First a shout out to all my fellow classmates and our instructors. Can't believe how quickly this semester is going by and how much we have learned this year already.
The other day someone told me that I will be a great nurse. Wow!! What do you say to that? In my mind I quickly did all the buts...
- but I can't get an IV in for the life of me
- but I might not pass the NCLEX
- but I haven't put in a catheter on a real person
- but I haven't memorized all the medications yet
- but, but, but, but.........
Instead, I just humbly said thanks. As the date of our graduation slowly inches closer, I have to keep reminding myself that I will be a nurse. And I hope that I will be someone's great nurse. I think it is really true that people's perception of you is changed the minute they find out you are a nurse. Their expectation of you rises - you shine a little brighter!! Am I ready for that? I hope. It made me realize that I need to keep up the hard work, learn all those medications, put in that IV and catheter, pass the NCLEX. I want to be that great nurse!!
Has this happened to you yet? How did you respond?
okay who is this??? Yes, of course it's happened to me. I do the exact same thing and instantly think of the "buts" I always doubt myself and think "can I really do this?" how scary it is to have the responsibility of being a nurse. At the same time what an amazing opportunity in our lives to better ourselves and be able to help people. I have recently found what I think I truly want to do. Besides peds I really want to be a drug and alcohol and psych nurse...I loved my mental health rotation and learning about Bert etc. We have great instructors and I know we will all be wonderful nurses!!!
ReplyDeleteGraduation is quickly approaching and the reality that we will be RN's is amazing. It seemed so far away when the journey began and now it's just around the corner. I scares me to think about all of the responsibility, and the knowledge that I don't feel I have yet, but I also try to focus on the fact that we will always be learning and we will never know all there is for us to know! When people have told me I will make a great nurse, it makes me realize that I really am doing the right thing and it will be so worth it in the end!!!!
ReplyDeleteHoly cow! Yes I have experienced all of those feelings and more. I started the semester eager to graduate. As it draws nearer, I am scared to death. What about all the things I ahve not seen? What about the medications that I don't know? The dummy in lab looks so different than that person lying in the hospital bed. In all of these questions I always arrive at the fact that I will be a nurse. As Sandy states, it makes you feel confident in your choice to become a nurse when someone says "you'll make a great nurse." Though the resposibility is huge, we are trained to handle it. We will always be learning new ways to do things. All of the feelings that we have are normal and we will all make great nurses. Of course it is worth it!
ReplyDeleteI wrote my leadership paper about reducing medication errors. I discussed what a medication error was and gave a few examples of how we might reduce them in addition to the current methods. One interesting quote I found stated "the nurse is considered to be the faulty one" in the medication error world. (Jones 2009)
ReplyDeleteI pointed out that the medication process goes through several others before it gets to us. I added a few new ways to reduce med errors. One is to hang a sign in the pt rooms that reads "did the nurse check your armband today." Another way I mentioned was to ask for help with teaching if you don't feel you can do an adequate job. There was a study about calculations as well. It showed that having a practical test along witht the written helped nurses improve thier calculating. My suggestion was to calculate as much as possible with an instructor at the med cart during clinical rotations. The last one I mentioned was having less distractions during med pass. That will take an effort from the entire nursing team.
I feel that all of these are possible to accomplish. They are far from certain and from sovling the problem. As with evidence based practice we should always be looking for ways toimprove the current system.