My Little Piece of Advice to New Floor Nurses
If I could write you a little letter as you get ready to
begin your career as a new nurse, it would go something like this:
I know you might be anxious to finish school. We all are! I
know you might think that once nursing school is over or better yet, once NCLEX
is over and done with, and you are officially an RN life will be that much
brighter. I know you have picture you’re name with those two letters at the end
countless times. And let me tell you it does get better but it is one crazy,
exciting and life-changing ride.
Study hard for NCLEX, you've worked so hard to finish and it’s
your last step. Give it all of you have for those two or three weeks and I
promise you, it will pay off. You will succeed and you WILL be a nurse because
a nurse is more than a license, it’s who we are in our hearts. I hope however, that you learn to brush things off and get
back up. You may not pass, and
that’s okay. Just know that test results never made anyone a great nurse.
Pull out those NCLEX books again and work just as hard because you've worked
too hard to just give up.
I hope that you never,
ever give up and keep your heart full of hope. There will come a
point when the NCLEX is the least of your worries because you are now a
Registered Nurse. Now you can find a job, a job which may not come fast. I hope
that you don’t give up; you've worked too hard to just give up. A nurse is WHO
YOU ARE and I hope you don’t let life’s disappointments take that away from
you. You may apply to twenty different jobs, attend five different interviews
and never get that call back, and that’s okay. I hope you keep going and that
you keep searching, the right job is out there . . . somewhere . . . waiting
for you.
 |
| Journal I Received From My Unit Manager |
And then there will come the happy day when you finally get
that call and you know what that means. You will finally become the nurse you
dreamed of becoming. At this point, I hope you don’t forget why you became a
nurse in the first place. Because this is a tough part, but oh how much you
will grow! At this stage you will learn what you didn't learn in the past 4
years of nursing school. Let me put it this way, some nurses may forget they
were once learning too. Yes, I hope that you never become this way after you
have 5 years of experience under your belt. However, it can easily happen to
anyone. There will be times when other nurses make you feel stupid, wish you
did things faster, wish you already knew how to do it. And let me tell you
this, it’s okay that you don’t, and never stop asking questions. We all started
there, we just forgot. No matter how stupid or incompetent you may feel, I hope
you find confidence in yourself and know that you have every right to be there.
You are an RN for a reason and though you may be learning, as we all are, you
have every right to practice nursing. So walk in that
patients room with confidence, talk to those doctors like you know what you’re
saying, because the truth is, you probably do.
There may come a
point when you think you’re the only one who’s struggling and question whether
nursing is indeed the profession for you. I hope that at this point you learn
to let things go, brush them off, get back up and leave work at work. If
someone yells at you, I hope you let it slide and keep smiling. As a nurse you
really don’t have time for that, you have patients to take care of! Also, never
be too scared to go for it. Are you terrible at starting IV’s? Find every chance
you can to do it and be confident but never be too proud to ask for help. Soon
you will find it as easy as priming an IV line. And
whatever you do, stay away from gossip at work. Oh, there will be plenty of it
and you don’t want to be part of it because
A)
It will bring you down
B)
You have better things to do.
Those first months
you will learn time management like you never have before. Find your routine,
and GROUP CARE. Remember that was always the correct answer in the “select all
that apply questions” on NCLEX? Well, that’s the one answer that is also
correct real world nursing. Always do as many things as you can at once.
Make sure you set deadlines, for example by 10 o’clock chart this, by this time
start pulling out medications, by this time complete this part of charting and
if that’s not working for you keep changing until there’s a routine that works.
But whatever you do, know that your patient comes before charting . . . PERIOD. Know that
for those next twelve hours or however long your shift may be, your patients
are the most important people in your life, no matter who they may be. There may be times you cry or you
may have a terrible headache because you forgot to drink water or pee for a
whole shift but I hope that, that just reminds you to take care of yourself to
be able to take care of others. And after a couple months or a year you may start
seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and this is why I say don’t give up
and remember why you became a nurse. All of a sudden you will start connecting
the dots. You will make great friends with those who helped you grow, strengthened
your skills and always believed in you. You will know how to best use your
resources and before you know it, you too will be orienting a new nurse.
And once you are well
settled into your nursing career I hope that you enjoy it. I hope nursing
really is all that you want it to be and that you are proud to be a nurse. I hope you never lose your heart for people and that you learn to love ALL your patients. The
mean ones, the dirty ones, the ones that cuss at you and even the ones that
make your shift extra hard. I hope that you never become too insensitive to
your patient’s needs that you tune them out. And lastly, I hope that you
realize that nursing is an art.
No book
can teach you to care,
No book
can teach you to love,
It’s just
who you are,
A Nurse
No comments:
Post a Comment