I have been a busy busy little bee this month! whew! It has been two months since finishing the program and I cannot believe I have been working more than full time (picking up sick calls etc). I am for sure getting my nursing skills more grounded and so are my interpersonal skills. I can certainly feel the difference in my confidence while I'm on the floor working with a full-load (sometimes more) of patients and I feel more integral to the team now when I share my opinions to the physicians and collaborate with other members of the multi-disciplinary team. Of course I still have a million questions each shift but my fellow nurses are super supportive. I am so thankful for that. Slowly, I am banking on more skills, confidence, and experience to my nursing career. Feels good. No, actually, it feels great! :)
Being the person that I am, I sometimes get impatient with myself and go into wishful thinking that I can just become seasoned right away. Let me explain why. Because in that way, I can tune into what is important to assess in a certain type of patient, prioritize better, actually be able to go on a proper break (hehe), and spend more time with each patient. I had a talk about this with one of the nurses whom I believe is one of the best in my unit. She said to me, "Well, you gotta crawl before you walk. That's just how it works, kiddo. No special formula to it... enjoy the journey. That's what will make you a great nurse. You're doing well, I can see it. Actually, I wanna give kudos to your preceptor. He trained you well."
It meant so much to me. I was so proud of myself. You're probably thinking, "that's just common sense," but oh believe me, once you're in this stage, and if you're anything like me, you'll most likely be over-criticizing yourself too. I wanna share this quote. It really hit home at this point in my career. I hope it helps your busy, critical mind stop for a moment and encourage you to reflect on the good things you have at present.
"Having spent the better part of my life trying either to relive the past or experience the future before it arrives, I have come to believe that in between these two extremes is peace." This peace for me right now means appreciating each moment that is either exciting, gratifying, unexpected, or even stressful,and taking as much learning as I can from them, because those moments make my journey as a new nurse worthwhile; they are the elements of stories I would tell new nurses later on when I move from novice to expert- A goal that would not be achieved without savouring the experience.
Being the person that I am, I sometimes get impatient with myself and go into wishful thinking that I can just become seasoned right away. Let me explain why. Because in that way, I can tune into what is important to assess in a certain type of patient, prioritize better, actually be able to go on a proper break (hehe), and spend more time with each patient. I had a talk about this with one of the nurses whom I believe is one of the best in my unit. She said to me, "Well, you gotta crawl before you walk. That's just how it works, kiddo. No special formula to it... enjoy the journey. That's what will make you a great nurse. You're doing well, I can see it. Actually, I wanna give kudos to your preceptor. He trained you well."
It meant so much to me. I was so proud of myself. You're probably thinking, "that's just common sense," but oh believe me, once you're in this stage, and if you're anything like me, you'll most likely be over-criticizing yourself too. I wanna share this quote. It really hit home at this point in my career. I hope it helps your busy, critical mind stop for a moment and encourage you to reflect on the good things you have at present.
"Having spent the better part of my life trying either to relive the past or experience the future before it arrives, I have come to believe that in between these two extremes is peace." This peace for me right now means appreciating each moment that is either exciting, gratifying, unexpected, or even stressful,and taking as much learning as I can from them, because those moments make my journey as a new nurse worthwhile; they are the elements of stories I would tell new nurses later on when I move from novice to expert- A goal that would not be achieved without savouring the experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment