Congratulations! You made it through one of the hardest degree paths available! An average of 45-56% of nursing students make it through their nursing program and only 1 out of every 3 nurses stay in the nursing field after 5 years. You have made it this far, which as you can see by the numbers above, is amazing! But now we have to get you going on the right track to ensure that you remain in this field and love it in 20 years as much as you dreamt of loving it when you applied to nursing school.
Let us get those credentials in order! You will list your credentials the following way:
Highest degree earned: ASN, BSN, MSN, DNP
License: LPN, RN, APRN
So if you have an associate RN degree you would notate as: ASN, RN
As a new graduate, you generally do not have any other credentials behind you name, yet. But just in case you do, the following is the order you would notate beyond the above:
State requirements (if any)
National Certifications
Any other recognitions not mentioned above.
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s focus on your new role and responsibilities. Quite a few hospitals started implementing new nurse graduate programs to help new nurse’s transition into the field. I highly recommend trying to get into one of those programs as they give you a nice little safety net while you are learning your new role. With the current state of the world during this COVID-19 pandemic, many new nurse graduates are leaving school with little to no hands-on experience besides simulation. I remember feeling very overwhelmed when I graduated, like I had to know everything and felt as if I knew nothing, so I can only imagine graduating with very little hands-on experience. If you cannot get into a new graduate nurse program, speak to your nurse manager, and make sure they have a good orientation plan for you to ensure you are successful.
Don’t try to impress anyone by pretending that you know when you don’t or are comfortable when you are not. You are doing anyone any favors. I know your first instinct may be to show that you do know and can be left alone but take this time to allow others to help you ease into this process. Along these same lines, never give meds you have not looked up and do not skip steps just to try to be faster. You learned the 5 rights of medication administration for a reason. You have to have 2 verifiers to give insulin for a reason. You learned about the nursing process for a reason. Never stray from what you know is right, you will only put yourself at risk for making errors and potentially endanger your patients.
Make sure you are interested in learning and putting in the work. I have had new nurses be uninterested in what I am trying to show them but then try to ask me a bunch of questions about what they just ignored. Do not waste your preceptor’s time. If you need to go home and read over policies or get more practice in on learning the templates, then do so. You will gain more respect from your peers if you show that you are trying, and they will generally be more willing to spend extra time with you should you need it.
Find a friend or two. The preceptor you were assigned to should be that friend to you but if they are not, go find another one! You need someone to bounce things off of, someone you look forward to eating lunch with, or someone who can talk you off the ledge when you are struggling with impostor syndrome. I worked with some pretty mean nurses but I had a core group of people I considered friends and they made things much better for me when I was having a rough shift.
Have a meeting with your preceptor after the first month and ask for feedback. Do not take the feedback personally!! We all struggled with one thing or another when we were first starting out so take it easy on yourself and take the feedback as just that, feedback to help you improve.
If you find yourself with a preceptor or any coworker who is making things hard on you, speak with your manager in confidence. They may have some insight on how to win that person over or may be able to switch your schedule to help you avoid that person while you are starting out.
Do not let anxiety and doubt win! I cannot tell you how many times I went home at night thinking that I learned nothing in nursing school and I couldn’t do this! It is normal. You are in a field where lives are literally in your hands and you are still unsure about much. That is normal and that will subside. You will learn and get better faster than you think. So, take a breath and give yourself some grace.
Learn your policies and procedures. Find out where they are and learn the ones that you are using right away, and as you go along learn the rest of them. You may have been an LPN and now you are an RN at this new facility so of course you know how to place a Foley. Right? But do you know the policy at this new facility? If something negative happens and you did not follow policy, you could be fired immediately and they could possibly go after your license but if something negative happens and you followed the policy, chances are you will be in the clear.
In summary, what you are feeling is normal and it will get better. Give yourself some time and don’t be too hard on yourself. Always remember to CYA!! Follow policy and procedures written by your facility, document EVERYTHING, speak up if you see something wrong, and never cut corners. In the beginning of this blog post, I gave you some data surrounding the fact that you graduated nursing school and the chances of you remaining in the field after 5 years so protect that license with everything that you have. You worked too hard to lose it.