Tips for nurses in their first year of nursing

Nurses New Nurse

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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.

Specializes in disability.

I soooooooo agree with MMOMRN thier is a pecking order the newbies on the bottom & the long timers at the top. The culture tends to revolve around the long timers & if they eat chew & shallow the young then the culture is one of dog eat dog & noone wins if thier is such a thing as winning in this situation. The other thing I have noticed is that thise doing the chewing tend to be insecure within themselves & this could be a form of power play on thier part.

How to avoid this tangled mess dont go thier in the first place. stay true to your goals, dreams & above all any intervention be sure as to what you are doing. Any answer is better than saying I dont know!

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I need some advice.Please help.

Im new and also newly off orientation at the end of my second week. I feel sooooooooo overwhelmed.:( I feel like the teams I have are so heavy.Sometimes I feel the team I have is just so overwhelming.Do I have the experience to handle this?Sometimes I just feel like crying.I hate to sound like such a baby.I wonder if when making the assignment the fact that im new should count for anything.

So from anyone with experience-when you have a heavy team how to you try to stay organized without loosing your mind.Sometimes when the patients are soooooooo sick it freaks me out.. I had a long week and had to vent. :(

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Specializes in Neuro, Critical Care.

Im a newbie. To other newbies. Every day gets a little easier. Every day I learn something that makes the next day a tad bit easier. Slowly but surely I am able to answer my pts questions with more confidence. Im beginning to anticipate the docs orders and my time management skills are taking shape:)

Im learning how to work best with each memeber of my team from the docs to the HUCs. And what I lack right now in experience I attempt to make up for with my bedside manner. Sitting with a pt. when they are scared and just talking to them is sometimes more important than knowing the names of all 12 cranial nerves. So I just keep that in mind and take the rest day by day..oh and at the end of every night I say a prayer that my pts are still alive.

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This is a wonderful site. Iam a new grad started orientation about two weeks ago. I love my co workers and I love nursing, but i get so frustrated because iam not looking at the big picture, iam so focused on tasks that i feel that iam not focusing on the pt at times. So when it comes to giving a report i feel like iam stupid please help. Any Advice?

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
This is a wonderful site. Iam a new grad started orientation about two weeks ago. I love my co workers and I love nursing, but i get so frustrated because iam not looking at the big picture, iam so focused on tasks that i feel that iam not focusing on the pt at times. So when it comes to giving a report i feel like iam stupid please help. Any Advice?

Relax. That's what a novice nurse does. As your comfort level grows, so will your horizon. Then some day you'll be offering reassurance to someone else.

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I am a first year student going into my third quarter. My clinical experience will be pediatrics at Childrens's Hospital. Does anyone have any tips re pocket books, etc. that will be helpful. I am clueless...Thanks!

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This is a wonderful site. Iam a new grad started orientation about two weeks ago. I love my co workers and I love nursing, but i get so frustrated because iam not looking at the big picture, iam so focused on tasks that i feel that iam not focusing on the pt at times. So when it comes to giving a report i feel like iam stupid please help. Any Advice?

I understand what you are saying. I am off of orientation since January 1st. It will come with time. You have sooooooo much learning to do in the next weeks. The big picture will come with time. Listen to your co-workers in work, and when they talk to doctors, case managers, etc. You still will need time after orientation though too.... Maybe alot of time. But it has been promised that it will eventually come together. Good luck!

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Geri, Ortho, Telemetry, Psych.

organize, organize, organize. Good organization starts with your report sheet when you are first coming on shift.

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what a great sticky. i'm going to have to copy and paste all the great tips onto one document to take with me! i graduate in ~2 months but will do my final practicum in the er starting next week. being even slightly organized in there will make me feel so much more prepared. thanks everyone!

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In regard to the pecking order: I feel the need to pre-formulate a response to the threat of being eaten by an older (by older I mean - more experienced) nurse.

This may be the one thing that will impair my nursing career!

I wonder if standing up for yourself hinders or helps?

Will you earn respect from co-workers by having a good attitude and at the same time, being firm that "nastiness/cattyness" from them will not be tolerated?

Must we accept it, deal with it?

Is it considered part of the proverbial "due-paying" we must endure?

It's beginning to sound/feel like I am going be thrown into prison!

(Did anyone see Oz?!? -Yikes!)

Any ideas (examples of dialogue) to address someone who is being less than professional to a newbie?

Thanks to all for the (many) previous posts!

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Specializes in Women's Health, L&D,hi risk OB.
In regard to the pecking order: I feel the need to pre-formulate a response to the threat of being eaten by an older (by older I mean - more experienced) nurse.

This may be the one thing that will impair my nursing career!

I wonder if standing up for yourself hinders or helps?

Will you earn respect from co-workers by having a good attitude and at the same time, being firm that "nastiness/cattyness" from them will not be tolerated?

Must we accept it, deal with it?

Is it considered part of the proverbial "due-paying" we must endure?

It's beginning to sound/feel like I am going be thrown into prison!

(Did anyone see Oz?!? -Yikes!)

Any ideas (examples of dialogue) to address someone who is being less than professional to a newbie?

Thanks to all for the (many) previous posts!

Hi Mrs GPR,

One model that really works for me is from Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer. He has a tv show and website. I use his teachings with my theory that nurses at times exemplify pack animal dynamics. With that premise I believe that it is best to:

1-enter the unit in a "calm-assertive state." This is a win-win posture. Cesar Millan says that "pack leaders do not project nervousness, tension or panic". He says that the "pack mentality is interaction w/o words", and that the rules are enforced w/o words. Here's how and more...

2-Do not respond to imbalance. Leaders in the pack (who keep their jobs/license) never do. They respond to energy. Pack animals rely on the presence of a leader, in the absence of one, they move toward instability and they begin to take control. Millan says to "set rules, limitations, boundaries in a calm-assertive way". Submission is shown non-verbally, but is not the same thing as imbalance.

3-Live in the moment socially/emotionally. Do not hold yourself or others back for past states of imbalance. He says to express emotion or excitement only after you have shown a calm state. Get balanced or position yourself nigh.

4-Draw on the energy of leaders. Millan tells that "pack leaders control everything, nothing is open to debate". They do not have to be proximal/present. (he says "think of Oprah Winfrey") You may sooner than you think rotate into leadership stance if you persist in remaining calm-assertive.

I say, know whose boss (for now).

5-Pack animals rely on exercise, affection and discipline not necessarily in that order to maintain balance. But he says, they do not need affection to feel fufilled. They need primarily leadership. Make sure you have your share and give it to the underlings.

6-The special case is the "red zone" aggressor. Remember, you too may be the aggressor at times. So maybe the pack is giving you the treatment prn. (How many can relate to a NM/anm/preceptor/unit that does this) I consider this to be a reciprocal constant rule--we are at all times doing this to one another on the unit. Sometimes we too need to submit. Millan states that

"Depression and aggression is often really frustration". "Discharge the energy first, let them wear themselves out". "Take control of the space". "No touch, no talk, no eye contact." Ignore the aggressive pack animal until they are in a quiet submissive state.

I plan to do some intensive cardio, walking and stretching b/f my next interview-orientation-tense unit.

7-Finally, Cesar says, "new leash, new associations." I am changing my clipboard/binder, pens, shoes and uniforms when I start my next gig.

:lol2:

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Hi everyone! thanx for all the great tips and advice.They're all very enlightening. There was a time when I thought I was in the wrong field. It just gets so frustrating sometimes. Anyway, thanx to everyone! I feel a whole lot better.:)

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