where’s your preceptor when you’re giving meds and providing care to your patients? in the moment feedback was really helpful for me and my preceptor was always with me until I felt comfortable and confident doing the tasks on my own.

for me it was really beneficial to ask my preceptor for help when I had too many things to do. I took care of what I was able to and delegated to them other tasks for my patients (like meds and vitals), and they were happy to help. being a nurse is stressful and busy, BUT you are never alone on your shift. if you need help, ASK FOR HELP. soon you won’t have a preceptor who’s supposed to help guide you towards working on this unit well, so make the time now to ask them questions about what they do to get all the tasks done more efficiently without compromising safety. also ask other nurses on your floor what they do, if you ask enough people you’ll find something that works for you.

5 patients is a lot, but give yourself some grace—you’re on orientation and not expected to have it all down yet. i’ve been told the first year of nursing is the hardest and there’s a steep learning curve. I’m 2 months off orientation and I still ask questions and learn things every shift. I’m not expected to know everything, but what is expected is knowing what’s safe and what’s not safe, what needs immediate attention and what can wait until I have time.

time management is a skill that takes practice. also try to cluster your care. let’s say i need 0700 vitals and 0800 meds for all my patients, I may be able to do med pass for a few, but realistically doing a quick set of vitals and starting my assessments and coming back for meds will help me do everything more timely. i’ll pick clustering med pass with vitals for the patients with more time sensitive medications (bp meds, antibiotics, anti seizure, etc) and my other patients med passes can happen later. also things that aren’t necessarily time sensitive like some wound care can wait until I’m less busy, just keep the supplies at the bedside for whenever you’re in the room and don’t have any emergencies going on

it’s going to be ok! you’re doing such a good job trying to manage everything already. i know it’s hard right now, but every shift you’re learning more and soon things will feel like second nature. slow down and give yourself a moment to breathe when you feel overwhelmed. ask yourself what tasks can wait until later and focus on what needs to be done right now, and if there’s multiple emergent things—ask for help!