me tremendously. Have the following itmes on your person at all times:

Sharpie/permanent marker

Bandage scissors

Hemostats

Black ink pen

Calculator

Stethoscope

Tape

Alcohol wipes

Pre-packaged saline flushes, if your unit stocks them

Note pad or post-its for taking quick notes

Watch with second hand

I'm in adult critical care; I'm sure there are other items that would come in handy depending on your unit. But I cannot tell you how many times an experienced nurse far more knowledgeable that myself has needed one of these items NOW, and just didn't happen to have it available, and was grateful not to have to leave the room to find it.

Doesn't score points for being a supernurse, but at least you prove you're prepared!

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Specializes in ER/SICU/Med-Surg/Ortho/Trauma/Flight.

Dont be afraid at all. ask your charge nurse for help were always glad to help and appreciate it when a new nurse asks for our help. We hate it when they dont ask go off on there own and mess up.

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Just remember that nursing someone is a 24/7 job. If you can't do everything but help the next person on the next shift by giving them options and help them to understand where your care for your pts is going. HAVE A PLAN OF CARE - both short term (this shift), Mid-term (during the next 74hrs) & long term.

Check the medication charts and check for options!! E.G for pain/behaviour/constipation etc management.

If it all gets too much (and it can @ times) - seek help from those who understand what's happening (preseptors/mentors/peer support etc.)

talk about your problems and concerns - and remember that the hardest person is always yourself!

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Specializes in Family Practice Clinic.

to add to NurseEcho's list of things to have with you

Penlight

When you get on the floor as a real nurse, like everyone else is saying, "treat the students like you wanted to be treated while you where in school". I had bad nurses to work with in school and also wonderful nurses, I help the students on our floor as much as I can. They even argue among themselves who has my group of patients. At one point I had six students with me in a room giving blood. There were only six students on our entire unit that day!!! If they had questions, they came to me, I told them, some nurses think they were born RN or LPN's. It helps me that I was an LPN prior to becoming an RN, several people say that it shows. The main thing is if you don't know don't be afraid to ask!!!!.. Also, don't get RNitis, the I'm too good to wipe butts attitude, I know RN's who have this and the team does not do well.

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Hey everyone, just got hired on a med surg floor. Are there any drugs that just stick out for when you first started? I plan to study up on everything, including Pharm so that when i hear a drug verbally i can know what it is and not have that "whats that funny word again?" face. But are there any that you really suggest studying to get a heads up?

Also, for all of you people who worked from the ground up, i.e. STNA to LPN to RN, etc. I would like your advice. I was a STNA for a year and 3 months and will now be a LPN (school done, need to take boards but have a job waiting) and I need advice on how to make that transition to being in charge of (and i dont mean that in a bad way) the STNAs and giving them things to do. I mean, being a stna i know what its like to work under a LPN so this may seem like a question i can answer, but any tips would be great.

Oh, and one more question to all you nurses out there. Being a LPN (or soon to be) I am a little worried that working on a fast paced hospital floor, that I will asked to do things that arent in my scope of practice. In school we are taught that you never do anything outside that scope, and i respect that, believe me. Then again, I hear from other Nurses c experience that it happens in the real world. An example is for instance (this happened in one of my clinicals) a 4month old needed to have his little outfit changed. But, that would mean disconnecting the IV line to do it. It is so minor and easy, but not being IV certified yet, it is not in my scope. Nurses told me that will happen a lot and i'll end up doing it anyway. I guess I'm just unsure of whether to play it by ear or have a no tolerance attitude. But, i dont want to be seen as difficult or annoying if i have to decline or bring to a RNs attention that i cant do this/that. Any advice????

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BTW, I asked this question to get feedback on situations i might encounter, I obviously wont do things outside my scope, just wanted some feedback on this type of situation.

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I guess whether or not you work outside your scope of practice depends entirely on how long you want to keep your license.

Anyone that asks you to work outside your scope of practice is not concerned about you or whether you keep your license or in my opinion the pts safety and well being. Also, they would be the first to deny ever asking you to do anything outside of your scope of practice.

My advice would be if anyone asks you to go outside your scope of practice, tell them you would very much like to help them out but what they are asking you to do is not within your scope of practice. Then let them know where they can find a copy of the state regulations on nursing.

Just what I would do, but then I would never ask anyone to put their license on the line either. I have too much respect for the hard work and time people put into getting their nursing licenses RN or LPN.

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I was told as a student RN to keep an address book, and write the names of drugs, both generic, and trade, their action ie: hypertensive, beta blocker, antiangina, and the maximum dose for each drug as I came across them. I continue to do this as graduate RN, and it is handy to have something on me (I carry it around with me in my pocket), to remind me, if I go blank on what the drug is for when I'm administering it. I also have at the front of the book acronyms which I find useful to assess patients, or which help me in my nursing practice. Hope this is of help........ :)

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Hello everyone,

This is my first posting after finishing university on Tuesday and graduating as a RN. I now wait with trepidation to start my 1st job on Critical Care in April. I undertook a placement there and enjoyed it immensely and was invited to go for a post upon qualification.

I have read the posts and will certainly take note of all the helpful comments on becoming a newly qualified nurse.

I admit my main concern is looking or feeling 'dumb' but I will ask questions if in doubt. I will endeavour to collate as much knowledge as possible and as many have said 'be a sponge'

I have a 12 week preceptorship programme and hope this will ease me gently into my new role.

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