Related: Learning, New Nurse Tips, Research, Technology

As a nurse, technology affects my job.

I am surrounded by PCs, pumps, vein viewers, EKG machines, and other devices. You might think you knew everything there was to know about technology, until you hit the floor. You’ll learn even more. New nurses are surrounded by a variety of unfamiliar devices that you have to master via in-services or on the job-- often in a short [...]

Related: Anxiety, Attitude, Confidence, Gossip, Learning, New Nurse, New Nurse Tips, Nurse Relationships, Nursing Shortage, Professionalism

Building rapport with co-workers is challenging at any age and any stage of your career. For new nurse grads it can be overwhelming. The first day is always the hardest. Your own anticipatory anxiety can make things worse than they are in reality.

One of the most important things to remember is that there will be at least one person who you will annoy no matter [...]

Related: Delegation, Learning, Morale, Patience, Patients, Prioritizing, Quitting, Stress, Time

Sticking out that first job as a new nurse even when you feel like quitting can be one of the biggest challenges you’ll ever face.

As a new nurse grad you’re pumped up and ready to change the world. You’ve learned all about treating the whole patient; he’s a person not a room number or medical ID number; her family affects his condition, and her care [...]

Related: Anxiety, Confidence, Emotions, Expectations, Fear, Feelings, Learning, New Nurse, Stress, Student Nurse

I have a friend who's afraid to fly. It takes a Xanax and a glass of wine as soon as the drink cart starts moving to get her through a flight. She learned a long time ago that it was worth the anxiety to get to travel to warm, sandy places with her husband.

We all have things that freak us out a little. [...]

Related: Confidence, Education, Learning, Mentor, New Nurse, New Nurse Tips

Many of you may be celebrating National Nurses Week, 2008 for the first time as professional Registered Nurses. You have entered nursing at a time when there is a great deal to be proud of.

Several thousand hospitals have achieved “Magnet” recognition, and while these are not perfect places to work in, they are easing the transition for new nurses. The magnet standards have improved working [...]

Related: Balance, Boundaries, Caring, Compassion Fatigue, Energy, Learning, Stress

One of my early posts was about setting boundaries with those who are all too happy to cross them. This go around I'm taking a different slant.

I'm here to admit I haven't done a very good job at setting my own boundaries.

I'm in the middle of a situation that has made me exhausted, crabby, and out of clean underwear. I've allowed myself to [...]

Related: Career, Doctors, Expectations, Learning, Male Nurse, Mindset, New Nurse, Respect, Stereotypes

Once upon a time—straight out of college—I suffered from Doctoritis. I blame it partly on my youth. But the rest of the blame lay with Dr. Steele.

You see, I was an impressionable young man and Dr. Steele had it all: he was 29, handsome, worked out at the gym and had the muscles to prove it. He also had every woman in the hospital in [...]

Related: Communication, Complaints, Expectations, Failure, Learning, Mindset, New Grad, New Nurse, New Nurse Tips, Preceptor, Professionalism, Quitting, Seasoned Nurses, Success

Fight or flight. It’s the choice we’re given when faced with a difficult situation. When it comes to a failing precepting relationship, most new nurses choose the latter—and want to scrap their preceptor for a new-and-improved model. Kim Rapper, RN, BSN and a veteran preceptor, says to listen up: Your preceptor won’t be perfect, and you probably will have some conflicts. But that doesn’t mean [...]

Related: Attitude, Doctor-Nurse Relationships, Fear, Learning, Teamwork

We’ve heard about them—and maybe even worked with them: the cranky, power-trippy docs. The ones who don’t want to associate with nurses at all, and see them as sub-par professionals.

I work in Labor and Delivery--we do a lot of waiting for people to deliver, and the tendency is for nurses and doctors to segregate in two different areas. This seems to promote the idea that [...]

Related: Communication, Expectations, Feedback, Learning, New Grad, New Nurse, Non-Verbal Language, Orientee, Precepting, Preceptor, Stereotypes

It can be a grab bag: Will you get a good preceptor or a bad preceptor? Often you don’t
know the clear answer to that question until you’re well into your orientation. Then it may
be too late to request a change. Kim Rapper, RN, BSN and Reality RN Senior Advisor, has
had years of precepting experience. She knows the tell-tale signs of a lax preceptor. So you [...]