Transition from school to RN

I'm not sure I understand what your question is.

My question is if there are any recent RN Graduates that can comment on their transition from nursing school to a working as an RN. I would also like some feedback from a couple of RNs who have been working as an RN for at least 18 months. I'm a senior nursing student and I have been assigned this discussion topic. I need at least 2 new graduates input as well as a couple of RNs that have been working at least 18 months.

I just clarified my question please refer to my additional comments on this post. I apologize for any inconvenience.

I'll bite -

I graduated with my ADN in May of 2015 and have been working for almost a year and a half. I'm not sure exactly what information you'd like me to provide, as far as my transitional experience goes, however I'll just discuss my orientation and further transition into working on my own.

Obviously, moving from SN to RN was a nerve-racking experience and there were a lot of rollercoaster feelings involved; there was a lot of information to digest and responsibility to uphold, right away. As I completed my orientation, I became more comfortable with taking the lead and eventually I just got used to being independent vs. always relying on my teacher, then preceptor, then coworkers. Don't get me wrong, my coworkers are always there for me and I'll always have questions - that's life, right? But you eventually get to the point where you need that extra help less each day.

Orientation was a 12 weeks process that included one week of policy and safety seminars, as well as computer training. After that, the remaining 11 weeks were devoted to learning the ropes. My preceptors were awesome (1 preceptor on days for 3 weeks, 1 preceptor on nights for 8 weeks). They really tailored the steps of my progression to my personality and we worked well together. I'd say I was pretty lucky, because that's not always the case. As I moved forward, I took on more and more patients, became comfortable having a room full of family with a laundry list of questions, learned what to say (and what NOT to say) to doctors, how to think critically in sporadic, unexpected situations, when and how to properly delegate, and of course ... standard nursing procedures.

A lot of nursing is not what you learn in school. It's thinking on your feet and making it happen, safely and effectively; it's being there for the patients and their families in whatever capacity you can at that very moment. Books and tests are wonderful resources and measurements for your academic success, but I've learned a lot over the past year and a half that I never learned and never could have learned in school. Nursing is ugly and beautiful; some days are easy, some days are rough, some days are emotional. Did school prepare me for that? Nope. But has the transition been worth it? Absolutely.

Hope this helps.

Thank you very much for your through response. I really appreciate it. I see that you put a lot of thought into your answers, thank you for your time.

I personally had a rough transition into working and if I could suggest anything I'd say start working as an aide or extern asap if possible this will help you out so much more than I thought. I was so disoriented in every way possible that it made learning how to do my job that much harder and scarier. If I could have worked as an aid I would have learned not just what the aide does but what's going on around me. There's so much chaos in the hospital during the day there's drs family RTs dietary managers and supervisors too- knowing everyone's role is vital