First Year Nursing
Tips for Your First Year as a Nurse
First Year Nursing
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Takeaways
Everyone was once in your shoes!
It is normal to feel overwhelmed as a new nurse.
Organization is the key to becoming a successful RN.
When I first got out of nursing school and was hired as a Medical-Surgical RN in a local hospital I began searching to find tips that might help me make the transition from student nurse to RN. I wanted a list of specific things I could do to help me learn to care for a greater patient load without an instructor there to back me up. I was disappointed that I could not find a lot of information regarding this crucial transition. I later composed the following list of tips and tidbits. I sincerely hope these prove to be useful to someone else who is in the same shoes I once wore. 1. Be early for work. If you receive report at 7:00 am be there at 6:30am. Most nurses appreciate you relieving them early and are more than happy to give you report. In the two years I worked as a Med-Surg nurse I worked over only twice and that was for a maximum of fifteen minutes only. I found that getting a jump on my day enabled me to start out ahead. 2. Do not hesitate to ask questions no matter how dumb you feel. Remember that everyone started where you are. People appreciate your willingness to admit you do not know everything. People generally like helping others and will be glad to help you if you only ask. 3. Get a good preceptor. If the preceptor assigned you does not meet your needs immediately talk to your supervisor and change preceptors. Also, it is important to have the same preceptor. When you have different people training you that slows your progress as one doesn’t know how much you already know, one person works differently and with different organizational methods and another may not realize that you are able to do as much as you can. It is very important to have only one preceptor who can measure your knowledge and progress as you
First Year Nursing
By RSS
Takeaways
Everyone was once in your shoes!
It is normal to feel overwhelmed as a new nurse.
Organization is the key to becoming a successful RN.
When I first got out of nursing school and was hired as a Medical-Surgical RN in a local hospital I began searching to find tips that might help me make the transition from student nurse to RN. I wanted a list of specific things I could do to help me learn to care for a greater patient load without an instructor there to back me up. I was disappointed that I could not find a lot of information regarding this crucial transition. I later composed the following list of tips and tidbits. I sincerely hope these prove to be useful to someone else who is in the same shoes I once wore. 1. Be early for work. If you receive report at 7:00 am be there at 6:30am. Most nurses appreciate you relieving them early and are more than happy to give you report. In the two years I worked as a Med-Surg nurse I worked over only twice and that was for a maximum of fifteen minutes only. I found that getting a jump on my day enabled me to start out ahead. 2. Do not hesitate to ask questions no matter how dumb you feel. Remember that everyone started where you are. People appreciate your willingness to admit you do not know everything. People generally like helping others and will be glad to help you if you only ask. 3. Get a good preceptor. If the preceptor assigned you does not meet your needs immediately talk to your supervisor and change preceptors. Also, it is important to have the same preceptor. When you have different people training you that slows your progress as one doesn’t know how much you already know, one person works differently and with different organizational methods and another may not realize that you are able to do as much as you can. It is very important to have only one preceptor who can measure your knowledge and progress as you