Starting at Square One: how to maximize your Graduate Nurse experience
You’ve just graduated, passed your NCLEX, and landed your first job—hooray! Perhaps you were the star student of your class and you’d like to carry that torch into your first preceptorship as a GN. You might be asking yourself if the same traits that made you an excellent student will also make you an excellent GN.
The answer is both ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ Yes, in that being prepared, learning as much as you can in context, and asking questions are all necessary for success; ‘no,’ in that you will often feel like a small fish in a BIG pond, frequently overwhelmed, and growing more confident only as a result of working through your insecurities on the fly.
The bad news is that the reality of becoming a nurse means you won’t be a good nurse; yet. The good news is that you will get there eventually. Below you will find some of the characteristics, behaviors, and qualities that make for an awesome GN.
Making the most of your preceptor relationship:
When we leave nursing school, we feel at the top of our game. But, ahh, how short-lived that feeling of confidence is when we walk onto the floor of our first nursing job! Gone are the days of multiple choice questions with clear “best” answers.
Your job as a GN is to observe, participate, and repeat. This is true for both mastering clinical skills and prioritizing the endless tasks that will make up your day. Many times you will feel like it’s completely impossible—there’s no WAY all THIS can be done in X hours! But, just like any new experience, in time, you will find your way.
In the meantime, you will observe your preceptor’s way. You can’t possibly know everything from the starting gate and you will be reliant on your preceptor to show you things many times over. Take the initiative to learn these new skills, and repeat, repeat, repeat. The more comfortable you get with certain tasks—say, starting IVs, talking to family members, fielding physician phone calls—the more brain space you can free up to learn more.
In a few short months, you’ll be amazed at all you feel comfortable doing! But, you need to “do” in order to get there. There’s nothing more frustrating for a preceptor than a GN who doesn’t get their hands dirty (sometimes quite literally)!
Make sure to have a discussion with your preceptor in the beginning of your time working together to review their expectations and to share any needs you may have with them. Rather than getting several weeks down the road and hoping that they’ll read your mind about any certain issue, set yourself up for an open dialogue right from the start! Discussing each other’s learning/teaching styles will pave the way for an optimized learning environment for you both.
Lastly, stay open to feedback (which may feel like criticism at the time). If you can come to recognize feedback for what it is—an opportunity for growth—your practice will improve in leaps and bounds. Likewise, if you feel like you are not getting enough feedback—ASK!
Preceptors sometimes feel bad about bringing up your mistakes, so asking them directly for their impressions can open the door to an honest discussion. The best time to make a mistake is when you are under their wing—and not only is it expected, but vital to your learning process. Debriefing sessions at the end of every shift are extremely helpful.
You may not be experienced, but you can be professional
Skills come in time, and only from hands-on experience. What you can master from day one, however, is behaving in a professional manner. That feeling of excitement and pride when you donned your scrubs for the first time and slung your stethoscope around your neck? Ride that wave of pride and allow it influence your conduct. So much of being a nurse is in your behavior. And rather than adopting an attitude of ‘fake it till you make it,’ focus on these qualities instead:
Be polite, personable, and friendly with staff and patients alike.
Stay curious! Seek out learning opportunities as they arise, and make sure your preceptor knows you are eager to learn from not just them, but anyone willing to guide you.
Aim to straddle the fence between confidence and humility. It’s ok to lean on your book-knowledge as long as you understand that it lives in the realm of Hospital Utopia. What makes an awesome GN is one who learns to integrate the “right” answers within the realities of nursing.
Maximize learning even in downtime. There will inevitably be days where the unit is quiet. Although, you must never, ever, under any circumstances utter the ‘Q’ word, it’s perfectly acceptable to ask your preceptor to break away from their social media scroll to review tricky concepts like blood gasses with you, for example.
Be a dream-teamer! Nursing is often about being an Extra Set of Hands. Not only will answering the call for help place you in the good graces of your future teams mates, but it will give you a chance to get to know them. There’s no kind of bonding like the kind of bonding you do when assisting with a Code Brown, for instance.
Be on time and put away your phone. It shouldn’t need to be said, but unfortunately, there are always a few GNs out there that don’t seem to grasp these very BASIC—yet, very IMPORTANT—concepts.
We hope these tips help you navigate your first few months as a bonafide nurse successfully! Always remember—we all start at the beginning. Yes, nursing is a series of learned skills, but coming into practice with your head held high and having pride in your work as a newbie learning will set you up to be the best GN possible!