RN, BSN
Your life in nursing thus far has been full of late-night studying, exams, clinical, seminars, and probably lots of caffeine. When analyzed, it is easy to have a negative connotation to the most trusted profession. This makes starting your first year in the life of a “baby nurse” quite treacherous.
The first step to conquering your first year as a nurse is realizing everything you have overcome to get in the spot you currently hold. Let yourself feel the overwhelming sense of pride at your pinning ceremony, your graduation, and especially when you find out you passed your NCLEX. These things are not miniscule. They take a great deal of intelligence, strength, and dedication.
Take time to reflect on the metamorphoses you endured. You are soon to become the person that comforts patients in their darkest times, advocate for those that do not have a voice, and be who the patient thanks for saving his/her life.
What happens next? You have a world of opportunity at your feet. Turn your fear of the unknown into motivation to embark on the most ambivalent, confusing, challenging, but most rewarding journey you have experienced.
As obvious as this may sound, do not undermine the importance of showcasing your intent of tapping into you preceptor’s knowledge. Demonstrate your eagerness to learn and be involved. Not only will this start the building blocks for making you a strong nurse, but it will build a strong basis for building relationships with your coworkers, especially the preceptor-orientee relationship.
When you’re a baby nurse, having a relationship with your preceptor is beneficial. It aids in building a space in which you feel open to asking questions and to making mistakes. Being attentive to your preceptor will show that you respect their time and effort in assisting you to expand your knowledge. Some examples of this can include showing up early, coming prepared with pens and markers, bringing a notepad, and asking lots of questions.
As a baby nurse, it is easy to idolize the nurses who seem to encapsulate the knowledge to handle every critical situation with ease.
It is common to be anxious and sometimes feel like you do not know the basics. It can also be disheartening to come to the bedside and experience a lack of knowledge and skills.
Nursing school seems to scratch a small surface regarding skills that nurses need. Most of a nurse’s skills can only be taught in real life. Remind yourself that mistakes you make now are the lessons you carry with you to assist your growth.
Nursing is a part of your life but it’s not your whole life. Use your days off to enjoy time with friends and family, relax, workout, and eat your favorite guilty pleasure food. Once you start using your days off to do things that you enjoy, the performance of your skills can greatly improve.
We have some great tips on how to take care of yourself when you’re off the clock in “Surviving the First Year” as a new nurse. Once you clock out, be proud of yourself for doing your best and let the rest go. Rejuvenate on your days off and come back to work feeling refreshed. Balance is the key!
While in nursing school, you may have your heart set on specializing in cardiology but once you finally land a job, you may quickly realize that the position is less than what you expected.
When this occurs, it is important to not blame your unhappiness on nursing itself. Many times, it takes time to find your true passionate area in nursing and as an unseasoned baby nurse, time must be allowed.
Be mindful to explore what interests you the most to have a starting point for your career, but always remember that it is never too late to try something else that may excite your soul.
Be patient with yourself. The first year as a baby nurse can be full of emotions. Let yourself feel any type of emotion that you are feeling and validate those feelings.
It is okay to feel scared, sad, exhausted, excited, or any other emotion that you may be feeling. Challenge those emotions and remember how intelligent and brave you are to be entering a world where you are about to make a significant difference in the lives of individuals.
Let yourself make mistakes, learn new things, ask questions, and get comfortable being uncomfortable. The journey as a baby nurse will take you places you could never imagine – enjoy the ride!
It’s important to remember that a new baby nurse cannot know everything in the first year. It takes time, practice, experience, and varying situations that help to develop the journey of a nurse and all that constitutes the first year.
Remember that a new nurse should not expect to know and understand all the ins and outs of nursing, but rather, with time, small baby steps, and varying experiences, the character of a nurse is developed.
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