If being the new guy or gal at work isn't hard enough, try a rough first day of helping patients, meeting new coworkers, and finding your way around the hospital. We've all had minor mishaps here and there, so this week we want to know:

What are your worst first day stories? Did you forget a patient's name? Or maybe you got lost in the hospital hallways?

Spare us no details (OK, well maybe some), and tell us why you can look back and laugh!

I had gone to class the first 8 hours and was finishing up the last 4 with my preceptor.  We made rounds at 4 pm,  She got together her 6 pm med, did some charting, and then we started the next rounds.  I went to see 2 people on my own and she said to meet me in the next room.  When I got there, the patient had fainted while in the chair.  We tried getting back into bed and realized that she wasn't breathing.  So we called a code and eventually witnessed my first death.  My instructors had said that you never are prepared for that first patient you lose, but it was all so fast and surreal, that my only thought was "Phew, I got that over with."  I had no attachment to the patient, so as far as experiences go, I guess it was the better of most scenarios.

As an agency RN everyday is a first day on each unit. One works where one is needed and  staffing consistency is  not consistent so one just gets use to being the new nurse for the day. Some nurses are  wonderfully supportive and  helpful. BUT  the one repetitive thing that bothers me is nurses  that are having on going conversations  at the nursing station giving report to each other  in their native language as if you do not exist and just stare  at you.  A friendly smile and a " hello  you must be the  RN from the staffing office" goes a long way in starting a shift.

The saying goes that, "Nurses eat their young." It's true!

My first nursing facility as an RNA was a nursing home with half of the building dedicated to rehab (Kindred!). I was there on the floor for less than an hour (never once passing a med or doing a treatment in sight of the "preceptor") before I was thrown on a cart by myself, with 34 patients depending on me. Obviously, nursing school had not prepared me for this, having had one nursing clinical instructor for up to 16 students and a policy maximum of 4 patients for nursing students while in school.

I muddled through the situation the best I could, and looked up to find that the 12-hour shift was over! I reported to the oncoming nurse that I'd not finished everything, trying to find out if I needed to put in OT to finish, of if I needed to chart the unfinshed treatment and missed meds. My supervisor/ preceptor was ALREADY GONE! So, I had to take the issue to the next shift's supervisor, who acted like it was my fault that I was unable to complete all of the tasks required .

Nothing really happened with the situation. I found myself in the exact same position the next night, asked for some help from a more experienced nurse, who simply shrugged it off and continued to go on 10-minute smoke breaks every hour. It was very demoralizing, especially considering that I'd not even taken my NCLEX yet, and was already scared crap-less about how this would hurt my license.

In the days and weeks ahead, I asked several nurses what I needed to do to speed up, and was never given an answer that sounded like it was legal according to our Nurse Practice Act. They recommended NOT looking at the MAR at all, but simply memorizing everyone's meds for the shift, or popping everything that read was marked for being given 2 or more times a day. Over the course of the next 2 months, I literally never had a lunch, never took a break, and spent an average of 2-3 hours on OT every single shift.

  One day, they actually asked me to work the opposite side; 2 LPNs had quit in the course of 2 weeks after being assigned to work RN-lever tasks with only a CMT to help them (doing TPN mixes, morphine pushes, and having only someone that was not even allowed to check vitals or accuchecks--- limited by policy, not by their cert--- at your side). It was also my first shift doing "change-over", wherein the MARs were changed for the next months documentation. Despite working a side I'd never worked before and having an added duty, I actually left ON TIME that day. 

That was it for me. I realized that I, the newest nurse with the least experience, had literally been given the hardest and heaviest patient load in the whole building from day one. To me, this just smacked of patient negect, especially in light of the seemingly uncaring attitude I'd founbd among so many of the staff members. From that point, I followed the same path of the 2 LPNs that had beat feet out the door.   

I had recently moved to Kentucky. On my first day of work I was behind a car that the driver had a seizure and flipped his car several times. I stopped to help. I crawled around in mud, broken glass, and blood. My cell phone had no reception so the police had to inform the facility of what was happening. When I finally got to work about an hour and a half later I was looking quite haggard. My hair had glass and mud in it. My uniform was wet, muddy, and bloody. I had to shower and change into some old sweats they had on the premisis and complete my shift liiking like a bum. How embarrassing! This was definately a two fold day. The guy lived but my patients thought I was some crazy person and I think were a little skepticle of my abilities.

LOL, either that or wear you protective garments...  Teresa

nursereveal, Thank you for posting your comment on the forum.. No doubt, this will be a terrible memory for all people.. God Willing that will be the worst we ever see... Teresa