Experienced nurses are an example of how to avoid burn out as they have found ways to cope with and love the profession for the long haul. And yes, I believe that time makes a good nurse even better!  There of course is always an exception to the rule, but for the most part I am in awe of the nurses I am working with and am enjoying watching them in action. As always, I am realizing I have a lot to learn—much of which will take a lot of time. One day I hope to be a “lifer” who is an example of the excellence our profession has to offer.

This is an excerpt from a blog post over at Scrubs (Yes, the other avenue for which I blog). Prisca is a new nurse and she has a great insight as to what a ‘seasoned’ or ‘lifer’ nurse has and what traits we nurses should all strive to possess.

Here are just a couple of those traits:

• Lifers are calmer in emergencies. Whereas I tend to still freeze up a bit during true emergencies, the experienced nurse moves with a fluidity and assuridity that is remarkable. They don’t seem to question their actions and I can see how refined their critical thinking has become.
• Communication is more effective. These nurses say what they mean, concisely, clearly and accurately. When they are questioned—by docs, other nurses or patients, they answer without hesitation and seem so sure of themselves.

Please head on over(follow the link below) and read the rest. It’s worth your time. Way to go Prisca!

Working with “Lifers” | Scrubs – The Nurse’s Guide to Good Living

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Continuing on with my theme of blog posts for all my fellow bloggers who are new nurses.

There are two types of new nurses. And they are two very different extremes.

The I-Know-It-All

These nurses can either be green behind the ears or actually have experience under their belts. They believe they have been taught all they need to know.As a new nurse, they feel their schooling created the expert nurse they believe themselves to be now.The experienced nurse will cite and refer to their previous hospital or setting, and that they were taught all they need to know there.This type of nurse does not accept criticism. They get offended by any sort of suggestions, and will laugh or chuckle anytime you try to help them out. As if we are wasting their time. For some reason they feel they can never do anything wrong.

The I-Don’t-Know Anything

These nurses have stage fright to the Nth degree. Once again they can be a green behind the ears GN or a seasoned nurse. Somewhere along the line they lost their confidence in their skills, which lead to utilizing their skills less, to not being able to perform their skills. The skills can range from the complex to the simple. These nurses want feedback and need reassurance , but get easily offended and have a thin outer shell. Any type of criticism is interpreted as a personal blow or a demeanor to them as a person, not just as a nurse. For some reason they feel they can never do anything right.

As a new nurse I would encourage and plea with you to be neither one of these two while at the same time being both of them (Yes that was double talk)

What I mean is to emulate all their good characteristics, while eliminating all the bad.

Stay right in the middle. Stay balanced.

• Have confidence in your abilities as a nurse, no matter how much or how little experience you may possess. You got this far on purpose. Nobody did it for you. You earned your spot, now be sure to maintain and grow.
• Know that you will NEVER know everything. As a nurse you will learn something new everyday, and yes their will always be something that crosses your path that will make you say WTF?
• Be sure to know the difference between confidence and arrogance. There are ‘strong’ nurses and then there are ‘strong- minded’ nurses (we have other colorful definitions we use to describe them)
• It’s OK to forget, it’s OK to make a mistake, and it’s OK to need more time than others to complete something. That’s why it’s called practice. The more you do it, the better it gets. For you, for your colleagues, and of course for the patient. The key here being, to correct the mistake so that you don’t do it again.

Nursing is a learning process. You will learn more about yourself, your skill and your profession each day that passes.

Remember how much you didn’t know in the beginning? Just imagine how much more you’ll know tomorrow.

There are a handful of new nurses out there (at least that I’m aware of) from my blogosphere. I thought I’d touch on a subject that will be in the forefront of most of your minds.

Your orientation with you preceptor(s).

Yep. I went through it. Yep, your preceptor went through it. All nurses have gone through it, in one form or another. Some of us had a longer bout than others. Some of us had more on our plate than others, but we all have that dreaded ‘orientation’ under our belts.

Your FIRST orientation is the worst. You have to pull double duty. You not only have to learn the layout of the land, how things work, and how things are done in your particular area of employment, you still have to learn the basics to being a new nurse. Yes nursing school taught you what they considered the basics, even may have given you a ‘taste’ of what the real stuff is like. But believe-you-me nursing school is NOT the same as the ‘real world’ of nursing (I hope that didn’t sound offensive).

Like most of us, you want to excel. You want to learn, be that proverbial sponge for information, experiences, and how-to’s. You want to exceed not only your preceptor’s, but your own expectations of how you should perform. And most of all, you want to shake off the ‘orientation’ label as soon as possible!

So when given the ‘go’ word, you want off of that dang-blasted orientation. You want that rush of being on your own. You want the respect of being the independent, self-motivated, critical thinker that you know you are!

STOP

Whatever you do, don’t rush.

Whatever you do, take your time.

WHATEVER your do, don’t let them coerce you into LESS time on orientation!

I’m here to encourage you to exercise some patience. We all know how it feels. We all wanted it as bad as you do. But we all learned the hard way that orientation is THE IDEAL place for learning the ropes, honing your basic skills, and progressing into that bad-ass nurse we all know you can be.

Rushing off of orientation only accomplishes one thing. It creates another staff position. Nothing more. Nothing less.

It does not benefit you, nor your nursing skills or experience. It in fact robs you of some much needed learning.

Remember, orientation is the time where you have that proactive direct learning environment. Where you learn all the tips and tricks to make your day a lil’ less hectic. Where you assimilate and consume more than you produce.

If anything, it’s the only place where you can almost feel ‘comfortable’ to make a mistake. (Yeah, I know there IS no such thing) When you make a mistake on orientation (you noticed I say WHEN and not IF), it is met with much less stress and anxiety because the mistakes are an expected portion of the process. And your preceptor will be by your side to help you through that extremely uncomfortable time.

As a new nurse, mistakes WILL be made.

As a new nurse, task performance will take 3 times longer than your veteran colleagues.

When you ‘water-skip’ through orientation, instead of it happening during orientation, it will happen when you’re the decision maker.

Take the time to learn now. You as well as your co-workers will benefit from it later.

Welcome to this wonderful world of nursing. I do hope you enjoy the ride as much as I have and still do!

Best of luck!

Carpe Diem

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