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.

This website has really given me wonderful tips to live by. I started as a new nurse on an Oncology/Medsurge floor this August 2011. If I thought week of Orientation was overwhelming, what has transpired since then, is OMG craziness. This week I start with 5 pts/ an admission & my preceptor will still be holding my hand. No matter what there are times when I'm so anxious, feeling as though I'm already falling behind and maybe it's only 10AM. I pray they understand it's impossible to retain everything in my head. I really want to impact the lives of the pts I care for, but I realize there are so many of my shortcomings as a nurse. I have a wonderful support team! From family members, to former nursing students, my last clinical instructor & even my NCLEX tutor, & the nurses I just met on my floor. All of my concerns according to them, are NORMAL feelings & that only with time will I feel more confident. I've been told 3mths, 6mths & even after 1yr the overwhelming feelings finally subsided for them. On my days off I look for tips on-line to improving my time management skills or even practice my narrative charting skills (WEAK), but getting better. No one so far has been harder on me, than myself! I don't know why I feel like I'm not doing a good job. Trying to get on a schedule of how to do everything is also challenging. But it's just so helpful knowing that others have had those same anxious feelings.

This is a 2nd career for me, I've always been in the medical field-but NEVER as a nurse. So the one thing I bring to the table is my compassion for my patients. It's very easy for me to look at my pts in the eyes & talk to them. Now if I could learn how to improve my narrative charting(I'm practicing), put in an IV (only did it in school), learn how to chart ulcers, and so on & so forth. My list is endless of what I want to accomplish, but knowing that others have paved the way & survived, makes me BELIEVE I can too! Keep up the posts they give us new nurses inspiration to keep going & NOT give up! :flwrhrts:

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Thisthread has been great! Ihave a few more tips that I have found of great help...and made my work a lot easier in the long run.

Always check with radiology,xRAY etc when your patient has been ordered a test to find out that they are on the list, approx time. Don't assume that they are always on the list

I check vitals, drips, drains etc at start of shift for every pt, and ask about pain/nasea, any probs they are having. I never just go off what I've been handed over. Thept will often bring up other issues/concerns as you are an approachable nurse.

Always document in notes your assessment after intial assessment on shift, everyone will then know if pt status has changed throughout shift/day/week etc.

Don't just think about a pt in the acute stage, try and always do an holistic assessment, esp if elderly, as they may just be placed back into unsafe home environment and end back in hospital...worse than before. I make like to find out status of carer (if they have one) as they will open be fatigued from caring with no break...elderly are often abused/neglected by carer/family (carers are often unaware that they are doing this).

Always be kind and curtious...even when other staff may not be back to you. Just focus on being the best nurse you can be for your pts.

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*sorry about some spelling, grammatical errors. I shouldn't really write a post when tired lol

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Thanks Rosie-one for your tips. I also heard: Since our forms begin w/Assessment charting--you mark what's applicable. For example: Skin: under that it has a bunch of options you can select. Neuro, Lungs, Cardio etc. So when I get to my note taking there I write how I found the pt, "Rec'vd in bed AOx3. VS: Labs:" and then I've been writing "Assessment completed as per flow sheet" Then I address if pt's IV is infusing anything & end it "w/as ordered."

Charting is becoming less stressful-thank goodness, but I don't look forward to going back to work on my days off. I'm usually an optimistic person & love where I work. My last employment I quit to go to nursing school a few months shy from completing 23 years there. I don't want to seem "ungrateful" but I worry how my day is going to turn out. I don't stop running around all day, I hold in my urine, eat lunch in 10 mins so I can get back to work and so I can end on time. But I'm just not feeling the excitement for why I wanted so much to become a nurse. I tell myself to just hang in there and when my contract is over I'll go somewhere else where I can feel excited to be there.

I love helping people. I know when I'm at work the pts I care for feel so grateful, so happy that I'm taking care of them...I really take pride in giving pts EXCELLENT customer service. But the other side of nursing is soooo stressful & depresses me. I can't see myself working myself like this forever---it's impossible. I've been told it's normal to run around crazy, it's bc I'm a new nurse and it will get better. I pray so hard for that to happen. I've been on my own for 2 weeks-no more preceptor. Nov 18th it will be 3 mths working.

Last week it was almost 4:30pm I hadn't had lunch yet---they gave me 6 pts for the 1st time. All of whom needed me, for pain meds or vomiting. My nursing director actually approached me, to ask me why I hadn't signed off on the hourly rounding form in my pt's room. Are you kidding me? If you ask any of my pts in my care how they've been treated they will respond in the most positive ways. Signing a paper is more important than the fact that I've been busting my butt all day, no lunch are you serious? I'm sooooo frustrated, but I'm not letting this get to me and I'm going to focus my energy more positively & PRAY hard that I fall in love with this career. Don't want to give up yet...:crying2:

I go over it in my head...Time management techniques...luckily I don't stay longer than one hr after my shift ends. I leave mostly on time 7:30pm when I've had 5 pts. With 6 then 8pm. I'm not giving meds unless I see for myself orders in the chart & that takes time when you haven't had the pts before.

Is it always going to be running around like a chicken w/o a head? I like your suggestion of checking on pts/I think doing it at 7AM sharp just jotting down notes & then running to get report. Then grabbing the chart to reconcile all meds for each pt. Getting the meds out of pyxis & take Vitals/do Assessment at the same time...and then try to chart. I'm going hundred miles a min at work. Nursing is HARD-how do people do this for so many years and don't look as nuts as I do?

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Specializes in ED/ICU/TELEMETRY/LTC.

Keep your scissors in your pocket, keep some tape on a pair of hemostats, and your stethoscope around your neck. This will save your feet a million miles. (You can uses those hemostats to pick up nasty stuff too)

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Nursie69, your forms at your place of work sound terrible lol. They have these stupid forms at my work that you have to fill in with the idea that it will help you pick up problems with your patients, it's quite funny, one is about whether they are conscious/unconscious, as if i needed a form to tell me somethings wrong haha, everyone hates them lol.

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