Why Is It That Everyone Thinks They're A Good Nurse?

Nurses Relations

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i don't get it. people write about the horrible mistakes they've made that got them fired from work or suspended, and then they'll go on to say that they know they're a good nurse anyway because they try so hard. maybe the evidence shows that they're not a good nurse yet . . . but if they keep trying hard they will be some day?

or the nurse who writes that she's on her fourth job since graduation 16 months ago, and she hasn't found her "nitch" yet . . . and someone tells her to hold her head up because they know she's a great nurse. really? how could you possibly know that -- especially with the evidence provided that the poster has been through three jobs and is failing her fourth?

then there are the special nurses who know they're great nurses despite their many problems at work because they have a calling. or because they're compassionate. sorry -- that's not all it takes to be a great -- or even an adequate nurse.

what ever happened to striving to be a good nurse but knowing you're not there yet? knowing you need a bit more experience to be a great nurse but you're trying hard? how come everyone these days is a good nurse the moment they graduate?

Specializes in CDI Supervisor; Formerly NICU.

I'm a fairly new nurse. I was told once, by my charge nurse: "Your strongest asset as a new nurse is that you realize how much you don't know."

The "Aww, you're a great nurse! Those 21 patients you killed were just an anomaly!" posts ARE ridiculous, and I've often said to myself how odd it is that they happen so frequently.

The only thing more ridiculous are the old school nurses that post almost 100% of their posts about how badly the younger generation of nurses suck ***.

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Any profession that you do whether it is in trades, business, health, etc. people want to believe that they're doing a good job because it is there career and anybody would be saying positive things about themselves .Of course nobody would be putting themselves down by saying oh i'm a terrible nurse. Can you imagine working with someone so negative like that or letting people such as patients or doctors hear you? It would affect your credibility and you'd be looking stupid for putting yourself down. Or even thinking that you're not a good nurse would affect you in many ways, both good and bad, it just brings negative energy in the room. However, I don't see anything wrong with this, peoples personal opinons about themselves shouldn't bother anyone else. If you don't like to hear about it then that's fine, it should in no way affect you whatsoever. If people say or tend to believe that they are a "good nurse" why not? Let them aknowledge the fact that they are even if they're not. You should take pride in your profession and be admiring yourself for going to school and obtaining an education that a lot of people in the world are unfortunately unable to get. Embrace yourself, your profession and what you have in this life. Afterall, it's your career, you should be proud of yourself and the career you've earned because it's what you have in life in order to survive on this planet.

On a final note I would like to add is that even if you make mistakes in your profession that's absolutely normal. That's life and nature. Nobody is 100% perfect. If you make mistakes you correct them, try to avoid repeating it again, learn from them , and once you do you'd be improving yourself in your skills and abilities.

You can be both good and bad in your profession. But "good" and " bad" can also be defined in terms of your strengths in your job which I believe is what is really meant when people say they make a "good" nurse. A nurse can be very good at doing one thing and not so good at another.Of course you wouldn't be praising about all the bad things but rather you'd be praising the good!

No one in this world is all bad. There has to be some good going on in their profession in order for them to be actually working and having a job!

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Specializes in ICU.

If I read one more post about this "generation of ME ME ME/entitlement" ****, I think I'm going to throw up.

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I'm in my first year on the job and I struggle with self image versus expectations and teaching from time to time.

I'm very familiar with the concepts of levels of competence and how it takes time to become good as a nurse. I've been taught from day one that I'll never be as good as I could be, and that less than a year into the job I should barely qualify as competent at best.

At the same time though, I keep seeing myself in comparison to the others and keep coming away with a nagging impression that I'm far better than I should be at this stage in my career. I'm definitely not perfect but I'm constantly suffering from the impression that I try harder, care more and think in greater depth than those around me (and that isn't an insult against them, because I have a damn fantastic team of coworkers). I'm bickering with lab because they decided to draw a aPTT 1.5 hr early while another nurse is texting at the desk having already titrated her heparin drip based on a aPTT just as improperly drawn. I'll spend an hour of my night sitting with a patient in spiritual crisis and be mocked and told that that patient is just an attention seeker (hint: he just got given x many months to live and told he's not a surgical candidate).

I dunno. I constantly come across things that make me feel as if I'm damn good, but everything I've been taught says that I should barely be fit to work unsupervised this early in my career.

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Specializes in Surgical, quality,management.

so glad I has a Irish upbringing!! I would never of been allowed to think that I was great or ME ME ME!

I am only 27 and I think that I am just about floating some days and I have been nursing for 6 years. and yet my colleagues and junior staff ask me for help

.........................mainly to change the clocks when daylight savings ends. And to talk to the crazy pts who always seem to respond well to me which I am convinced is because they see a kindred spirit. And for a slide up the bed as I am 6 ft tall and apparently the turning queen!

As assistant manger I dealt with a grad recently that thought that we were bullying her and being racist as she was so unsafe. She was extremely book smart but had no people skills and could not see the wood for the trees!

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I'm a fairly new nurse. I was told once, by my charge nurse: "Your strongest asset as a new nurse is that you realize how much you don't know."

The "Aww, you're a great nurse! Those 21 patients you killed were just an anomaly!" posts ARE ridiculous, and I've often said to myself how odd it is that they happen so frequently.

The only thing more ridiculous are the old school nurses that post almost 100% of their posts about how badly the younger generation of nurses suck ***.

:yeah::yeah::yeah:

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Specializes in ER/ICU/STICU.

I know I am because my mommy told me so.

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Specializes in Rehab, critical care.

It's just the same as everyone thinking they're above average intelligence; many people see themselves as better than they are.

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Specializes in LTC and School Health.
I'm a fairly new nurse. I was told once, by my charge nurse: "Your strongest asset as a new nurse is that you realize how much you don't know."

The "Aww, you're a great nurse! Those 21 patients you killed were just an anomaly!" posts ARE ridiculous, and I've often said to myself how odd it is that they happen so frequently.

The only thing more ridiculous are the old school nurses that post almost 100% of their posts about how badly the younger generation of nurses suck ***.

I000 kudos suck. I really don't care if someone has an opinion about something. I honestly don't see why some people obsess over new grads. It is what is is.

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.
Plenty of nurses fear they are not good enough. These are the nurses that stay in poor practice environments because they fear they couldn't 'cut it' where 'good nurses' work. These things go unspoken.
I have a similar fear - that the bigger hospitals will paint me with that brush... "Hm, if *that's* the best that you could manage, you must be damaged goods some how."
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Roughly speaking, half the nurses out there are below average.

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Specializes in PDN; Burn; Phone triage.

I really hope there's a happy medium between being over-confident in your nursing abilities and laying awake at night (er - day - I work nights) obsessing over everything that you might have or could have done wrong. Or better. Or mischarted. Or missed.

Because this chronic "I'm not doing good enough" is starting to wear me down.

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