As a novice nurse, I experience a fair amount of self doubt. I work among some extremely talented and knowledgeable nurses. When I compare myself to these nurses with decades of experience, I sometimes feel discouraged and inadequate. I have been able to combat these feelings of self doubt with a few steps:
- Ask questions. If you don’t understand something- just ask. This is the easiest way to learn new things. If I’m getting shift report and someone uses an abbreviation I don’t understand, I’ll ask for clarification. If doctors order an intervention that I’m not familiar with, I’ll ask for the meaning behind the intervention. A lot of the times this occurs during bedside multidisciplinary rounds, so it creates a learning moment for everyone.
- Educate yourself. A major perk of working at a teaching hospital is the large amount of continued education and specialization classes offered. If I feel inadequate in a certain area of my practice, there is always an educational opportunity available to help me combat that inadequacy. For example, last year I took care of several immigrant patients, which I had minimal experience with. I found a continued education class on providing care to the immigrant population and now feel better prepared to work with this population.
- Get involved. I recently joined the Critical Care Quality and Education committee and am working with other ICU nurses to provide education to our units to improve care. For example, OSUWMC just rolled out the Yale Swallow Evaluation, which is a tool developed to determine whether patients are able to swallow safely or if they need a formal speech therapy consult and swallow evaluation. Our committee received education on the evaluation and we in turn presented the material to our units. In other words, the best way to learn is to teach!
In summary, be proactive in your practice. When you feel inadequate, reflect and determine why. It’s scary being a new nurse, but you’ll have tons of resources at your fingertips and lots of people to help you along the way!
Kate Best is 2015 graduate of The Ohio State University College of Nursing.