Hi nurses I'm new here & wish to share my situation with you all being that I feel alone with my nursing struggle. I've been an LPN since 2003-& only had like 5 jobs through agencies. I never lasted more than a week with any of them. It was nothing like clinical lol. I would cry & get sooo overwhelmed-it was just hard. I'm about to turn 25 & would like to get into the flow of things, but I'm so nervous. I feel like a big baby lol. Advice would be greatly appreciated

Hi Nicolemiller0129, and welcome to NV.

How have your experiences at work differed from your clinicals? What areas have you worked in? Are you able to identify what is making you overwhelmed (eg. the workload, the responsibility, the amount of sickness around you)?

Going from the learning environment into the work environment can be very stressful, especially when it involves having to deal with real sick people. It also doesn't help that during the learning process you are often being closely watched and worked with (preceptor), but as soon as you have finished (learning) you are expected to work independently. If you can answer the questions I have posted above, we might be able to suggest some things for you.

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'Think not of yourself as the architect of your career but as the sculptor. Expect to have to do a lot of hard hammering and chiselingand scraping and polishing. - BC Forbes'

Wow thank u for responding P/J. Well my first job was through an agency @ a nursing home-after 3 days of orientation I was on my own. The workload was beyond what I was used to in clinical, of course, especially medicating 40 residents alone. I felt so slow & frustrated. And not being very familiar with the unit didn't help much either. I was afraid of that much responsibility-I still am. I feel as if my jumping into an agency from the start was a HUGE mistake you know?

I wonder if you would be better working in an environment where you could be sure of being better supported by other people?

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Julie
http://www.lifeinthenhs.wordpress.com

Hi Nicolle,

I'd suggest you find a job that offers preceptorship. THqat's the best way to transition from novice-advanced to autonomous practitioner-beginner. After that you'll be riding without your stabilisers fine.