My first month as a nurse has been nothing but a dream. I want to take some time out to reflect on my experience and offer some tips for you through a series of posts.
I’m Dimitria and I’ll be your nurse today.
Introducing myself as the nurse has been the most out of body experiences I’ve had. Like many other students it gets engraved in your head that you are the student nurse but once you graduate that M.O. disappears. Long gone are the days where I can use “I’m just a nursing student” as an excuse. There have been a few times I had to stop myself from using it. For example, I’m used to having to ask my professor for permission before completing certain skills. I’m often catching myself looking for a sign of approval before completing a task as simple as giving meds.
Having this new autonomy over my patients to make decision about their care makes me thankful for the countless care plans and concept maps I had to complete throughout nursing school. I can almost always walk into my patients room and map out in my mind the different nursing concepts that are pertinent to my patient. This helps me to anticipate the worse than can happen to my patient during my shift.
I believe this month was dedicated to transitioning from student to practicing nurse.
Seriously Dimitria 