Your First Year As a Nurse: Making the Transition from Total Novice to Successful Professional - Softcover

Cardillo R.N., Donna

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0761533338 ISBN 13: 9780761533337

Publisher: Three Rivers Press, 2001

Synopsis

Survive and Thrive As a Nurse from Day One!
Welcome to the compassionate and caring world of nursing! You are entering a profession that offers great rewards and endless opportunities. But you must prepare for the challenges ahead and do everything you can to ensure that you experience the best that nursing has to offer. This invaluable book will get you started!
Written by an experienced R.N., Your First Year As a Nurse provides practical, real-world solutions to the profession's most common and difficult issues. Inside, you'll find out what you really need to know, who you need to know, how to avoid missteps, and where you can go for help when you need it. Gritty, witty, and full of invaluable tips and advice from first year nurses, this book is your personal mentor for your new career.
Ensure a healthy first year by knowing how to:
·Acquire the job that's perfect for you
·Create your own patient-centered style of nursing
·Develop positive relationships with doctors, patients, and other nurses
·Stay positive, deal with conflict and adversity, and avoid burnout
·Network, enhance your education and career, and become a leader
"Combines common sense with the wisdom of a seasoned professional. A valuable resource for new graduates as they begin practice."—Lucille A. Joel, R.N., Ed.D., FAAN, professor, Rutgers College of Nursing, and former president, American Nurses Association
"A must-read for all nurses, not just new graduates!"—Joan Orseck, R.N., president, National Association for Health Care Recruitment

About this title

About the Author

Donna Wilk Cardillo, R.N., whose nursing career covers more than 20 years, is president of Cardillo & Associates. One of the country's leading experts on nursing career management, she lives in Wall, New Jersey.

From the Back Cover

Survive and Thrive As a Nurse from Day One!

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

CHAPTER 1 GETTING STARTED

It s your first day as a nurse and, boy, are you nervous. Did you make the right decision? Is this the right career for you? Can you handle the responsibility? All of these feelings are normal. When the reality of your chosen profession hits, it can be overwhelming. But never lose sight of the reason you chose to enter this glorious profession to help others, make a difference, and make the world a better place to be. That s what it s all about.

Most of us started out scared, nervous, and perhaps even feeling inadequate. Remember that even after just one day on the new job, you ll be more experienced at the end of the day than you were that morning. After each day, you will be further along than you were the day before. Before you know it, days will turn into weeks, weeks into months, and finally you ll find yourself with a full year of experience under your belt!

It s important, in this early phase of your career, to set small, realistic goals for yourself. Set an initial goal to get through orientation. Then set a goal to get through your first three months, then 6 months, and then one year. Most experienced nurses agree that it takes about a year before you feel comfortable with most common situations. It will probably take two years to be completely comfortable with all situations. So be patient and just keep moving forward.

In many ways, your education is just beginning. I used to say, jokingly, that I never learned anything until I got out of nursing school. Although that isn t completely accurate, when I was finally working on my own as a nurse and was out of the student mode and no longer in the safe confines of my instructor s wing, it sometimes felt like I was starting from scratch. For certain, I ll never forget how overwhelmed and scared I felt the first time I was handed the narcotics keys to hold onto during my shift. I wanted to say, Oh, you ve made a mistake. I m not responsible enough to carry these keys. I suddenly realized the responsibility I had. I wondered if I could meet everyone s expectations.

I also remember how I would gaze at more experienced nurses with awe. They seemed so confident, so in control, so calm in a crisis, so all-knowing. I couldn t imagine that I would ever reach that level of practice.

But an amazing thing happened. Not only did I continue to learn and grow in my new career, but here I am, more than 20 years later, loving every minute of this wonderful profession and giving advice to other nurses. I ve come a long way from being a scared, self-conscious rookie nurse who thought that the person who gave me the narcotics keys was not thinking clearly. You, too, will someday look back and see how far you have come.

In fact, you ve already come a long way. Phase one of your education and training was your formal education. Consider your first job as a nurse to be phase 2.

Don t be too hard on yourself in the beginning. You re not expected to know everything as a new graduate. In fact; no one, not even the most experienced nurse, doctor, or other practitioner, knows everything. For each of us, myself included, learning occurs on an ongoing basis. If you re not learning, you re stagnating.

So now it is time to begin phase two of your learning process: your first job. Where do you start? What do you need to know? The key to getting the job you want is to have a plan, prepare, and dive in!

Edition details

• Publisher: Three Rivers Press
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0761533338
• ISBN 13: 9780761533337
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288