Hi, as you know, I am off orientation. Been on my own for almost a month now. Things are going "ok", I guess. There are still alot of skills that I haven't gotten yet, and when I do get a new skill, I usually do end up finding help or advice. I haven't been able to get any foleys or NGs yet though. I have attempted IV's but the majority of our census are elderly, so don't have the greatest of veins, so I attempt, and they usually blow, so I get an experienced RN to do them for me. I don't have confidence to do them. I lack confidence in my critical thinking sometimes too.
I had my first death, the patient was a DNR, and had been terminal, so no surprise, but being my first, it was hard to deal with.
I had a situation where my patient's BP was low and was to get Lopressor. Of course, I didn't give it. She was walking, talking, and alert. She did complain for dizziness when first sitting up. At any rate, I called doc, he ordered to hold the Lopressor (duh, I did that) and to hang fluids at 100/hr. She was heplocked. So, I did and two hours later, her BP was still low. It was at the end of the shift when vitals were obtained for their shift, and I happened to look and see her BP. I told the night nurse about the situation and she looked at me like I hadn't done my job correctly. I told her I called the doc and what he ordered and I followed orders. The patient was 88 yrs old, had an old pacemaker. I don't know what more I could have done. I kept an eye on her often, checked on her, etc. I did manual BP's after the aides got vitals to verify the BP. She had no other symptoms. The doc had been in earlier that morning and saw her labs and saw her too. What could I have done more? Any thoughts?
I don't like being made feel like I am a retard by the night nurses when I give report.
I want to yell: HEY, I AM A NEW NURSE HERE, I AM ON MY OWN AS A BRAND NEW GRAD RN. I DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING, I AM STILL LEARNING, I WASN'T BORN A NURSE. I AM HUMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
