Your First Year As a Nurse, Second Edition: Making the Transition from Total Novice to Successful Professional - Softcover

Buch 5 von 5: Your First Year

Cardillo R.N., Donna

 
9780307591746: Your First Year As a Nurse, Second Edition: Making the Transition from Total Novice to Successful Professional
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0307591743 ISBN 13: 9780307591746
Verlag: Crown, 2010

Inhaltsangabe

Survive and Thrive as a Nurse in Today's New Health-Services Landscape

Welcome to the compassionate and caring world of nursing! You are entering a profession that offers great rewards and endless opportunities. But you must prepare for the challenges ahead and do everything you can to ensure that you experience the best that nursing has to offer.

Get off to the right start in your new profession by learning how to:
•  Find the job that's perfect for you
•  Create your own patient-centered style of nursing
•  Develop positive relationships with doctors, patients, and other nurses
•  Stay positive, deal with conflict and adversity, and avoid burnout
•  Network, enhance your education and career, and become a leader

And NEW! to this revised edition:
•  Invaluable information about nursing licensure, including an extensive FAQ section
•  Discussion of professional issues related to standards of care, nursing ethics, and
   health-care reimbursement
•  Job-hunting challenges and solutions
•  Solutions for handling quandaries such as delayed career start, nontraditional
   practice, and more
•  Trends and opportunities for the future of nursing
•  A special section for second-career nurses

Die Inhaltsangabe kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Donna Wilk Cardillo, R.N., whose nursing career covers more than 20 years, is president of Cardillo & Associates. One of the country's leading experts on nursing career management, she lives in Wall, New Jersey.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Chapter 1  

Your New Career  

It's your first day as a nurse and, boy, are you nervous. Did you make the right decision? Is this the right career for you? Can you handle the responsibility? The nervousness, anxiety, and indecision are normal. When the reality of your chosen profession becomes evident, it can be overwhelming. But never lose sight of the reason you chose to enter this glorious profession—to help others, make a difference, and make the world a better place to be. That's what it's all about.  

Most of us start out scared, nervous, and perhaps even feeling inadequate. Remember that after the end of your first day on the new job, you'll be more experienced than you were that morning. After each day, you will be further along than you were the day before. Before you know it, days will turn into weeks, weeks into months, and finally you'll find yourself with a full year of experience under your belt!  

It's important, in this early phase of your career, to set small, realistic goals for yourself. Set an initial goal to get through orientation. Then set a goal to get through your first three months, then six months, and then one year. Most experienced nurses agree that it takes about a year before you feel comfortable with most common situations. It will probably take two years to be completely comfortable with all situations. So be patient and just persevere.  

In many ways, your education is just beginning. I used to say, jokingly, that I never learned anything until I got out of nursing school. Although that isn't completely accurate, when I was finally working on my own as a nurse and was out of the student mode and no longer in the safe confines of my instructor's wing, it sometimes felt like as if I were starting froms cratch. For certain, I'll never forget how overwhelmed and scared I felt the first time I was handed the narcotics keys to hold on to through my shift. I wanted to say, "Oh, you've made a mistake. I'm not responsible enough to carry these keys." I suddenly realized the responsibility I had. I wondered if I could meet everyone's expectations.  

Nursing in North America  
While there are some minor differences, such as incredentials and terminology, nursing in the United States and nursing in Canada are very similar. The biggest difference is that Canadian nurses work within a national health-care system and nurses in the United States work in a largely private system. This does not, however, translate into a significant difference in day-to-day practice.  

Nurses in the United States are licensed by the state(s) in which they practice, and Canadian nurses are likewise licensed by the appropriate province or territory. Nurses in the United States who are involved in clinical practice should obtain their own malpractice insurance in addition to the coverage they may or may not have from their employer. With the exception of advanced practice nurses, this is a much less common practice in Canada, where the legal climate is very different. In Canada, employers often cover nurses for liability, though most have additional coverage through their provincial and national nursing associations. However, the Canadian legal climate is changing. More and more nurses are being named in lawsuits. Potential litigation is a concern for every nurse to take seriously.  

Both Canada and the United States utilize nursepractitioners (NPs) and clinical nurse specialists (CNSs). Both countries alsoutilize practical nurses, although their titles may vary depending on which part of the continent they are practicing. You will find licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and licensed vocational nurses (LVNs) in the United States. In Canada, there are registered practical nurses (RPNs), LPNs, as well as several other titles, though the trend is to use only the title LPN across the country. When nurses are licensed in Canadian provinces other than Quebec and Ontario, where membership is left to individual choice, they automatically become members of their provincial and national nurses association, the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA). In the United States, professional association memberships are completely up to each nurse.  

Despite such minor differences, nurses in Canada and the United States have the same challenges, rewards, goals, frustrations, and joys.  

I also remember how I would gaze at more-experienced nurses with awe. They seemed so confident, so in control, so calm in a crisis, and so all-knowing. I couldn't imagine that I would ever reach that level ofpractice.  

But an amazing thing happened along the way. Not only did I continue to learn and grow in my new career, but here I am, more than twenty years later, loving every minute of this wonderful profession and giving advice to other nurses. I've come a long way from being a scared, self-conscious rookie nurse who thought that the person who gave me the narcotics keys was not thinking clearly. You, too, will someday look back and see how far you have come.  

Externship Versus Internship  
An externship differs from an internship. While an externship or "summer nursing associate program" is usually available to student nurses, an internship or nurse residency program is usually offered to a new RN as intensified training during his or her first year of employment and/or in preparation for working in specialty areas such as the intensive care unit (ICU), the operating room (OR), and labor and delivery (L&D).  

Many externs continue to work part time at that facility until they graduate. Not only does an externship give them significant clinical and leadership skills, but the experience looks great on their resume and gives them a foot in the door for possible hire after graduation.  

Internships for new RNs vary in type and scope and are different from general employee orientation. Some have been developed by the individual hospital or health system, and others are part of a nationally developed curriculum. Characteristics of internship/residency programs may include the following:
• Classroom and skills lab instruction
• Online learning opportunities
• Unit-based clinical experience with preceptor
• Mentors
• Support/self-caregroups
• "Looping" to other related units in the facility

It is in your best interest to find the longest and most comprehensive new graduate orientation/internship program available. A one-year program is ideal and very desirable. However, not every facility offers this.  

In fact, you've already come a long way. Phase one of your nursing education and training was your formal schooling. Consider your first job as a nurse to be phase two.  

Don't be too hard on yourself in the beginning. You're not expected to know everything as a new graduate. In fact, no one—not even the most experienced nurse, doctor, or other practitioner—knows everything. For each of us, myself included, learning is an ongoing process. If you're not learning, you're stagnating.  

So now it is time to begin phase two of your learning process: your first job. Where do you start? What do you need to know? The key to getting the job you want is to have a plan, prepare, and dive in!  

Preparing to Land Your First Job as a Nurse  
How can you enhance your education and experiences andthus improve your chances of getting the job you want from the start? There aremany ways.  

While you're still a student look for hospitals that offer externship programs. Often run during the summer months, these are programs specifically for student nurses. You will work in the clinical area with a preceptor—an experienced nurse who is...

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Verlag
Crown
Erscheinungsdatum
2010
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0307591743
ISBN 13 
9780307591746
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
304
Kontakt zum Hersteller
CROWN
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