Surviving the Wards : New Grad Nurse Edition

I am 2 and a half months into working as a new grad nurse and already I feel like I have been working for 2 and a half YEARS. Nursing is truly not for the weak. I feel a lot more settled in my new role as a nurse , that transition from intern nurse to registered general nurse was bumpy but here I am , somewhat thriving and loving my nursing life (on a good day lol). Without further ado here are the ways I survived as a newly qualified nurse and how you can too !

1. Check your pockets before leaving the clinical area

Did I ever tell yous about the time that I took the drug trolley keys home on my first week ? Not once but twice in one week … which in the nursing world which was over the span of 3 working days. I never anticipated how easy it is to just pocket the keys and not look back. I was too eager get home and I paid the price with petrol money and and the walk of shame back into the ward after I had skipped home. I really drove 35 minutes HOME with the keys and both times obviously had to drive back with them. It was kinda funny but in hindsight its also quite serious especially for patient with time sensitive medication e.g Sinimet which is a Parkinsons medication. CHECK THOSE POCKETS ! (I have been scarred for the rest of my career and will never make that mistake AGAIN !)

2. Ask for help

Asking for help is never something to be ashamed about , not as a new grad , not at any ANY stage of your nursing career. No one knows how to do EVERYTHING and that is the beauty of the multidiciplinary care team. While on the topic of asking for help I’d like to emphasise the importance of working within your scope of practice. If you can’t do something let a more experienced member of staff know so they can help you with the task , don‘t “fake it till you make it” and pretend to know what you are doing. As healthcare professionals patient centered care is our priority so put your pride aside , there is no shame in not knowing something and needing to ask for help.

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3. Learn to Delegate and Prioritize tasks

Every patient is imporant and should be treated as such, however prioritzing tasks is the art of understanding which tasks are of more importance at a particular time. For example someone needs to go to theatre vs someone wanting you to make them a cup of tea. The cuppa can wait , OR you can delegate the cuppa task to someone else e.g the kitchen staff or a healthcare assistant. I used to overwhelm myself with wanting to do all tasks at once, the sooner I cut that out the better a nurse I became.

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4. Link in with other New Grad nurses

It’s comforting to know you are not the only one who feels like a fish out of water in your new role. But how will you know if you never ask your colleagues how they are getting on ? Something that really helped and encouraged me at the beginning of my nursing career was talking with other new graduate nurses about their experience so far as a new grad , what areas they are thriving in and what areas they are struggling with etc. I love that we can bounce off eachother with advice or sometimes just whave someone who relates with you.

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5. Reflect

I love to journal and reflect , it‘s a way for me to offload how I feel and go over things I have learned. Get a diary specifically for nursing and use it to reflect , jot down things you don’t know , how you felt throughout the shift , how you handled various situations etc. One of my favourite things about doing this is going back and reading my entries after a while , it’s so beautiful to see how far I have come . How much I’ve grown and how much I have learned.

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6. Pattern your lifestyle

How you live will affect how you work. Going to bed late every night and eating junk food all the time is not going to affect you positvely in work and as a matter of fact it wont affect you positively in general . Take care of yourself and your health the same way you take care of others. Stay hydrated , get enough sleep and excersise. These are all the basics but how many of us actually apply these “basics” ? They are actually life changing lol.

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7. Arrive to work on time

Getting to work a little bit earlier allows you to enjoy the “calm before the storm“. Put your bags down , get a cup of tea , see where you will be working that day and just breathe. Once handover starts it’s go go go until hometime. Set yourself up for success.

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8. Look it up / Ask

Like I have stressed above in point 1 , you will not know everthing ! You won’t know every medication , you won’t know what every piece of equipment and how to use it etc. You can look up medicines and you can ask to be taught how to use the equipment. It’s a danger to the patient for you to give a medication you dont know whats it’s for / to use equipment on them you are not familiar with. Not only is it dangerous the patient its dangerous for you too #protectyourpin

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9. One step at a time

One of my biggest struggles during the first few weeks of working was trying do do everything at once , leading to me making mistakes. This point is similar to point 3 about delegation and task priortization. If you could do everyhting efficiently alone and at once then there would be no need to have colleauges , the shift is 12 hours for a reason , there is indeed a lot to be done but take it one step at a time , it’s not just about how much you did ,but how well did you do it ?

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10. Use the resources that are available to you

As tedious as doing e-learning programmes are / attending study days can be ? They are HELPFUL ! In the world of healthcare learning never stops and that saying “everyday is a school day” is quite literal. Especially as a new grad when are learning so much information at once! It can be hard to remember everything , so I encourage you to attend those study days , do the e-learning programmes , read the posters etc. Make USE of every resource that is available to you.

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Now go forth and FLOURISH

I am rooting for you

Love Jen the RGN x

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