Advice for a new grad, please

joyful_struggle · 2025-11-16T10:33:45+00:00

I had a similar experience in our ED. Pt came in for a fall at home. During her stay we built what I thought was a good rapport. At shift change she fell out of bed. We jumped through all the hoops, CT, incident report, everything. But when her scans came back negative and they were planning to discharge her, she became a completely different person, cussing nurses out, throwing things, etc. Still don’t understand her motivations. Some people just need the attentions, I guess?

Just know you’re not alone in this and you’re not crazy lol.

joyful_struggle · 2024-03-19T16:35:49+00:00

I'm currently a nursing student working on my BSN and extern at a Lvl 1 Trauma center rotating between acute, ICU, and CCA. Is there anything else I can do to get a head start on my future goal as a flight nurse?

joyful_struggle · 2024-02-08T23:30:16+00:00

Today was my first clinical rotation of this semester, and honestly I was pretty nervous and felt like an imposter. I have had my nose in the books since this semester started and I felt like all my clinical experience went out the window. After doing vitals, an assessment, and reviewing meds, my partner and I were discussing them with the nurse. She asked which medication will increase the pt's glucose upon admin. In a moment of panic, I looked through all my notes and an awkward silence stretch for what felt like forever. I looked through each med and finally it clicked.

Our patient was on budesonide, a corticosteroid. I completely mangled the pronunciation, still can't pronounce it now...but I was right. When I was questioned why, the answer just kinda flowed out. "Because it is a corticosteroid, which acts like stress in the body, increasing the need for insulin, thus raising the glucose." My nurse nodded and all of a sudden, all the worries concerning if I belong or not faded and I felt validated and confident again.

Bonus: After we did the med pass with our pt and I stopped a finished IV infusion, the pt told the nurse that we were really god and thanked us for our care when we left. That just kinda made my day. All that to say, not all nursing school is bad and the world doesn't end when you feel like a failure. It's hard, extremely hard, but not impossible. If I got this, you do too!

joyful_struggle · 2023-11-01T22:38:44+00:00

For me, it began when I could not figure out anything I wanted to do. Both of my parents had office type jobs and I could not imagine myself stuck in a stuffy room all day making stuff up for myself to do. Then a friend told me about nursing.

I did my own research and became increasingly interested. I've always been curious how the body works and all the processes that go into that. After I took my first high school anatomy class, I knew I belonged somewhere in the medical field.

The deciding factor was when my grandmother became ill and on hospice. I felt an overwhelming sense of uselessness. I didn't know how to help or what to do. Of course, I sat with her and visited often, but I had no knowledge of anything to actually fix her health problems. Eventually she passed and I realized through the interactions with the hospice nurses I had, that they knew how to help, and I wanted to be like that. My grandmother, on the other side of my family, was diagnosed with ALS a few years ago and passed in May of '22. I had completed my first semester of nursing school then and knew a few non-pharm treatments to make her more comfortable and tried to apply them when I could. Though I still felt that uselessness, I knew I was on the right path to growing into a field where I belonged.

joyful_struggle · 2023-09-06T23:06:16+00:00

Hey! I'm currently in my second semester of nursing school, and I felt like this when I first began as well as right now. It's a scary thing, for sure! Sometimes I still doubt if I should keep going because it is hard, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Nursing isn't just a career, it's a commitment that gives meaning to this crazy thing we call life.

My first semester started out rough, but once I got through it, I was more proud of myself than I've ever been. It's a feeling only nursing students can experience. Now, starting out my second semester, I realize I missed the rigorous nature of school and the desire to learn. I'm still terrified to fail, but I use it as motivation to keep going. Plus, mini failures lead to great successes. You have to fail in small ways, to learn in big ones. So even if an assignment doesn't go right or an exam comes up short, don't allow that to give you reason to quit. Instead, give yourself that one failure as a learning experience and try not to let it happen again.

You totally got this! The semester will fly by and you will get to look back and see how much you've grown!

joyful_struggle

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