Graduating from nursing school and becoming a new nurse is a remarkable accomplishment that can generate a range of emotions, including excitement, fear, anxiety, joy, and both positive and negative feelings. With many new nurses abandoning their nursing careers within the first few years, the nursing profession and the organizations that employ new nurses need to consider the crucial nature of the support that new nurses need and deserve as they enter the workforce.
Feeling inspired, confident, emboldened, and empowered are helpful states of mind for those jumping feet-first into nursing, but all too often, new nurses can simply feel that they’ve skipped the frying pan and landed directly in the fire.
In this context, where does new grad self-confidence come from, and how is it inspired and retained for the long haul?
Nurse Seeds of the Future
Being a graduate nurse can be a challenge, to say the least. In nursing school, earnest nursing students learn and practice skills, interact with patients and healthcare professionals in various healthcare settings, and study the hard sciences and nursing theories that are integral to the profession.
New grad nurse confidence can come from many places, including having the opportunity to learn and master those skills that are still in the formative stages. The first catheterization, blood transfusion, or PICC line change can be intimidating, and the new nurse needs the opportunity to practice repeatedly until competence is achieved.
Learning and mastering clinical skills require the guidance and teaching of seasoned nurses, and in an ideal world, this can happen during a new grad residency program where learning, onboarding, and hands-on support are built into the new nurse experience. Granted, every new nurse deserves a residency, but in our current system, only a lucky few are afforded this privilege.
Failing a new grad residency, a solid and well-planned preceptorship is a strong way for new nurses to learn. In this scenario, the novice is paired with a seasoned preceptor willing to be a guide and teacher. I’ve heard both inspiring stories and nightmare scenarios where the preceptor acted as if the relationship was an actual burden. Some new nurses even feel set up to fail by their preceptors, and I’ve spoken with several who were let go after a very negative precepting experience.
Mentoring programs can also be effective, but they should generally be implemented after the new nurse has gained their footing and is established in a position. Mentoring is a more long-term proposition and differs significantly from precepting, although this distinction is often misunderstood. Mentoring programs can also be mixed, of course, and intelligent healthcare workplaces employing nurses should examine how to bring high-quality mentoring to their facilities.
Healthcare workplaces need to recognize the value of new nurses and treat them like the essential assets they are. The succession pipeline must eventually be filled by these novices who will become the competent and expert nurses of the future, and organizations need to feed and water new nurses as if they were the seeds of the future — which, in fact, they are.
Aside from formal support, new nurses need their rank-and-file peers to be kind, inquisitive, helpful, supportive, and encouraging. While nurses are busy and have much to do, helping a new graduate comfortably ramp up to full speed is in everyone’s interest.
Positive Messages
New nurses, of course, need to hear positive messages within their work environment. The collegial and organizational support outlined above is essential, but new nurses also need support from friends, family, and others in their lives.
Beyond friends and family, novice nurses may benefit from coaches, mentors, podcasts, blogs, journals, and other channels where support can be gleaned. Nursing schools could do a much better job of preparing students to navigate the plethora of information available; otherwise, novice nurses can find this information by taking the initiative and seeking it out on their own.
Positive messages can come from local, regional, national, and international nursing associations. New nurses would be wise to invest in seminars, conferences, CEU events, and other opportunities that afford a combination of learning, camaraderie with peers, and inspiration. The facilities and organizations that employ nurses should send them to such events regularly to keep fresh ideas and information flowing throughout the workforce.
Building the Walls of Confidence
The first few years of a nurse’s career can be confusing and overwhelming. The amount of knowledge needed to be transferred from the school milieu to the working world is immense, and new nurses can end up feeling like impostors.
The only real cure for impostor syndrome is to keep working, learning, and gaining skills so that the demons of low confidence are starved for food. Ultimately, the responsibility for staying inspired lies with the new nurse. An original impulse generally leads an individual to pursue a career in nursing. Thus, it’s up to the nurse to stoke the flame and keep the fires burning.
Although the nursing school may overlook it, personal growth remains a crucial aspect of a nurse’s career and the development of inner resources. The new nurse who ignores their inner world is bound to run into trouble. Ego integrity is strengthened through both outer action and internal dialogue. If the new nurse finds it challenging to maintain ego integrity, then outer resources should be pursued (e.g., counselor, psychotherapist, mentor, coach, etc.). Sometimes, the walls of self-confidence need to be built from both sides.
Stoking the Flame
New nurses must discover what fuels their motivation. If employers provide support, that’s great. However, we shouldn’t rely solely on them, as many may not meet our expectations.
A nurse can make a conscious choice to nourish their inner life through as many means as possible, including physical exercise and personal wellness, intellectual and creative pursuits beyond nursing and healthcare, travel, friendships and community, family, volunteerism, and civic involvement. A well-rounded life serves us well and keeps nursing from dominating the nurse’s every waking moment.
Stoking the flames is a lifelong process. We can choose to dedicate ourselves to doing so, and the rewards will follow. Self-confidence and a sense of personal agency are key, and we can make them our focus as you continue on the road. The engine of your success depends upon it.
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