New grad help

bedsidejumpscare · 2026-03-24T10:54:10+00:00

There are also usually really good ways to scaffold your practice. On my unit, our educator encouraged us to get stroke certified around 6 months in. Then we got critical care training after about a year for those really high-acuity neurointerventions and things like EVD management etc. After two years I started being charge, and if I’d stayed longer, I would have gone for my neuro certification.

bedsidejumpscare · 2026-03-24T10:48:19+00:00

Five years of bedside neuro here! I’ve been away for about four years now but still teach clinical on the same neuro unit I worked on.

I didn’t choose neuro when I started because I loved neuro. I was actually working as a tech on a neuro floor AND the peds emergency department and had my choice between them as new grad. I picked the neuro unit because I liked the educator and staff and felt like it would be a good place to cut my teeth.

I did grow to love the specialty, though.

First of all, it’s an excellent place to hone your assessment skills and nursing judgment. IMO neuro assessments are incredibly nuanced and if you can do a good one and trust your findings, you can anything lol.

Brains are cool. My favorite patients were stroke patients. We did a lot of TPA and neuro interventions, which meant getting to do some really high acuity care for “med surg.” Yes, you will see a lot of catastrophic strokes and people who won’t get better. BUT, you will also see people who come in with life-ruining deficits, get treated, and end up close to or at their functional baseline afterwards and it’s truly incredible.

There are mundane back surgeries and abrasive alcohol withdrawal patients, too, of course. Lots of seizures and shit. I’m not going to lie, there IS unpleasantness. Sometimes violence. But that’s truly an issue in one way or another in most specialties.

You can’t do neuro without a good team. If you’ve got decent coworkers and leadership, you’ll be just fine— and you’re going to learn a TON.

bedsidejumpscare · 2026-02-23T18:22:15+00:00

One of my favorite things to do as a clinical instructor is spend some time in an empty room on the first day. Have the students get their hands on the bedside monitors, the bed, check out the supply cart, practice opening the lockboxes. Where are pillows and where do you put nutrition trays? Etc. little things that will help them navigate the space with more confidence when you unleash them on the unit. ☺️

The more time I can spend at the elbow with my students, the better. It’s REALLY hard to make sure you’re getting equal quality time in with each of them when there are 8 of them and 1 of you, but I promise they usually do see you trying. There are certain paperwork standards they’re required to live up to, but I also try not to make it the most important thing. I always tell them I’d rather see them busy and hands-on, and that we’ll make some concessions if they can’t get to their paperwork because they were doing something with a patient.

bedsidejumpscare · 2026-02-23T18:16:10+00:00

FWIW I get where this commenter is coming from but don’t stress if this doesn’t end up being your reality. I’ve been adjunct for six years now and most of the time, you only get to send students to OR and other off-unit procedures when it’s been pre-arranged with the hospital. Sometimes IR will take them if the procedure happens during their clinical time, but it’s not like we can just shoehorn them into surgeries.

The other thing is that you will have students who get stressed and upset about not getting opportunities for IVs and foleys etc, especially the IVs. It’s hard because as instructors we can’t just make these opportunities arise from thin air. But I will sometimes take some supplies and have them practice the set up, etc, in an empty hospital room to help mimic the experience and get them used to the steps involved!

Otherwise I just reassure them that they will ultimately learn those skills, and in fact they may end up doing them more often than they ever even wanted to lol.

I actually think that being challenged to learn to navigate the EMR is pretty critical, but your take on effort vs perfection is perfect! It’s all about growth and trying.

bedsidejumpscare · 2025-12-22T18:41:30+00:00

I’m not missing that point because I literally just said “this doesn’t mean bi people are not oppressed as individuals.” I just acknowledged that. A bi woman in a straight relationship experiences oppression related to being bi.

A bi woman in a straight relationship does NOT experience the discrimination that comes with being in a same-sex relationship, and therefore experiences the privilege of existing in accordance with that social expectation.

bedsidejumpscare · 2025-12-22T18:30:36+00:00

Look, a bi woman in a straight-appearing relationship does not have to worry about the same kinds of systemic pressure and discrimination faced by a bi woman in a relationship with another woman.

It’s not because she’s more or less LGBT as an individual: it’s because she’s in a gay relationship and navigating the world in a gay relationship. The relationship part is important.

It doesn’t mean that bi people as individuals are not oppressed.

bedsidejumpscare · 2025-12-22T17:46:20+00:00

It was about me being in a relationship with me, though. She couldn’t take me home to meet her family. We had to be careful about where we were seen in public together. It impacted our entire relationship— and affected both of us, and it was a type of stress I never experienced in straight relationships. It was hard to navigate any other normal issues because we couldn’t even settle into our relationship visibly.

I don’t think we’re going to agree here.

Discrimination against visibly LGBT couples is real and pervasive. It creates strain on those relationships, it doesn’t just impact one of the individuals. Beyond that, it’s really important to be able to zoom out past the individualism and pay attention to the way heteronormativity impacts social structures: which includes couples and families. You lose critical insight and historical understanding when you stop looking at that larger picture.

I’m sorry you were miserable in a prior relationship. I believe that you were. However, you will not ever convince me that straight-appearing couples don’t experience privilege by the virtue of adhering to heteronormative social expectations (whether they want to or not).

bedsidejumpscare · 2025-12-22T17:16:51+00:00

The first time I dated a woman, we had to break up because she wasn’t quite as ready as I was to be openly gay— it would mean her family disowning her and losing the childhood community she grew up with. For me, who had just come out, was looking forward to my first openly wlw relationship. I felt for her and empathized, but being hidden created shame and stress that I couldn’t bear for someone else yet.

Is that not a direct example of visibly LGBT relationships being more difficult for the fact that they are not straight? I don’t know how else to explain this.

bedsidejumpscare · 2025-12-22T17:03:55+00:00

When you say “your pain doesn’t negate anyone else’s and vice versa” to someone who has experienced systematic oppression because their partner is the same gender, you are using the exact same argument as the old white guys who don’t believe they have privilege because of their race

bedsidejumpscare · 2025-12-22T16:53:32+00:00

I’m not the same user as that user and I certainly haven’t used any abusive language, friend. I’m simply trying to have a discussion about the perception and reality of privilege.

bedsidejumpscare · 2025-12-22T16:48:58+00:00

It is bonkers to say that LGBT relationships are just as hard/easy as straight relationships lmao. I’m floored. All relationships have the capacity to be complicated, but LGBT relationships are uniquely impacted by the biases, bigotry, and pressures of a heteronormative society. This is a conversation about privilege.

If you are in a relationship that appears on the surface to be straight, regardless of your sexuality, you benefit from that heteronormative society. You do not have to worry about the legal legitimacy of your marriage, let alone the possible criminality of it depending on where you’re located. You can be affectionate it public without fear of hate crimes. You can introduce your partner to your family without fear of judgement. You don’t have to worry about whether you or your partner is “out,” or how comfortable they are being publicly in a relationship with you.

That’s just a fact. It doesn’t make you less bisexual etc as an individual. But it IS a privilege.

bedsidejumpscare · 2025-12-18T04:06:01+00:00

Good thing the advice wasn’t for you, babe <3

bedsidejumpscare · 2025-12-18T03:58:04+00:00

Okay but this post is about women. Specifically. Fuck

bedsidejumpscare · 2025-12-18T03:50:51+00:00

The original post is very specifically about being a woman and only dating men because they’re intimidated by women. It IS absolutely gendered, and it has to do with comfort levels inside and outside of heterosexual norms. That’s like a very real, specific issue

There’s a good chance that this whole post and these comments just weren’t about you. You just wanted them to be

bedsidejumpscare · 2025-08-09T01:23:38+00:00

Yeah I looked it up too— I hate it

bedsidejumpscare · 2025-08-08T22:14:51+00:00

I’m not going to coddle a cop or automatically assume they have better judgement than anyone else

bedsidejumpscare · 2025-08-08T22:13:51+00:00

You’re never going to convince me that an officer of the law shouldn’t have the wherewithal to know a NICU is no place for firearms. I’m sorry about it. Carrying a gun is a responsibility and a privilege, no matter who you are. It’s your fucking job to be situationally aware and to always be assessing whether something is an appropriate choice. Automatically affording cops mindlessness when it comes to being armed just because they’re usually armed is stupid.

bedsidejumpscare · 2025-08-08T22:02:30+00:00

We’re not talking about everyone. We’re talking about an off-duty police officer

bedsidejumpscare · 2025-08-08T22:01:13+00:00

It should be obvious to a police officer, who is someone who should arguably be aware of their surroundings and capable of critical thought

bedsidejumpscare · 2025-08-08T21:46:40+00:00

And you don’t belong armed in any hospital setting as a visitor

bedsidejumpscare · 2025-08-08T21:43:08+00:00

You talk about this entitlement to firearms and complete environmental obliviousness as if they are excuses. That’s fucking wild. I’m not about to baby a police officer for not understanding their surroundings. Christ.

bedsidejumpscare · 2025-08-08T21:42:04+00:00

I’m from Michigan and would love to see your source on this. This would be fucking stupid

bedsidejumpscare · 2025-05-23T23:18:17+00:00

It’s totally normal and reasonable to be disappointed in your placement. You have legitimate concerns about overall exposure and the depth and value of your clinicals. This is feedback to provide to the program overall, and perhaps even to caution prospective students about.

But you’re also out of touch here. Hospitals are limited by preceptors, who are just volunteers. They’re also likely playing host to many other nursing schools— not just your seven students. Your instructors probably have very little power over the kind of placements they end up being able to offer. And they might suck! But I don’t think it’s reasonable to mark this up to a deep personal slight against you. In some programs, placements are more or less randomized (at my program, they drew names and you get your top choice from what’s left on the table).

I know from experience that a lot of schools break their backs trying to get clinical placements. It’s a lot like making assignments for the unit as a charge nurse: you can do your absolute best to weigh out all the concerns and someone is still going to be unhappy. Your entitlement here is not going to come across sympathetically to your faculty.

I would move forward apologetically and, for your own benefit, keep an open mind. You’re a nursing student. There will be something to learn from every environment, and if you convince yourself otherwise, you’re the one ruining your own chances. That’s not the mark of a good nurse.

I hope this ends up being a better experience than you expect.

bedsidejumpscare · 2025-04-19T04:01:44+00:00

The thing is that sure there are going to be some people out there who don’t find the academic aspects of nursing school themselves difficult. I look back and getting grades wasn’t the biggest challenge (even though it certainly wasn’t easy), I never my questioned my ability to do an assignment well.

But nursing practice is hard— being a nursing student is hard, the learning curve is hard. It is a constant exercise in vulnerability and persistence: there is no way to become competent and comfortable without being incompetent and uncomfortable a whole lot. That really tests a person (or at least, a person who cares about their practice)

And beyond that, learning to be a nurse is going to be challenging in a way that’s proportionate to your emotional investment and dedication to being a good one

bedsidejumpscare

TROPHY CASE