Realizations of a New Nurse #1: I Am Now the Educator

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By Kinsey Morgan, RN. Kinsey is a new nurse who lives in Texas and currently works in the ICU in which she formerly spent three years as a CNA.

In nursing school, there is a growing push to educate future nurses on the amazing breadth of roles within the nursing profession. As a student, you are in some way exposed to the role of nurse as leader, advocate, healer, educator, team player, and researcher. Even this list is not exhaustive. These roles are certainly vital and important and worth teaching about in school.

As a brand new nurse, I haven’t personally encountered all of these roles yet, but there is one in particular that I encounter—and embody—every day: that of educator.

One of the most humbling realizations I’ve had since recently becoming a nurse is that I am now the educator. I’m glad to know that there are other nurses around me, as well as many resources from which to glean knowledge, but I am daily faced with the fact that people now look to me for answers. There are times when I feel outside myself, for while I give correct answers, hearing myself giving them is a little surreal. I’m sure these feelings subside with time, but I hope that I always remain somewhat in awe of the amount of trust my title elicits.

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2016-11-21T13:11:31-05:00November 7th, 2011|career, nursing perspective, students|4 Comments
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The Priceless Clarity of Inexperience

By Marcy Phipps, RN, a regular contributor to this blog. Her essay, “The Soul on the Head of a Pin,” was published in the May 2010 issue of AJN.

Heartstudy by James P. Wells, via Flickr

I was precepting a senior nursing student last week. During an idle moment, I asked her why she’d decided to go into nursing.

She shrugged, averted her eyes, and mumbled something like “I’ve just always wanted to.”

I didn’t press it, but I’m sure there’s more to it than that. I probably shouldn’t have asked, given that I cringe when posed the same question, and usually give a faltering and inadequate “I like helping people” kind of answer . . . when “that’s too personal of a question” would be more honest.

I’ve been a nurse for years, and there are certain aspects of the profession I wouldn’t attempt to broach in casual conversation. I doubt that I could have articulated my motivations when I was a student, even if I’d wanted to. That exchange, though, calls to mind one of the most defining experiences of my nursing career.

I was a senior nursing student, doing a clinical rotation in the ICU. My preceptor and I were caring for a patient who’d been in a motorcycle accident. He’d not sustained a […]

2016-11-21T13:11:53-05:00September 22nd, 2011|career, Nursing, Patients, students|8 Comments
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What’s That on My Stethoscope?

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By Marcy Phipps, RN, whose essay, “The Soul on the Head of a Pin,” was published in the May 2010 issue of AJN. She’s a frequent writer for this blog.

The long shifts in the ICU are often chaotic. The days are packed with procedures, “road trips,” transfers, and admissions. The high acuity of our patients adds to the emotional intensity, and even the relatively smooth days are busy. Assessments, medication administration, and charting are all pressing and time sensitive, and there are a lot of strong personalities among us, resulting in occasional combustible strife.

Nursing is a high stakes occupation, no matter the unit, and the stress can be overwhelming. I’m grateful to work with a group of nurses who have excellent senses of humor. The levity provided by a quick laugh can be priceless, and sometimes a pointed stare or quick comment provides an essential release to a tense and pressurized situation.

Lately, along with our usual quips and sideways jokes, we’ve been inventing new nursing games with compelling names. They’re spur-of-the-moment games, usually inspired by whatever’s currently happening. My favorite, so far, is “What’s that on my stethoscope??” […]

2016-11-21T13:12:18-05:00August 1st, 2011|Nursing, nursing perspective|2 Comments
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Laundry

I remember feeling just as wide-eyed and excited as she looked. And I like having students with me, especially ones who are so teachable that they soak up everything around them like a giant sponge. My student’s willingness to do “everything” served her well, as far as learning experiences go, and she approached tasks without trepidation. She was elated with success (insertion of a nasogastric tube) and mortified with failure (insertion of a rectal tube; she actually vomited). There were moments of fascination (touring the ICU and helping settle in a trauma admission) and boredom (attending a pain management process improvement meeting). There was also frustration; at the end of the day, she ruined her new scrub top with a spill of dark orange rifaximin.

2016-11-21T13:13:52-05:00March 10th, 2011|career, students|6 Comments
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Views expressed on the blog are solely those of the authors or persons quoted. They do not necessarily reflect AJN’s views or those of Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
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