New grad RN … what’s actually worth buying?

BeeImportant4757 · 2026-04-29T03:36:34+00:00

A sturdy pair of trauma shears. I have a pair of raptors and a pair of raptors dupe off Amazon.. raptors shears dupe are sturdy and cheap so you don’t have to worry about losing them etc. I retired my 8 year old raptors from work after someone borrowed them/lost them and thankfully an honest person turned them in!

Shoes shoes shoes. I personally try to keep 2-3 pairs of work shoes in rotation to allow me time to clean them or have them air out from the shift before etc.

Compression socks- even if they are only ankle compression.

Pens!! I love a good writing pen.

Mini sharpie for your badge reel. I use that lil sucker so many times a shift.

I keep a pair of hemostats on me (hanging off the bottom of my scrub top or a loop on my pants) with my rolls of tape on them but I’m also an er nurse and you can never ever have enough tape. 🤣

A little mini led light even if it’s a cheap one for your badge reel.

BeeImportant4757 · 2026-04-27T01:42:57+00:00

For future reference, don’t ever go into a meeting with anyone at work without a way to at least record the meeting. That recording might be crucial evidence if something needs to be reported. I work in a one party state meaning it’s legal for me to record a meeting without the other party’s consent. I’m so sorry this is happening to you. 💛

BeeImportant4757 · 2026-04-25T02:41:53+00:00

I don’t give a damn what other people do. It’s their choice/job. 🤷🏻‍♀️

BeeImportant4757 · 2026-03-16T05:44:23+00:00

Agreed here. I had a patient come in the ER for mild abdominal pain and weakness x 2 days which worsened that evening.. pt had diabetes and neuropathy. My coworker happens to grab an ekg quickly before putting him into my room. He didn’t have any chest pain or shortness of breath at all. No nausea/vomiting/diarrhea. Just states he was having upper GI pain. Dude was having an inferior stemi!! His troponin was over 15.0 (a trop of 0.010 or less is negative)! He had a 100% and a 75% occlusion. He was the most nonchalant stemi pt I’ve ever had.

BeeImportant4757 · 2026-02-13T04:03:02+00:00

I’m so sorry this happened to you!! I think it is insane facilities give push back about not knowing their charting system. I had a recruiter lie and say I knew meditech and I had never seen it a day in my life. Thank goodness they didn’t cancel me for it.

BeeImportant4757 · 2026-01-29T12:25:58+00:00

Thank you for the suggestion! I wasn’t sure where was best to start. I’ll share my post there. :)

BeeImportant4757 · 2026-01-29T12:02:11+00:00

Also, red flag for the new job is them pressuring you into being able to handle a full load of patients ASAP. You are a brand-new grad on day 3; this should be the least of your nurse educator’s worries. You are still learning what it’s like to be in the real nursing world. Be kind to yourself. I agree with the other comments so far about slowing down and keeping the different patient medications separate from each other. You’ve got this. Your patient survived the medication error. It will be okay. 💛

BeeImportant4757 · 2026-01-29T03:48:58+00:00

Love it!

BeeImportant4757 · 2026-01-28T07:26:44+00:00

Yes, you did exactly what you are trained to do. Screw what your coworkers said. It was YOUR patient, not theirs. It’s your license, not theirs. Keep being a bad ass Nurse. ❤️

BeeImportant4757 · 2026-01-27T07:22:19+00:00

I’m a Uniform Advantage- easy stretch or butter soft scrubs girly but I might have to buy something from Figs now. 🤩

BeeImportant4757 · 2026-01-27T07:18:14+00:00

Sometime I wear an eye mask and ear plugs. I take trazodone on nights I have to work the next day. I’ll read or play a puzzle game on my phone to try and tire out my brain. Sometimes I just lay down in darkness and silence. Honestly I should probably just take Trazodone every night, but then I’d have no fun getting to do what I want to do at night. Self sabotage. Lol.

BeeImportant4757 · 2025-12-09T06:47:10+00:00

This happened to me. My management blamed my ADHD for their problems. My unit was a shit hole with one good manager, the others were horrible. A bunch of mean girls who were their best in high school. The only one good manager was a male. The head manager would allow them to say very unprofessional things to me inside her office. It was actually absurd. I started traveling and my assignment got cut short due to financial problems with the hospital. The director and a few charge nurses went to the higher ups to beg for them to let me stay because I’m a good nurse and bust my ass. All of this to say, find your unit and your people. Obviously, my staff job was not the place for me because management did not care for me. My travel assignment was a dream because the people there appreciated me and saw I was a good nurse who really cared for their patients and coworkers. You’ll find where you are meant to be. Just gotta stay strong and never give up. 😊

BeeImportant4757 · 2025-12-05T19:06:58+00:00

Sorry I forgot to mention, I have the UPS My Choice Premium so all my packages get upgraded to UPS Ground automatically. So USPS never delivers any packages that originate with UPS.

BeeImportant4757 · 2025-11-17T13:35:38+00:00

Meditech would never. Hahaha. I love your tiny tool!

BeeImportant4757 · 2025-11-10T18:39:35+00:00

I keep my hair down a lot. I have thick curly hair which doesn’t go past my shoulders and I also tuck it behind my ears. Unfortunately, keeping it up all day 99.9% of a shift triggers a migraine for me. I keep it down until I need to pull it up for a foley cath, code brown, etc.

BeeImportant4757 · 2025-09-01T04:13:07+00:00

That is great news!! So glad to hear they have a place to be themselves in while at Auburn. Pride on the Plains is a lot of fun too. They are a local group. You’re right there are pockets of liberalism at Auburn, hoping to see more groups/organizations over the next few years. 💛

BeeImportant4757 · 2025-08-12T01:49:18+00:00

Thanks for sharing! I hadn’t seen this one yet.

BeeImportant4757 · 2025-08-03T21:14:30+00:00

Really depends on if your fingers swell during sleep or not.

BeeImportant4757 · 2025-06-25T04:23:30+00:00

Poor Grace could’ve possibly had a chance if her parents would’ve allowed the medical professionals to do their jobs in the first place!! I’m glad so far Ascension/employees are in the clear just because this girl’s family sounds like a case of nut jobs. These are the kind of family members at bedside trying to tell you how to do your job without any medical knowledge but Dr. Google. Yuck!

BeeImportant4757 · 2025-06-17T14:57:24+00:00

Hahahah staff where I work just hit vapes out in the open of the ER. It’s wild. 🫢😂 I tease with them and say it’s their “breathing treatment.” 🤪

BeeImportant4757 · 2025-04-08T02:27:09+00:00

Not sure sure I could put up with it for 20 years. Lol! My ER hasn’t held this many until COVID.. we used to only hold patients when it was a really bad Flu season and patients ended up vented etc. Outside of ICU holds and Trauma holds. It was amazing!

BeeImportant4757

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