Why is the first year like a prison sentence?

Nurses New Nurse

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Specializes in cardiac/education.

I was thinking about this today, reading some of the new grad threads.

The first year of nursing is very similar to a prison sentence. Really! Don't laugh. I mean, only the 'tough' get through it, you just have to accept the fact that you will be overwhelmed, stressed to the max, and darn near absolutely miserable. You likely will have anxiety or depression reaching toxic levels sometime during that first year or immediately after (and God forbid you come into your first year with a tank half empty!). You just have to comfort yourself in the fact that *supposedly* once you get a year in it will all seem easier and you won't be puking before work. You won't be crying on the way home. You'll stop feeling that urge to run out of the hospital screaming during a pt assessment. You'll quit scripting out what you are going to say to your NM when you call in to tell her you won't be in tomorrow...or EVER!:lol2:

I just think it is sad that you push through nursing school....where you feel incompetent and unsure of everything...to graduate and enter the real world with some degree of excitement (remember when you were excited new grads?:uhoh21:) in starting your new career.....to end up feeling incompetent, unsure of everything for another whole year AT LEAST.

As a new grad, how are you supposed to look forward to going to work? I agree that only the tough WILL make it that first year because let's be real....who wants to be miserable every day of their life for a year :cry:even if it means you will eventually be a better person and have a more fruitful career because of it? A year is A LONG TIME and we all know that is the least amount of time it takes. I know all new jobs have a learning curve, an adjustment period, but in nursing it takes sooooooo much longer, and people could die from your mistakes. I am trying to get a job, my second since graduating, and instead of looking forward to the new experiences I am filled with absolute dread and hope I am not making the same mistake twice. I just hope I am tough enough this time around. I wish I could see the positives and ensure that somehow I will not let this break me. I am not looking foward to that first year, that 'necessary evil'. Uggghh.

How can you tell if you are just running away from your fears or if you are just being smart and getting out of nursing before you spend one more day miserable? I'd like to know if any of you guys feel the same way I do???

This is a rant really, but curious.....what are you other new grads doing to cope? Aside from medication.....what do you find helps you deal with the stress?

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Specializes in LTC/rehab.

it is soooooooo hard in the beginning. i felt the same way and almost quit before i ever even got started. i'm so glad i didn't. i still have those days even after 5 years. first you have to remember that every single nurse you come into contact with was in your shoes at one time. it does seem that some of them forget they were once a new grad. personally i think that some nurses are uncomfortable with new grads, because they think they will ask a question they don't know the answer to. as a new grad you come out thinking that things are one way, when in fact they are completely different. i found a wonderful nurse who took me under her wing and taught me so much. i've experienced some new grads that think they know more than they really do, and when they have this attitude they block out the opportunity to learn new things. take advantage of everyone around you, not just your preceptor. the techs, the unit sec., the pharmacy, the laundry, the dietary, the phlebotimist. they all know things that can make you job easier. nurses are a small part of a big system, and we need each other to get our jobs done properly. don't give up just yet. we have all been there and look at all who made it through. i'm sure you can too. just take one day at a time and don't think about the next till you are in it. good luck and don't give up!

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Specializes in Travel Nursing, ICU, tele, etc.

I hear your frustration and fear. Of course you don't want to feel dread and anxiety. It sounds like your first nursing job didn't go as well as you had hoped and if that is the case, it must be even more frustrating to think of going through all of that angst again.

I would recommend that you let yourself dwell on the good stuff that happens at work. Remember the great interactions with your patients. I swear it was the connection with my patients that helps me through the tough times at work to this day. As much as we can be an "angel" in their lives, they are for us as well.

Start to visualize how you want your work to be. See yourself educating, comforting and relieving pain. See yourself as competent. You don't have to know everything to be competent, to be trustworthy... that is far more important that being a walking text book or having the ability to quote procedures and polices chapter and verse.

The thing about nursing is it is about being embroiled in the human condition, smack dab in your face day in and day out. And often the most stress comes from our coworkers and others on the "team" and not our patients. It is a lot like life itself, you have to work at it to be happy in it....that happiness doesn't come easy, but when it does, it is well worth all the time and the effort.

I believe in the power of prayer, in healing and in nursing! Ask, whoever you see as your higher power, the universe, the angels, God.. to help you and to protect you and I sincerely believe that your prayers will be answered. ;););)

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Remind yourself that the transition from student to professional is difficult in MOST professions -- not just nursing. Unfortunately, our society and school systems have tried so hard to protect children from some of the stressors of life, that many people grow up unprepared for careers in the adult work world. That makes a naturally challenging life transition even tougher. Nursing has its own particulars that are difficult -- but other fields have their "trouble spots" as well.

Take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. Write all the positive aspects of your nursing career (and your future in nursing) on the one side. While you should also acknowledge the negatives on the other side of the paper, really focus on the positive side. Keep the positives in sight at all times and use them to encourage you to keep going. As you look at the negative side of the page, focus on developing strategies to minimize, eliminate, or cope with those negatives. Don't allow yourself to just wallow in the negatives without working to improve their effect on you. Keep your sense of humor about them as much as possible.

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I know EXACTLY how you are feeling...I feel incompetent at the start of every work day...I have the sick "I REALLY don't work to go to work tomorrow/today" feeling in my stomach (all the time it seems). I continue to feel incompetent throughout the work day, but at the end of the day I do feel like I have accomplished something, that I may have made the tiniest bit of difference in SOMEONE's life.

I am trying to take my negative feelings of anxiety and dread of going to work and turning them into a positive "go ahead and give me a challenge today" feeling. By looking at each day of work as a challenge I feel I may have progressed the tiniest bit at the end of my day just by handling my work. And I know in a year I will be beyond the task oriented phase of being a new grad and I will actually "get it". I didn't push through nursing school, NCLEX review classes and the NCLEX itself to give up. And no matter how hard it is, no matter how much a doctor, coworker, a patient or a patient's family member may challenge me or make me feel like a moron I keep it in my heart and in my mind that I know, my husband knows, and my family knows that I can do this.

And at the end of the day, isn't that all that really matters...that you are doing this for yourself and the people you love? That is how I am keeping myself motivated (even though it is quite difficult at times). You can do this and you will be great!!! And if you find out nursing is not for you, then it is OK...your ultimate happiness is all that matters!!!! Keep your head up and keep us posted:)

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

99.999% percent of us make through that first year, not just the tough.

You will too. Hang in there.

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Compare this to parenthood. Do any of you remember your first year as a parent? Did the books really prepare you for the reality of caring for a newborn? Weren't your stress levels so high and your emotions so fragile. Even the best meant bit of advice would have me in tears.

It is a lot like nursing. You don't get to be a veteran without some combat experience. Theoretical knowledge gets put to the test. Real responsibility begins, and life and career goes on.

All a new grad can do is build and maintain a network of support, do your best, and choose a place with good nursing standards for a first job.

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Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry/PCU, SNF.

It's funny, we were just talking about this the other night at the nurses station. We all felt in a way that we were doin' time. Joking around like, "I've 92 days and a wake up." That's more related to the nature of my floor and the requirement to give the unit a year after being hired as a new grad.

For the first several months I kept telling myself, "OTSS (only the strong survive), just cowboy up." But as I've gotten further, I realize that strength is being able to rely on other, delegate to others and realize one's own limitations. I'm not going to fix everyone. I'm not going to be able to make every single one of my patients pain free and comfortable. At least not without help. Now that I've moved past the nagging need to be near-perfect, I feel much better about my chosen profession (although the meds have helped...). I leave the problems from the night at the doors of the hospital when I leave.

We've all been there and moved through. It is a learning experience, both of knowledge of the technical and of yourself. The second is the harder of the 2 in my mind. I hope you find your way. It does get easier. In reality, we've been through the worst part (nursing school and NCLEX), now it becomes reality. It's a rough transistion, but you'll make it.

Good luck,

Tom

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Specializes in cardiac/education.

Jeez, you veteran nurses are so DARN SMART. I am always amazed at the pearls of wisdom thrown out on these boards. Thank you and I will take your advice!

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Specializes in cardiac/education.

I am trying to take my negative feelings of anxiety and dread of going to work and turning them into a positive "go ahead and give me a challenge today" feeling. By looking at each day of work as a challenge I feel I may have progressed the tiniest bit at the end of my day just by handling my work. And I know in a year I will be beyond the task oriented phase of being a new grad and I will actually "get it". I didn't push through nursing school, NCLEX review classes and the NCLEX itself to give up. And no matter how hard it is, no matter how much a doctor, coworker, a patient or a patient's family member may challenge me or make me feel like a moron I keep it in my heart and in my mind that I know, my husband knows, and my family knows that I can do this.

And at the end of the day, isn't that all that really matters...that you are doing this for yourself and the people you love? That is how I am keeping myself motivated (even though it is quite difficult at times). You can do this and you will be great!!! And if you find out nursing is not for you, then it is OK...your ultimate happiness is all that matters!!!! Keep your head up and keep us posted:)

Thank you! This is so true and I will try to keep this in mind. Good Luck in your career, I am sure you are a great nurse!;)

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thank you all for commenting on this. i really needed to hear the words at this point. i started out per diem as we live in a small community and didn't feel traveling was for me or my family. i was able to get a temp position for 3 mos on the med-surg, where i was per diem and that helped tremendously. i did okay. had a few bumps but didn't let it get too me too much.

i knew this job was ending so i looked at the new job postings each week. i went for the ambultory care unit part time position. i had worked it in clinic and thought i'd like to work in that unit if i could.

i didn't think i had a chance but i got the job. i was so excited to have a permanant part time position. the first few weeks were grueling, but expected. now it's been 2 mos and i feel more awkward and unsure. i've had alot of doubting/feeling uneasy with my new position. i'm new. it's harder and there alot more to this unit that meets the eye.

most coworkers are patient and say i'm doing okay. there's always a few that i feel think i should know more by now. there's one per diem nurse that reminds me i'm not seasoned and it takes about 5 years to get seasoned. i just feel so out of the loop compared to them. it's a glaring difference, and i wonder if i am doing okay.

in this unit you do patient care pre- post-op, call for pre op appoints/order labs, everyday is so different, and everyday you are schdueled for a different time. i am taking longer to adjust than 'i" want to.

it's encouraging to know that it's normal.

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Specializes in Jack of all trades, and still learning.
For the first several months I kept telling myself, "OTSS (only the strong survive), just cowboy up." But as I've gotten further, I realize that strength is being able to rely on other, delegate to others and realize one's own limitations. I'm not going to fix everyone. I'm not going to be able to make every single one of my patients pain free and comfortable. At least not without help. Now that I've moved past the nagging need to be near-perfect, I feel much better about my chosen profession (although the meds have helped...). I leave the problems from the night at the doors of the hospital when I leave.

thats a lesson I'm just starting to learn. I've always hated not being able to have everything done. Consequently I feel that people are watching over my shoulder which then does feel like a bit of a prison sentence. But then maybe its a prison of our own making. My nursing manager says that nursing is a 24 hour job - if you can't get something done then hand it over to the next shift, just do your best. Its a very hard lesson to learn. But I've got to listen to other staff when they offer to help...

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