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Being the new guy or gal on a unit is always difficult. Every nurse we know has at least one story about a frustrating incident that happened when he or she was a new nurse!
So when we posted the article 8 frustrating things about being a new nurse for our Facebook fans, we knew they’d have some frustrations of their own to share. What would you add to the list?
1. Coworkers brushing me off…rushing me, or getting mad that I’m slow. They forget that they were once NEW nurses too.
–Miriam Rose Gurtierrez
2. Not knowing where anything is kept, not knowing procedures for things like discharges/admissions, being spoken down to, getting your own routine, the list goes on….
–Billy-Jo Main
3. Hardest? The chasm between school and real life. Taking care of a couple of people that you studied the night before is vastly different than seven to nine patients with an aide, without time to analyze a chart. I never forgot what it felt like to be new, so I always supported the newbies and taught wherever I could. I also know what it’s like to be beaten by a job, so I supported the old-timers, too.
–Janine Rosomoff
4. Time management was hard for me as a new nurse, but of course I had six to seven patients. For the new nurses that I orient, it seems hard for them to realize that the “real” world of nursing works differently than the “NCLEX” world of nursing. This very frustrating to my new nurses…especially those who are OCD.
–Ramon K. Abner
5. Transitioning from thinking critically on a piece of paper to thinking critically on a live patient, and you don’t have anyone standing next to you holding your hand.
–Sarah Allison
6. A doctor asked me for a staple remover. I thought it was an odd request, but I went and asked the secretary for a staple remover… needless to say, it wasn’t the staple remover she was looking for. (First nursing job out of school, first week of work!)
–Kelly Barlow Keels
What do you think is the most frustrating aspect of being a new nurse?
