Congratulations on becoming a new nurse! You’ve chosen a fulfilling career that makes a difference in the lives of many. Before you don your scrubs and make your way to your first-ever facility as a full-fledged healthcare professional, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with some helpful tips that can help you be a skilled, compassionate, and resilient nurse.
We compiled seven helpful tips and tricks for new nurses that can help them prepare for the responsibilities that come with their rewarding yet challenging roles.
7 helpful advice for new nurses
- Read your employee handbook
Knowing your facility’s policies and procedures helps you understand your responsibilities and rights as a healthcare professional. Aside from new hire and orientation processes, your company’s employee handbook includes important information about performance standards, legal requirements, discipline and termination policies, and health and safety procedures, among others. By reading your employee handbook, you’re able to ensure that your rights are protected at all times. Highlight important information, write down key information you need to remember in your work planner or notebook, and keep your handbook handy.
- Always be respectful and supportive
Regardless of your job, it’s essential always to be respectful of others. Learn the names of the people you’ll work with, especially the nurse aides, orderlies, lab techs, and facilities staff. Don’t forget to say thank you — an expression of gratitude only takes a few seconds to do, but it has a significant impact on building rapport and creating a good company culture.
Whenever you’re free, help out. Extend a helping hand to anyone at work who may need your assistance. You’ll foster a great relationship with your co-workers and learn a lot by helping and observing them at work.
It’s also a good idea to offer support, whether physical or emotional, whenever your colleagues need it. Healthcare jobs are known to be challenging, and your show of support, no matter how small, can make even the toughest days at work more bearable.
- Never stop learning
Every day, there’s always something new to learn. Be open to learning from others, especially those who are more experienced. Take note that you can learn from everyone at work, and not just your fellow nurses.
Learning new things isn’t just about developing or refining clinical skills. You can also learn soft skills by observing your co-workers. You can gain fresh perspectives about time management, communication styles, conflict resolution, critical thinking, and empathy from those around you.
- You’ll make mistakes. Learn from them
As a new nurse, you’re going to make mistakes, and that’s okay. A popular saying on nursing floors is “you’ll do what you can with what you have and what you know,” and for good reason, too, because that’s exactly what is expected of everyone new at a job as crucial as nursing.
You should take each mistake as a learning opportunity. Although it may be difficult, try to stay calm and avoid panicking. Assess what went wrong and what the right course of action should have been. Learning from your errors can be an effective way to refine your clinical skills and improve your performance.
- Ask away
You’re expected to ask questions, so don’t be afraid to seek clarification whenever necessary. It’s important to understand that asking questions isn’t being ignorant. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. When you seek clarity on instructions or processes, you become knowledgeable. Experienced nurses know that new nurses who don’t ask questions are the ones they should watch out for.
Additionally, you shouldn’t forget to take notes. Bring a small pen and notebook that can fit in your pocket and write down specific important information you’d need to reference later, such as where to get things, the names of people you’ll work with, or their phone extensions.
- Document everything
Learning to chart as you go is an important skill to hone as a nurse. Make sure that you understand your facility’s documentation process and policies, and keep your documentation accurate, timely, confidential, and complete. Proper documentation allows the continuity of patient care and helps prevent errors from happening.
When charting, include what you assessed and what actions you took, such as the procedures you’ve performed or the medications you’ve provided. You should also note how the patient responded to your actions. Avoid charting in batches as this can lead to you forgetting to document important information on patients’ charts.
- Take your breaks and take care of yourself
When you’re new at work, you might be running on excitement, adrenaline, anxiety, and caffeine. This not-so-healthy concoction might make you forget to eat, go to the bathroom, or sit down for a few minutes. Don’t forget to take your breaks, including much-needed microbreaks, which are beneficial when it comes to refreshing focus and reducing stress.
It’s also vital for new nurses to know the importance of leaving work at work. In healthcare, you’ll be exposed to many physically and emotionally taxing events, and it’s important to know how to have a life outside of work.
While working as a nurse can feel fulfilling, it shouldn’t be the only thing in your life that gives you a sense of purpose and joy. Living a balanced life is good for your health and your career; it can reduce stress and emotional exhaustion, which are major contributory factors to burnout, and it can help you become more productive and efficient at work. After work and on your days off, make sure that you have time to exercise, socialize, and enjoy your personal hobbies.
