How to be a good nurse reddit. The biggest change from ICU to OR that I’ve noticed is that the staff seem very submissive. I’ve been a nurse for a year and a half, in med-surg oncology. You pay $1800 a month rent / mortgage. addressing their goals, changing their dialyisate, and other decisions made based on your nursing judgment and protocols and standing orders. I think most nurses are afraid to pull the trigger because of too many unknowns. I didn’t become a nurse till I was 22, 29 now. Desk job with low pay, and advancement through seniority as an unspoken norm. Really, my main reasoning is because I've been sickly throughout my life and I've had to interact with nurses a lot. (you can imagine the experience required to make that kind of money) Another nurse I knew quit from that hospital to go with an agency. I love it! Recently started my first nursing job ever as an OR Nurse in a large Northeast Hospital. To remain up to date, nursing students and new graduates must become lifelong learners. The only time I’d recommend someone pursue nursing is if they’re in California, bonus points for northern CA (Washington is pretty good too). Best decision I ever made getting my nursing degree at 33. My husband and I are retiring at 60 and again, I thank nursing for that. I've been worried also, about whether I'll do able to "do it all". Compassion is at the core of being a good nurse. Being a good test taker means you have good comprehension and analytical thought. Some nurses create their own cheat sheet templates and write down everything, including meds and checking them off when they've been given. Yes, there are good feel-good moments and fulfilling moments in nursing, but there is also high stress and high work loads and to top that off, the shifts in hospitals are typically 12 hours. ) Hey, thank you for the advice! You’re totally right. But you have to be a nurse first. Ayo! I started oct. Seen too many nurses get in to it for the money and job security because they read that “nurses make alotta money” only to secure a job in an area where nurses make as much as Amazon warehouse workers. Compassion. Tons of people with codependency issues get in to this career. I applied to nursing school but kept taking the courses in the programme until i decided- screw this. Also, you could get a glimpse of what nurses do and be able to speak with them about their job. But you know what, I was still a good nurse, and most of my patients loved me, because I gave them good nursing care. I had to remind a local agency once that I'm a combat veteran and was very good at It’s not as simple as “if only I had done trach care during my clinicals, I’d be such a better nurse,” or “I’m only bad at IVs because my preceptor only let me try once. Nursing school is hard, being a nurse is hard. I've been mulling over being a travel nurse but I know how I am and can be if I feel I'm getting screwed over. I had no issue memorizing the textbook for nursing, but as soon as an assessment, prioritization, or just a fact based question care up literally every answer seemed like it could be an answer. For example: If you bring home 2k a week at a staff job after benefits. The book would have made an incredible miniseries, if it went into his life and all the problems and other hospitals he worked at. The reason I had good grades prior bc I was a memorized and there always seemed to be a discrete answer. You can make much more than $4k/m. I personally think CNAs who become nurse provide some of the best patient care. But yes, it's a very attractive option for those who get burnt out dealing with day to day BS in nursing. In my city, many nurses know of my ADN program and they always have good things to say about how skilled and hands on the students are. ) I make good money and have a great work life balance. If the nurse blinks to where you are currently, you have two ways to juke her: Cut corners after she blinks, making her hit the end of the object you cut the corner on. My cohort of around 30 had 8 males. The nurse working rehab is not the same as a nurse working cardiac. Just as A+ nursing isn’t the contemplative, quieter, hallmark moment conversation before death, nurse. It is a fun rollercoaster. I have heard nothing but good things about being a nurse in CA besides that it is hard to get a hospital job as a new grad in some areas. I'd argue average students may even be better. How is it to work in the NICU? I’m a nurse with one year experience. A good nurse gives the information they see to the doctor, a great nurse can sort that information and prioritize Just know that nursing school is so hard mentally. There’s occasions where you may need a female present or performing a task due to patient preference. You learn how to be a nurse when you start actually working. It is not easy. I'll see plenty of meds as a nurse anyway! Sad though, i really love pharmacology and pharmokinetics. I already deal with anxiety and depression and I’m afraid becoming a nurse will worsen my mental health. ) It is your responsibility to predict and overcome all of life’s obstacles. I work as a CNA in a nursing home now and my nurse who used to be a CNA always helps with brief changes, repositioning clients, bed baths, dressing, transferring etc whereas the nurses who never worked as a CNA expect me to do all of the patient care. The most important thing in nursing is being willing to rework your answer so that you know you got it right. To add, nursing is such a diverse field that not all nurses are created equal. Nurses have long hours, they deal with copious bodily fluids, and it's pretty stressful to boot. I really should make a little “work” me. While you are focused on your patient, the bosses are focused on everything. 17 years as a nurse and 9 hospitals!!! However nursing school is still nursing and it’s a time where you get to build your practice and decide the kind of nurse you’re going to be. Thank you all so much for these responses! It’s hard going from nursing school where every task was given a score/grade! I’ve realized in the “real” world I’ve started to question myself and whether I am doing a good job as a nurse- (maybe because I don’t have that instant feedback that lets me know to the decimal point how I’m doing?). I was always a straight A student, but still didn't think I had a chance. You have to figure stuff out without all the data given to you by monitors and lab results. (2) My parents are nurses. I accepted the job when i first became an RN because ICU rejected me and i was too afraid to aim for NICU, which i also liked. To me it was (and still is) like declaring your major “undecided” in college except I am undecided in the field of health care. Each patient gets a quarter. Here's the reality, algebra does not fit into nursing. Yeah I worked with a nurse who scheduled himself opposite days as his wife for that reason- so childcare was split 50/50. Where you got your nursing degree matters less than where you got your nursing experience. You will be the primary nurse for several of the patients in the clinic. ) while having a preceptor to fall back on to talk through what you have learned. Well other than the initial nurse doing exactly nothing during the code which they called after less than 2 minutes, it's pretty unbelievable as a medical show. One of the few advantages of nursing is the ability to try different areas and specialties. Learn how to cluster your care. Feb 12, 2024 · Here are twelve steps to help you become a good nurse: 1. This is my first job. ” Sometimes hospitals will align the informatics position with the base pay scale for bedside nurses, so if you’re used to making differentials then you won’t see that in the new salary. Nursing is just like any other job. The nurses don't even assess their patients! Why not get a simple consult from a real nurse? And noone takes that long to get the body ready for the family to see. I guess it's good to have that preference in the future though. If something seems funny, talk to your nurse. The pay scale is so vastly different between hospitals that it’s hard to really have an answer on what’s “normal. Compassionate care enhances patient outcomes by promoting emotional well-being and encouraging adherence to treatment plans. I was kvetching about the amount of money going to the nurse agencies when my co-worker pounded her desk and said, "[Naudilent], [we should leave and go be nurses!" Not to brag but I’m a pretty good nurse. Get to experience the not so glamorous things of health care right from the start. I use checkboxes for daily tasks, and I keep a running Scribble quarter of ‘do this thing!’ Some are more extroverted some are more introverted. I want to become a nurse because I love science and helping others. So much less stressful (was also an icu nurse prior to transferring to the OR in the same hospital), schedule is good! (4 x 10hr shifts), there’s a lot to learn and I think it’s all very interesting. It’s often easy to tell the student nurses and new nurses who have CNA experience—they’re usually more comfortable with things like brief changes and helping people move, they have better time management skills, and they’re more comfortable sooner in their training. The 'lot of money' in travel nursing comes from tax free stipends. Hospice nursing is unlike any other nursing I have ever done (cardiac step down, CVICU, clinical research). Plus if I want a new refrigerator I can pick up 2 OT shifts and I'm good to go. Good schools. The nurse from a Skilled Nursing Facility is not the same as the nurse from a city hospital. Do you really want to be a nurse? Seems like an obvious statement, but consider that money shouldn't be the only thing on your mind. At the end of the day my reasons for going into nursing were the demand for nurses and the ability to specialize down the road. 3 days working and 4 days off is an amazing work life balance in my opinion. Precepting is MAYBE a glass of water. A nurse practitioner is a registered nurse who then went on to get their master's degree (or sometimes a doctorate) to get their nurse practitioner degree. Yes, 'average' students become good nurses all the time. No debt I’ve wanted to become a registered nurse for some time, but recently I did some more research into the career and saw quite a few negative things come up that I didn’t know about. They had one day off as a family & when that got to be too much she dropped to part time, but the loss in wages from 1 shift per week was still a much smaller hit than a 2-income family faced with daycare expense would pay. You should add to to it as new situatuons arise. Personality wise, ICU nurses are generally a bit OCD. I grew up very comfortable. Everything bad that happens normally melts away in a high stimulation environment. (Yes, the stupid white board matters. 2 days ago · 10. The skills you’ll learn you will use as an RN, so it’s a great idea. Your desire to help people is great! It’s just that the system prevents you from being the super-nurse you want to be. I don't have the need for that as a nursing student, nor the mental space. I put 3 kids through college debt free and I thank nursing for that. You will spend a lot of time communicating with the doctors about the patient. Ask the nurses you work with questions on their experiences. Over 35+ years I have done med surg, step down, ICU/CCU, Acute Dialysis, Home dialysis, pediatric dialysis and now Traveling dialysis. You will always doubt yourself in nursing school. I finished all of my prerequisites at a community College and just got into a 4-year nursing program. How a good psych nurse can deescalate a situation can be amazing to watch. One last thing - if your school or the hospitals ever have career fairs make sure you go to them!. I don’t hate what I do but I want to do something different. TLDR: A “great nurse” doesn’t perform best in a handful of areas - but above average in all areas Of clinical practice. Lots of people quitting nursing for various reason like there being a nursing shortage, nurses being overworked and leading to burn out. Office nurse, TeleHealth, school nursing, occupational nursing, case management. More areas are opening all the time. I also forgot about the fact that I can go through what I’m doing with the patient, as that definitely would fill the silence but also keep them from feeling confused and worried about what’s happening. Took me years to learn to make small talk, and I kept my interactions with doctors to the bare minimum. The nurse from your hospital is not the same as the nurse from my hospital. Everyone wants to be a CRNA. The good news is I've done 3+ years in a level 1 major Los Angeles teaching hospital, 1+ year as a travel nurse working stepdown, and now 1. I’ve never met a nurse that was BEST at everything. Clinicals and precepting in nursing school is NOTHING compared to actual on the job training. I learned how valuable that good nurse has on someone and how it can really make a patient feel. The healthcare field is continually shaped by new research, technologies, and best practices. It’s all the same experience. You can’t be a a good nurse if you are not a good employee. Anywhere besides California and Washington you are really rolling the dice and most of the hospitals are not good places to work Low pay, being treated like crap, the new CDC guidelines, unsafe ratios, lack of PPE, etc. It just depends on how you use them. Number 1 is super important and doesn't just apply to vitals. On the floor you can look at the morning labs and call it a day, in the icu you should look at the last 3 days worth of labs and notice what direction they’re all going in. One of the older nurses was closer to 42 dollars an hour. Embrace lifelong learning. I've been an RN for 7 years with my background primarily in the ER. It also means you’re motivated to learn. However, be warned: Bad/Ok nurses will mainly stick to one or the other and rarely do the other, while good nurses will do a mixture of both. Depending on how you go about your lifestyle, this means travel nursing may not be worth it for you. We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. I suck at math, but I can still be a good nurse. I started working at an urgent care last month. Jun 30, 2024 · Here are some tips and strategies to guide you on your path to becoming a good nurse: 1. Good luck and bedside is awesome in that hours seem to pass like minutes. Patient not voiding, increased pain, refusing cares or activities, IV looks funky, or they just seem "off"- give the nurse a heads up. Communicate. Hell, if you look into the drug diversion programs created by the BRN, they basically say it themselves. Once I pass that exam, I will be a dual-certified FNP/ENP (emergency nurse practitioner). You will use your nursing judgment a lot. I will warn one thing: If you do this for the money, make sure your job market actually pays good money. 0 and be great at it. Vacations to Disneyland and Hawaii. A+ nursing isn’t the super extroverted, bubbly type of nursing. Take care of yourself first so that you can take care of others. Don’t be a dick. I literally didn’t know anything. " It potentially eases patient anxiety and has the added bonus of making your coworker feel good and promoting positive work culture. Whenever I look for videos of Psych Nurses it's just a long boring video and I'm looking for more detail. The nurses at my hospital were making 28 an hour. Clinicals is a drop of water in the ocean. I don’t think there are necessarily good or bad qualities for being a nurse. Compassion fosters trust, helping patients feel cared for and understood during vulnerable times. Work as cna/pct/ nurse aide- whatever the specific hospital calls it. RN academia and education is rigorous, but so is the actual work in the profession - you are jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. A good icu nurse doesn’t look at any finding in isolation. It's like practicing super independently and you have to have really strong communication and nursing skills. 5+ years in Medical/Respiratory/Covid ICU at that same level 1 Los Angeles teaching hospital. I know nursing school is going to take alot of time and dedication, but I also feel the weight of having responsibilities (bills etc. I usually do my dosage calculations several times. The first step in becoming a good ICU nurse is realizing that you are new and that you are learning. One of our most important duties is to recognize trends early enough to intervene before the patient crumps. I'm the sort of person who jots basic notes down everywhere on a blank paper with lots of arrows going from one thing to the next, but I don't really write a whole lot down after and prefer to keep a mental If the other nurses seem to regard a CNA or tech with a lot of respect, that’s useful info. When i google i find different stats regarding salary in CA, and anyone I know who has moved there has made much more than that. Nursing is also an incredibly versatile field and nurses work in some places you might not even expect - if you hate bedside, you don't have to stay there, etc. Nurse practitioners do many of the same things doctors do in that they see patients, diagnose diseases, and prescribe medication. Nice cars. I'm in pre-nursing right now and I want to become a Psych NP in the Future ( But I'm just focusing on being a good Psych RN right now ) My problem is it's hard for me to really master might craft when I don't know much of what goes on. I'm early in my training (finished the first of six months worth) and I'm starting to get some actual clinical time and responsibilities (Prepping supplies, flipping supplies onto fields, ect. I was afraid to delegate anything as a new nurse, but I learned that I could depend on certain people. And there's tons of incompetent nurses who squeak through the system. Clustered care in nursing means completing related patient care tasks at the same time. A lot of us nurses have anxiety, depression, ADHD, and other mental disorders - it’s important you get a handle on your mental health before going into the field. Started my residency for nursing in July and finished end of October. Yes, the doctors make the orders, but the nurse turns the doctor’s head. Then they pass a board exam so they can practice. Nice houses. I found that it really brought out the enabler in me and I was giving in a way that was not the most therapeutic. True there is a LOT more to being a nurse, but those things are certainly helpful. Great initial guide. Adhd and nursing work really well together. (1) Family are nurses and even nurses who became doctors and pharmacists. I was a CNA while in nursing school, and felt like it did prepare me a little bit better for what I'd encounter as a nurse. Patho is what you need to understand the assessments, treatments (and which to avoid/question), education, diagnostics. Some days you'll come home feeling proud and other days you'll wish you had never gone to nursing school at all. Some nurses have been not so nice, while others were well, really good. I've made a lot of friends at work who have gone to my school. See how you do with direct patient care. This is the way medicine is headed. I’d prefer to work with a nurse that had a broad skillset - than a nurse that was the BEST at documenting. The book was so good! The movie was also good, but I don't think it did a good job portraying how extreme and extensive his career and killings were. Yes, I am an introvert and grew up extremely sheltered, so I was still very shy when I started working as a nurse. First, just became someone is a good nurse, it doesn't mean they are a good person. You have good days and bad days. 3 days is full time. Numbers you need to know by heart: Charge, Respiratory, Pharmacy These will help you when you get a patient who comes in looking like crap I would also know the resident/doctor's number on any critical patient so that you can quick call them to bedside instead of looking for them around the ER. It's so more than the book work and only nursing students understand the extent of the mental drainage. Being new is great because you have the ability to really pick everyone’s brains (doctors, RTs, other nurses, etc. Also, nursing brain is a paper folded in quarters. But that shows you will be a GREAT nurse because you will never think you know it all and will be willing to learn everyday! You got this! For example, if you do bedside report, introduce the new nurse and say something like, "This is Tom, he's a great nurse and he's going to take good care of you this shift. This is just a thought I wondered if anyone else shared. Once you learn something once it doesn’t take as much to relight that neural circuit when you need it. Patient care is a crucial part of being a nurse, and you would be able to see if you enjoy it by working as a tech. 29th and I love it. ” You become a good nurse through on the job training, not from nursing school. You say you’re sick of the trope that grades don’t make a good nurse and then you reinforce the trope by saying yes you can get a good job without a 4. After a few years, I ended up paying for the doctors and nurses the prison system used. 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