I have just finished my first week of a new career as an RN. I will orient on the floor for two weeks, take a week of hospital wide classes and tests, and continue with orienting to the floor - med/surg. I was an excellent student and passed my boards with relative ease. That said, Im blown away by what i just don't know about floor/unit nursing.
Please don't take this the wrong way, but as a heterosexual male in this field, im very outnumbered. Female nurses, especially ones who are experienced and in a hurry, can be rather cut-throat and short with everyone around them. This can be exacerbated by the hectic and stressful environment. I need constantly remind myself that this new career is a privilege, and not an entitlement. I accept that i need to be just as focused on the bottom line as the preceptor who is "babysitting" me. I believe I will be a better nurse for it. So far, they all collectively allowed me to safely fall on my face. I appreciate that. As for orienting with an eventual co-worker I will keep a few things in mind.
It is easy to flex one's experience in the face of ignorance. While a valuable motivational device, usually fuctions to boost the ego of the individual who initiates it. This may even be by accident, unknowingly doing so in a time constraint or out of frustration for a hectic situation. Often this interaction may become personal, as nursing should be (to some extent). I was "lit up" a bit by someone who felt that this was an appropriate technique to implement towards me in the presence of the entire staff. I submit that this was a distraction to my learning process. In retrospect, the only effect this had was to decimate what confidence I had carefully assembled. I know it FEELS good to be a big fish in a small pond, however, it would be productive not to take that feeling for a ride with someone until you know them better. It only shows this orientee that someone obviously got one's goat at one time... and now it's payback. Enough venting.
The throbbing hoards of tedious details to be amassed on a med/surg/ortho hospital floor are enough to make someone throw up. Im blown away. The paperwork is going to take me a year to figure out... and will prob change in the coming months. At this point, one week in, I simply don't want to hurt anyone. At the least it is overwhelming. I do enjoy being busy. In fact, I love it. But this is going to take some cognitive stamina on my behalf. I need the preceptors I have, and all their experience to learn this set of skills. I trust my assessment skills, and I have good instincts. However, it can be difficult to focus concretely on one patient when their will be three or four more to care for. New orients need to be encouraged to ASK, ASK, ASK what they don't know. I would certainly never hesitate to tell someone I am not comfortable with something. Im not afraid to look dumb, and that will make me more prone to take more information from nurses who know.

Related: Anxiety, Male Nurse