By Christina Orlovsky, contributor
The first year after graduation is full of new experiences and
new challenges. Your first job holds many exciting opportunities, but it also
may leave you feeling disillusioned about your chosen profession and uncertain
about what the future holds. Luckily, there are surefire ways to avoid burnout
during this critical time and face the winding career path ahead of you with
confidence.
According to Donna Cardillo, RN, MA, whose book Your First
Year as a Nurse was written to help new graduates adjust to the job and avoid
any disillusionment that may appear within the first year, it’s not uncommon for
new grads to feel unsure of their career choice early on in the first job. But
with a little self-assurance, these feelings of doubt can quickly disappear.
Chart Your Growth
“Be realistic with your goals and expectations,” Cardillo
said. “You are not expected to know everything and you still have a lot to
learn. It takes about a year before new grads start to feel comfortable in their
new role; it takes about two years before they start to feel competent. Nursing
school is phase one of your career; your first job is phase two, and every day
you are more experienced than you were the previous day.”
Cardillo added that it’s helpful to track the progress you are
making from day to day in order to realize this growth of experience.
“Keep a journal and record your accomplishments, new things
learned, new experiences and how you’re feeling,” she said. “Writing it down and
reviewing it periodically helps you to see how far you’ve come. We tend to look
at where we are now and where we still want to go. In the process we lose sight
of how far we have already come.”
Once you realize the accomplishments you’ve already made, it’s
important to remind yourself of the positive, especially during times when
you’re feeling down about where you are and where you’re going. To do this,
Cardillo suggests keeping a “positive workbook” to remind you of the reasons you
chose nursing in the first place.
“Log positive things people say to you—patients, family
members, staff—and record patient interactions when you feel you’ve made a real
difference. Collect inspirational quotes, prayers or poems,” she said. “This is
different from your progress journal, but it is also a valuable tool to help you
focus on the positive. It should be reviewed often, especially when you’re
feeling down or questioning your career choice.”
Keep an Open Mind
Karen Siroky, RN, MSN, director of education for leading
travel nurse company AMN Healthcare, in San Diego, California, suggested other
ways for new grads to clear the haze of disillusionment after the first year.
“One of the first things to do is to reframe the situation
you’re in,” Siroky said. “One of the reasons new nurses get burned out is that
they think things like, ‘I’m stuck here in med-surg when I really want to be in
labor and delivery.’ Instead of focusing on what’s wrong with your situation,
focus on what you can offer the situation and what you can gain from it that’s
going to advance you. Even if it isn’t where you want to be, there may be
organizational or charge nurse experience that may make up for the fact that
you’re not in the ideal position for you at that time.”
Finally, Siroky suggested that if you can’t find the positives
in the situation you’re in, look elsewhere within the nursing profession.
“I would encourage you to check with a nurse recruiter or your
human resources office, scout out other specialty opportunities and seek out
nurses in another specialty to shadow them for a day,” she said. “Nursing offers
so many varied opportunities—if you’re in a part of nursing you don’t like,
there are a zillion others that you would like; explore different avenues.”
© 2008. AMN Healthcare, Inc. All Rights Reserved.