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 a new nurse. Actually, I am still on orientation. I will be on my own in about 1 week. Any tips on getting started or on organization.

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I am a new nurse. Actually, I am still on orientation. I will be on my own in about 1 week. Any tips on getting started or on organization.

Hey there. First off, Congratulations on becoming a new nurse! I say to have a few equiptment of your own. Mkae sure to have the following supplies: B/P cuff, sethescope, Thermometer, bandage siccors, notebook to write things down for the spur of the moment, pens, and a bagged lunch. Also bring a great and positive attitude!!! Wel, I hope this helps and I wish you good luck iin your career and God Bless:):):):nurse:

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Specializes in ICU RN.

thank you for the good tip bits, is very helpful

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Hello all,

I am a new graduate RN and I am so confused. I know that I should get some experience with med/sur first, but I am really interested in post partum. I am 36years old and I don't want to waste my time. I just want to select one area and advance from there. In addition too, I have several other interest to include: diabetes educator and psychiatry. Please help!!!

Erica

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Specializes in Did the job hop, now in MS. Not Bad!!!!!.
Hello all,

I am a new graduate RN and I am so confused. I know that I should get some experience with med/sur first, but I am really interested in post partum. I am 36years old and I don't want to waste my time. I just want to select one area and advance from there. In addition too, I have several other interest to include: diabetes educator and psychiatry. Please help!!!

Erica

Hi Erica,

you sound like me! Same interests and close in age.

From what I've seen and heard there is no reason why you cannot pursue PP. My only obstacle in looking was trying to get the position before so many of my younger classmates did. It's a very popular specialty apparently, but they do take new nurse grads. Just like any other specialty. So apply wherever you can. And if time is of the essence to you, you can always transfer to your unit of choice once you have your foot in the door. It's good to have a few choices. PP may be number 1, but I always see psych openings. Go for it!!

Good luck to us both!

Chloe

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Specializes in telemetry/oncology/icu.
I am a new nurse. Actually, I am still on orientation. I will be on my own in about 1 week. Any tips on getting started or on organization.

:welcome::smiley_aa COngrat on passing your boards and joining the world of nursing!!! I have been out of school for 18 months now and on my own for 15 months. The best advice I have is stuff your pockets with every supply you can carry to save your feet, listen, ASK ??s, find a great preceptor and mentor, and have lots of post its so your hands aren't overcome with orders written on them to write down later. My mentor & preceptor have saved my bottom a few times, if in doubt or you have never done something ASK ??s. Don't get overwhelmed even though at times it feels like there is no way you can do this, you can!! Try to come and leave your shift with a smile on it makes the day nicer for your peers and patients and just makes you feel better. Try to take a break for yourself where you can sit and unwind and stock up on caffeine and sugar,this from a tele nurse, also oncology that's where the nutrition rules fly out the window. Best of luck to you, feel free to write back here anytime as this site is for nurses to vent and brag and find out cool stuff. By the way any tips on what I am supposed to do with the student intern they dropped in my lap this week, I still don't know what I am doing every day let alone checking up on him. HELP!!!!!! Have a great time learning and take it one shift at a time. Happy learning to you and I hope this helps.

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thank you so much... im still a student but i want to learn as much as possible now... thanks for sharing

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The best thing a nurse has ever done for me would be coaching me and encouraging me on new things I had never done and really getting me involved. One thing that left a bad taste that a nurse did and this was during my preceptorship was passing me on to another nurse and working with someone that she was training for that day rather than me. To me it felt like they were more important because they were going to start to work there than me and it left a bad taste. I still got to do things that day. But staying with the same nurse no matter what is a must in a preceptorship. If they need to reschedule because of training someone on the same day then that would be better than passing a student off. Just a tip. I think it is great on you getting advice, it will only make your program stronger. One other bad thing is she wasn't letting me give pain medicine although it was allowed in our program under supervision and I had done it all other semesters. Some nurses are funny. I had a friend who was in an NICU whose preceptor would not let them do any iv drugs. This is just a word to the wise that students getting ready to go into the field of nursing need the experience of this and not allowing this decreases the education and experience they need. I hope this helps you out in your program :yeah:

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Specializes in Licensed Practical Nurse.

#1 is very important i dont feel i got an adequate orientation at my ltc facility, i did ask for more days but ended up having to work because of low staffing! huh, when will i learn the things i need to!! thanks everyone for the advice!

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Specializes in med/surg.
never be afraid to ask questions. if you let people know what you do not know they will be more apt to teach you and nursing is forever a learning field.

this is a good hint, i always found students ahead of me and asked questions about different instructors and what they were looking for.

keep all your med sheets & start a binder, saves hours later on.

have at least one person to buddy up with, you can help keep each other on track, sane, and provide moral & emotional support when the going gets rough.

realize you're human & mistakes happen, just be sure to be honest & own up to it, & use it as a learning tool; you'll never make the same mistake twice.

take one day at a time, and realize it must be possible to complete the program because there is a whole lot of nurses in the world!

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Well i'm not a nurse yet, still working in the office world...but work is work. One important lesson I learned over the last year is that people everywhere are a product of their circumstances. Nothing is personal...That angry supervisor probably has some personal issues you can only begin to imagine...you can't take it personally.

I won't be able to enter Nursing school until 2009, still doing some prereq courses, but I'm really looking forward to it!

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Something I was told that stuck... "You dont know what you dont know." Its so true when you are starting out and it can be scary. Other things:

-The minute you start to be overconfident, you will be humbled.

-Dont be afraid to ask questions

-I have also learned latley that if you are trying to decide whether or not to call the doctor about something, you should probably be calling the doctor...

-Remember that doctors are being payed when they are on call

-Find those two nurses... the one you want to be like and the one you dont want to be like... watch and learn

-Listen to the good nurses who think out loud, they always get me thinking too!

-DOnt eat ice cream on nights... ugh I learned that the hard way :)

I Have a couple weeks left until my one year anniversary and I still feel like there is so much to learn! This is going to be a lifetime thing!

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