I rarely come away from a shift feeling confident. I keep thinking these 4-hour work shifts are going to be part of the key to low-stress living. But I have lost track now if there even ever was one that was straightforward and simple in the way I would hope for. Anymore, to have a solid foundation in the field as a floor nurse I’d say you need at least five years experience. Coming into this I only had two.

So the director was completely right to say she planned to treat me like a brand new nurse. I was relieved when she said that, and think of it still as I’m driving home and my mind is busy again thinking about all the things that went on. If I’m a brand new nurse it makes sense why I’m questioning if this or that is worth notifying the doctor. It seems that more often then not the answer is yes you had better.

And then the doctor will order things and you’ve got to put them all into the computer. This is the part you have to do because if you don’t then the pharmacy isn’t notified and the lab has no idea. This time the weekend supervisor did it for me, which I was very thankful for, but it still doesn’t help me learn to do it by myself. They walk me through it and I’ve done it several times but not enough for it to stick.

Confidence was one of things I was supposed to work on according to my employee evaluation. That and making the scheduler more aware of availability. I do feel more confident when it comes to what to actually do with a person. I’m supposed to train 7-11 the next two nights and if we have time I am going to ask her to show me how to put the oxygens machines together and how to put in the orders.

And to tell me exactly what I would do if there was a code. I’m just trying it out and am free to not like it and say no to those hours. This is all if I don’t get a call from a boss saying I majorly screwed something up and am done. That med error write-up lives in my calendar, as a reminder to me that I want to be confident but not too much so.