Starting out in your first year as a new graduate nurse is one of the most challenging entry level positions in any career path. You begin your new journey as a nurse trying to learn the IV pumps, how to administers IV medications, and becoming familiar with your new expectations, all while, caring or a human life who is someone’s dad, brother, and son. Your new role runs deeper than sitting at a computer searching through emails and making sure you don’t miss that upcoming meeting with Mr. Important. You have to figure this out and figure it out fast while ALWAYS being safe.
There is a level of stress in this first year that does not get talked about enough. It is the stress of learning something new, feeling incompetent, and even worse, feeling like an imposter who does not fit in where you are. On top of all of these feeling that are weighing you down, you are told… this is normal and you are supposed to feel this way as a new grad nurse. While IT IS what every new grad is feeling in their first year, I cannot say that we should continue on and ignore the fact that these feelings are contributing to tremendous burnout and turnover in our new nurses before they reach their first year as a nurse.
In addition to the expectations as a new grad nurse that are already contributing to their stress, the personalities of nurses can be a completely different challenge to deal with all on their own. As a former Division 1 college athlete, I remember how I felt going through nursing school. It was completely opposite of the team I was once a part of. The concept of “nurses eat their young” start with the instructors in the school setting and continue all the way into nursing leadership within the hospital setting. I have heard some refer to the profession of nursing as an episode of “Mean Girls” or feeling as if they were back in high school. Juggling these challenging personalities, feeling as though you are already not ‘good enough” for this position and then being expected to learn the level of skill required to be an efficient nurse, is profound.
Nursing is the most beautiful and rewarding profession. It will challenge you, stretch you, and grow you in ways you never knew were possible. Do not let your first year as a new grad nurse determine your future as a professional in this setting. Often times it is not nursing as a whole that should turn you away, you might just need a change in scenery. Lucky for you, there are endless possibilities as a nurse and if you get creative enough, you will find yourself using your license in a way you never imagined.
