Dear New Nurse Me
So you’re probably wondering what you got yourself into.
It’s your fourth week with your preceptor, and already you’re wondering that. You just passed NCLEX, you studied for months, heck years if you think about it, covering every inch, every detail of the human body; and after all those clinicals, you sort of thought you had a good idea what to expect - but this? You’re wondering how you’re supposed to juggle 7 patients on this floor. You’re panicked, as you still aren’t giving meds on time, your documentation sort of sucks, you completely suck at IV’s, you’ve had pegs explode back on you, you seem to say all the wrong things to patients, and families, no one trust you yet - doctors, patients or coworkers, you completely missed warning signs a patient was decompensating, and you almost had an MI yourself the first time your patient coded. You can’t remember what you love about nursing, and you can’t seem to remember any of the damn codes to the supply room, med room or hidden stash supply rooms. Plus you never, ever seem to get out on time.
Dear new nurse, don’t give in.
In about three or four months, you’re going to nail that IVL in one hit, and some days you’ll miss, but you’ll remember the day you got it and you won’t be so hard on yourself.
In about six months, you’ll finish your medications in record time. It will probably surprise you, and you’ll wonder if you missed something, but you didn’t. You’ve just begun to establish your flow.
In about 8 months, you’ll be the first one to notice a subtlety in one of your patients, something that seems amiss. You’ll probably question your judgment, but you follow your instinct anyway, advocating for your patient. You may not feel it today, but that patient in about 8 months likely avoided a cardiac arrest because of your rapid intervention.
In about a year, you won’t tremble every time you call a doctor, you won’t feel so awkward reporting information about your patient, and you will stand your ground and you will earn the respect of the doctors for your quality of care, your sharp assessment and skills. You won’t really notice it, but they will begin to look for you to ask your thoughts, or just to ensure you know updates on what’s happening with the patients you share. A year from that, they will probably start to rely on you to the point where you think they’re taking advantage of you, sometimes that’s going to happen unless you stand your ground, but sometimes it’s really just them trusting you, something not easily shared by caregivers.
In about a year and a half, you’ll have your system down, whereby you’re finishing your meds, documenting much less than the storybook you began with, but you’ll realize you’re getting to the point a lot faster. You’ll have days when it all goes to hell, your system blown, patients coding, patients coming and going from tests, admissions and discharges not accounted for, patients falling and needing stat CT’s, coworkers calling out meaning you’ll get extra patients, but you’ll remember that you can do this. You’ll remember that you’ve had good days when you can juggle those patients. You’ll remember that you have coded patients, and you haven’t felt a trembling mess, you’ll remember that even in the worst of patient nurse ratios, you’ve banded together as a team and survived the day.
In about a year or two, you will be the one in charge, you will be the one people are asking to help insert IV’s, you’ll be the one nursing students look up to, you’ll be the one new nurses hope they will someday be.
Dear new nurse, we’re not here to say, “cheer up, it all gets better,” for that’s an insult to your struggle right now.
We aren’t here to say that one day it all magically falls into place, for it’s the todays you are worried about,
We’re simply here to support you, to empathize with what it feels like to be in your shoes, some days you’ll feel strong, some days you’ll feel weak,
But do not give in.
I'm crying...
