At what point did you start feeling like a nurse?

Now that I am done with my first semester, I notice certain things that I have never noticed before, I have certain feelings/attitudes that I've never had before, overall, I just feel different, but I am the same person. I really can't describe it. I can actually visualize caring for people, when before, caring for others seemed so distant.

I know I have a long way before I become an RN, so maybe it's just my imagination with all these "changes". I've been to college before and went through a transition in my life, but I think that it had more to do with my circumstances and my age than with school.

Did you notice any changes while in school? After graduation? Did others pick up on those changes, and at what point?
When you starting performing an assessment on your wife instead of actually listening to her

When you are 15mins into your lunch break, have half of your lunch eaten, and than realize that you've been discussing bowel movements, nasty rashes, and placentas since you left the floor.

When you get to the end of your shift and realized that you have not urinated in 12 hours and you need to go now? Seriously I am still waiting to feel like a nurse. Most days I feel like a waitress and a drug dealer all rolled into one overworked package. Fetch and run and give me my drugs that is what I hear all day long.

I have to agree with above.. The only time I have ever felt like a "RN" was in a rapid response setting or talking to the MD about something important. Other than that, I feel like a high priced waitress and drug dealer.. I had a pt the other day wanting his 4mg Dilaudid for a paper cut on his finger.. Yes, you heard me correct.

agreed with all of the above. also, when i get home at the end of a shift and am really not sure exactly what was left behind on my scrubs... and when my hands are cracked and bleeding during the winter from washing them so much and that darn alcohol scrub.but seriously, after about a year. at six months, i felt like i wasn't drowning every minute of every day. at a year, i started feeling like i might have some clue of what i was talking about. i am rapidly approaching the 18 month point.. i can't wait for the next landmark!

I agree with above poster... when i stop feeling like I am drowning with 4 patients, and do everything right for once... THEN i will feel like a nurse.BUT, so far, compared to my 1st semester... (I am in my 5th now-3rd year)... I can do IV meds, blood transfusions etc etc, and I am able to do almost everything that the RN does.. especially after calling a doctor... i FEEL most like a nurse at those times).However, sometimes I wish I had that experience, knowledge and just.. expertise that the RNs have on the unit. It is not all about doing skills, but rather critical thinking and putting the pieces together. I admire those nurses who are so ontop of everything and know exactly what they are doing and why it will work based on knowledge and experience. I hope to be half as great as the RNs on my team

My first day of orientation when I received a small assignment and a patient called me on her call light and asked for me, her nurse! I suppose those of us who were once techs understand the significance of this... because I in know way felt competent or smart or skilled or less then scared at the time... However I felt like I was finally a nurse. And yes, some days that equals a drug dealer and waitress ....

I think that's a feeling that changes.You think you feel like a nurse when, in school, you start palpating your husband's veins and think, wow, I bet I could hit that one!Then, you finish your first 6 months and realize you aren't suicidal, haven't killed anyone (patient or other staff!), and you are leaving within an hour of shift change, and can speak coherently with a doc...and you think you feel like a nurse.Then, after a year or so, your assessment skills are stronger and actually see a patient take a nasty turn and you *know* what's going to happen next and what you need to do to fix it before it happens and you call the doc and get what you need; and you feel like a nurse.Then, after (hopefully) a few years, you're passing your knowledge and skills on to another, and you feel like a nurse...and I don't think that the wonder of it stops. Even for the cynical among us.T

Okay, so for those that feel like a drug dealer and a waitress, out of curiosity, why do you think it is that you do not feel like a nurse? Are you not able, for whatever reason, to utilize certain components of care that would enhance your job satisfaction? Quote from tablefor9I think that's a feeling that changes.You think you feel like a nurse when, in school, you start palpating your husband's veins and think, wow, I bet I could hit that one!Then, you finish your first 6 months and realize you aren't suicidal, haven't killed anyone (patient or other staff!), and you are leaving within an hour of shift change, and can speak coherently with a doc...and you think you feel like a nurse.Then, after a year or so, your assessment skills are stronger and actually see a patient take a nasty turn and you *know* what's going to happen next and what you need to do to fix it before it happens and you call the doc and get what you need; and you feel like a nurse.Then, after (hopefully) a few years, you're passing your knowledge and skills on to another, and you feel like a nurse...and I don't think that the wonder of it stops. Even for the cynical among us.T

I, too, loved tablefor9's response. It reminds me of the type of progression I hope to have in my nursing career: student, new grad, experienced nurse, preceptor.

When you realize the nurses behind you haven't been advocating for the residents. I work weekends and since school is out I've picked up some weekday day shifts. I've been at work when two of the doctors have come in. I told the doctors my thoughts on the residents, had them examine them and both got admitted to hospital.

I don't feel like a nurse yet...been one for a whole 9 months. I feel like a waitress, flight attendant, customer service rep, drug dealer all rolled into one because that is what management expects from us. It's more about customer satisfaction than patient care. I spend the smallest amount of my shift doing actual patient care. My patients don't care that I prevented them from bleeding out, they only remember that I was a few minutes longer than they expected on getting their juice, blanket, or whatever. Then charting to cover my a** takes another chunk out of my shift. Totally not what I expected from nursing...sorry...I don't really feel like a nurse at all yet. Maybe someday.