Jr Grim,

What are you finding the most stressful? What do you wish that you would have known before you graduated?  What is your orientation program like?

We received an e-mail from a new grad who is having a lot of trouble finding a job. Like many new grads, she worked hard to get through nursing school -- just in time for the economy to hit the skids. Her frustration was palpable. Cruise on over to our Nurturing New Nurses column to read what advice our expert had, and weigh in! http://nursing.advanceweb.com/Article/Doesnt-This-Profession-Need-Me.aspx

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Adrianne O'Brien, editor, ADVANCE for Nurses

I'm so excited about this forum, I have shared it with my friends on Facebook, and several colleagues already.

Thank you for promoting positive, professional support for every nurse.

Kind regards,

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Nichole Vinci
Manager, National Recruitment
The GEO Group Inc/GEO Care Inc
www.geocareinc.com
www.geogroup.com

I'm a new grad nurse working in Telemetry for 3 months now. I firmly believe that having a good preceptor to start with can ease the new grad experience. I had several preceptor and the first one wasn't good. She believes that a licensed person/new grad should know what to do. She didn't prepare me for the times when the patient is in a worst condition and almost coded. I didn't know what to do. I had sleepless nights thinking about that patient and the things I should've done but it's too late now. So, I switched to another preceptor and this RN had taught me a lot. He advice to always help each other when there's a code blue. You never know if its your turn.

I graduated nursing school in December and passed my boards in January 2009.  I took a job at a rural hospital and worked there for 4 weeks and then started a new job at a hospital in the city where I live.   I have been working since May as an RN on a med/surg floor NOC shift.  As the weeks have continued I have become more and more stressed and wonder why on earth did I choose to go back to school and become a nurse (I was a stay at home mom until our last child left for college).

I have been feeling overwhelmed and now that I am "on my own" as a nurse I am  even more overwhelmed.  They say that you are never alone and there is always someone available to ask questions but that is not always the way it is.

 I reported off to the day shift nurse this morning and she felt compelled to let me know all the various things I did wrong the night before (it wasn't patient care but paper work that I was not taught how to do while in school). I came home feeling like I was never going to get to the point where I feel comfortable and not dreading going to work. 

I feel like I have worked so hard to get to this point and yet I am having to adjust to working full time, working nights, being on my own as a nurse, not being able to see my kids and grandkids, husband and oh yeah, I hardly ever see my friends anymore.  

 

I am already feeling burned out and I have only been working for 3 months or so.  I definitely feel that an online support group would be helpful.  

 

 

 

You poor thing.  I can totally relate.  Although I worked as a full time staff RN for 14 years, I stopped for 3 years when I had my 2 children.  Now I work per diem appoximately one night a week.  Despite my years of experience I still get incredibly overwhelmed.  I am fortunate that the folks I work with are like family.  (I returned to the same hospital.)  How awful that the nurse nit picked every little thing about your paper work.  It is amazing that she does not remember what it was like when she first became a nurse.  I am always suspicious of these nurses that act as though they do everything perfectly.  We are all human.  We all make mistakes.  The ones that act like they don't are not being honest.  You know, despite having worked so many years I still have many moments of anxiety of uncertainty.  Even in my setting, where I am so close and comfortable with my colleagues, I have times when I need some help and every is busy and overwhelmed themselves and I feel all alone.  Like you I get upset because I feel like I have so many things I must do with my family and then on top of it I have the stress of the job.  Despite all the years of experience I feel there is so much I should know, but I just don't.  I just had a very rough month professionally myself.  This is why I sought out this online support.  I wish I had some pearls of wisdom to pass on to you.  Here are my thoughts:  It sounds corny, but take ONE day at a time.  Give yourself credit for hanging in there.  It is stressful. Congratulate yourself just for sticking with it and showing up to do the job.  (The hardest part sometimes is actually pushing yourself to actually show up!)  One thing I do like about my profession is that it has made me incredibly STRONG emotionally.  I do not think I would ever have learned to deal with life's stressors so well, had it not been for the stressors I had to deal with at work.  I learned to assert myself because I had no other choice.  I think in another profession I would have remained sort of a "mouse."  So there are important life skills you are gaining here.  Try to learn from that nurse that picked on your paper work.  Put your personal hurt aside and try to focus on whatever she told you.  Don't beat yourself up over it.  Remember she is not PERFECT she just ACTS like she is.  Sometimes we have to "fake it until we make it" ha ha. If you make a big mistake, admit it.  Own it.  Accept the consequences.  Grow.  In between all the stress, there will be some golden moments that you would actually miss if you stopped working as a nurse.  I know it doesn't seem like it now, but believe me it is true.  When I initially stopped working I thought I would never miss it.  After a while (a long while) I remembered those "golden" rare moments and missed it. (You know you look back and you remember some funny thing you went through, or a patient you bondend with, etc.)  Right now I am feeling discouraged and dreading my next shift as well.  I am going to try to keep at it and do my best.  I hope you do too. The first year is the hardest of all.  Push push push to finish the year.  Stick with the full time for a year too.  (It is good to have that continuity when you are first learning.)  Then after a year, make a plan.  Maybe part time will be enough?  (You have to take care of yourself too!)  It is hard with a family and all.  I honestly just work once a week per diem.  However, as I said try to stick it out that first year.  I wish you all the best.  Hang in there!  The year will go by faster than you think.  When I first started as a nurse I used to go to the park on my break and seriously consider not returning to work.  But I came to my senses each day and somehow managed 15 years full time.  Now after a 3 year break I am back at it and feel very much like a new nurse too and am struggling along.  Be strong!  You have more strength in you than you are aware of.  I love the saying by Emerson, "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us..."

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Nurse Ratchet

Shirley,

 I think that the advice form Nurse Ratchett is SO valuable to what you are going through!  I just want to add that, as hard as it is, try to remember that you are NOT the only new nurse going through this stressful and overwhelming experience.  Every single new nurse experiences a tremendous amount of stress from multiple different sources.  This is the most important reason why I wanted to start this support group.  Every new nurses is experiencing the feelings that you are experiencing, but in the moment, you feel like you are all alone.  We are in charge of our profession, and we need to do something about seasoned nurses making new nurses feel "bad" or leaving new nurses to feel like they cannot stay in the profession.  The last thing that we need is for you to leave nursing.  We need every nurse we have!  You are incredibly valueable to the profession.  Please, do not ever let anyone make you feel otherwise.  The only way that we will ever change how we are nurtured into nursing is if we start with ourselves.  Maybe the next time you report out to the nurse that gave you a hard time, you can begin your report by showing her how you altered your charting based on her recommendations.  You can be honest with her about your feelings.  Tell her that you are feeling overwhelmed and that you need time and patience to learn the job.  Ask her to help you along your journey.  Sometimes seasoned nurses forget what it was like to be new.

 Keep your head high!  You can do this, please don't give up.  Once you are stable in your career, you will make an incredible mentor for new nurses because you know how important an amazing mentor is to a new nurse.

Hi Shirley,  How are you doing?  I hope you are hanging in there.  Like the other post said, we are ALL going through this stuff.  Don't feel alone.  While it may seem like some nurses are so relaxed and know everything, BELEIVE me they have their moments too.  It's just that they have experience and confindence.  It will get better with time.  I hope all is well!

 

 

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Nurse Ratchet

I think an online support group for new nurses is a great idea.  Since passing the boards a year ago, I've had quite an interesting adventure into the world of nursing.  In the Boston area, it is very difficult for new grads, particularly ADNs, to find hospital positions.  Many Boston hospitals are striving for magnet status and give first priority to BSN new grads.

After several months of mailing out resumes, attending career fairs and online applicaitons, I was elated to land interviews with the state and the federal govt (Vet Hospital).  I was offered the state job and accepted it only to be told two weeks later that the funding for the position was denied.  I still had hope for the VA job but the application process is so very long (I eventually received an offer but had already accepted another position).  I had a couple of interesting nursing home interviews.  One interview consisted of one question: "Can you start tomorrow?"  While it was nice to be offered a job, the hourly rate was less than what I was making at my then current job as a medical assistant.

I finally landed a position on the 3-11 shift on a pulmonary floor of a rehab hospital.  After 17 days with a preceptor, I was on my own and responsible for up to 8 vented, total care patients per shift.  This hospital saved money by having just a few staff nurses and supplementing with agency nurses.  There was a list of activities that agency nurses were excused from such as admissions and charge duties.  We were chronically short-staffed.  The CNA staff made two rounds of the floor during an 8 hour shift and spent the rest of the shift in the break room.  The supply room was poorly stocked at all times.  I often had to play pharmacist by mixing my own IV antibiotics.  There were no computers, everything was done via paper.  I rarely got out on time and was required to leave a voice mail explaining why I punched out late.  There was no nurse manager. The COO, a disheveled, unfriendly, ill mannered businessman was in charge.  I finally realized that I could no longer work at this facility when Mr. COO gathered the staff RNs (agency RNs not invited) in to a meeting to tell us what a horrible job we were doing.  His rant included an imitation of how a nurse could leave a narcotic medication on the med cart, keep an eye on it by walking backwards to answer a call light down the hall.    I found a new job and resigned five months after I started. 

 My new job is at a private practice internal medicine office.  I love the hours, the benefits are good and the pay is okay.  I worry that I will lose my more advanced clinical skills since I do not have the opportunity to practice these at my current job.  I've become disillusioned with the profession of nursing.  It's not at all what I expected.  I didn't expect to walk into an ICU job right out of school but I certainly didn't expect that my choices would be so limited.  I think nursing schools in my area should cut back on enrollment until there is more of a demand for nurses.  At the very least, they should prepare ADN nursing students for the fact that there is no demand for new grad nurses in the Boston area. 

For many new grads, it's not a time to celebrate, unfortunately. On the other side of the coin, Deloras Jones, MS, RN, executive director of the California Institute for Nursing & Health Care, recently proposed some initiatives to make room for new nurse grads in the healthcare arena. Agree? Disagree? http://nursing.advanceweb.com/Editorial/Content/Editorial.aspx?CC=202866

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Adrianne O'Brien, editor, ADVANCE for Nurses

Some new grads would say that age discrimination doesn't only affect older veteran nurses. When you have little to no experience to add to your resume, searching for a job in today's economy becomes especially challenging. Although age discrimination is illegal, many new grads fear that they are victims. For tips while you are searching for a job in nursing, check out this Nurturing New Nurses column: http://nursing.advanceweb.com/Article/Avoid-Age-Discrimination-Tips-for-New-Nurses.aspx

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Adrianne O'Brien, editor, ADVANCE for Nurses