How to Build Confidence as a New Nurse
Many new nurses feel anxious. This guide offers helpful advice for new nurses dealing with anxiety as they move from student to professional nurse. New nurses may face challenges using their training at work. Nursing graduates might struggle with handling their workload and time, or they might not feel ready in their abilities, especially when they’re assigned to units they’re not familiar with.
Experiencing performance anxiety is common among new nurses, and both healthcare researchers and experienced nurses have talked about it. This article has useful tips from experienced nurses to help new graduates lessen stress and feel more confident as they begin their nursing careers.
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The Significance of Mentorship for Hispanic and Latino/a Nurses
1 | Time Management and Organizational Skills
New nurses often talk about having too much work, which can be very stressful. Experienced nurses agree that getting better at managing time takes time, but they suggest some ways to deal with long shifts and taking care of many patients.
Dr. Phyllis Morgan, who’s been a nurse for 29 years and teaches at Walden University, says that learning how to manage time is really important during the first six months. She says, “I had to learn how to take care of patients in the right order and plan my day well, so I wouldn’t end up working 3-4 hours after my shift ended.”
Megan Furlong, who’s a nurse for babies in intensive care, thinks that understanding how to manage time in nursing comes with practice. She says new nurses have the skills, but they need to figure out the best way to use them. It usually takes 1-2 years to find the right way to do things and start feeling comfortable.
2 | Find an Experienced Mentor
Having a mentor is really helpful for new nurses. Mentors are experienced nurses who can help new nurses use what they learned in nursing school when they’re taking care of real patients. But finding the right mentor might not be easy.
Andrea Tran, who’s a nurse and helps new moms feed their babies, says new nurses should find mentors who are experienced and good at teaching. Good mentors will tell you to ask questions and let you watch or help with things you haven’t done before. They’ll make you feel like you’re doing a good job.
Dr. Morgan thinks it’s also important to find mentors who can help you become a leader, especially if you’re a nurse from a minority group. She says these nurses know how to lead, but moving up the career ladder needs a good mentor with knowledge and experience.
3 | Lifelong Learning
Even after they finish nursing school, new nurses should keep learning. Furlong says, “All nurses keep learning for their whole lives.” Being a good nurse means always getting better and learning more.
Tracy Jones-Darnell teaches nursing and says it’s important for new nurses to try different things after school. She says new nurses should work on a medical-surgical floor for at least a year. This way, they can get better at taking care of patients who have heart, lung, kidney, or bone problems.
She also says that when new nurses don’t know something, they should look it up instead of asking their coworkers. New nurses are responsible for their patients, and if something bad happens to a patient, the nurse who’s taking care of them has to face the consequences.
4 | Connect with Professional Organizations
Joining groups of professional nurses helps them learn more and stay updated about what’s happening in healthcare and nursing. These groups can help nurses who have a special job in nursing or who take care of a certain group of patients. Being in these groups can help nurses keep learning and know about new rules for nursing, get certificates, and find jobs. Being in these groups also helps nurses meet other nurses and learn about new ways to help patients.
These groups usually have meetings where nurses can learn new things and share their research. Many of these groups also give nurses credits for learning, which helps them keep their nursing licenses. Some big nursing groups that do this include the American Nurses Association and the National League for Nursing. There are also groups for nurses from minority backgrounds, like the National Black Nurses Association and Chi Eta Phi Sorority, Inc.
5 | Take Time for Self-care and Healthy Living
All nurses need to take care of themselves, both physically and emotionally. Nurses might get tired a lot, get hurt when they move patients, or feel sad when they see sick people every day.
Jones-Darnell says that being a nurse is not just about the physical part. She says many nurses get sad because they lose patients a lot, or they get used to seeing people die. Taking care of people without thinking about themselves is hard for nurses.
She says nurses shouldn’t do things that are bad for them, like smoking, eating too much, or drinking too much alcohol. If nurses feel too sad or stressed, they should talk to someone they trust, like their mentor, a therapist, or a friend.
Nurses need to take care of themselves from the start of their career. This means they should eat healthy, sleep enough, and do things like exercise, yoga, or meditation to stay healthy.
6 | Build Self Confidence
Nursing school doesn’t teach everything a nurse needs to know to do a good job. The tips here — how to manage time, find a mentor and friends who support you, learn more things, and take care of yourself — help new nurses feel more sure of themselves and less doubtful.
Experienced nurses like the ones talked about here say it’s important to think positively, not get defensive, and believe in your skills. Becoming a good nurse takes time and practice. As new nurses keep working, they’ll get more confident because they’ll learn from what they do every day.
Dr. Morgan says nursing is an important job that many people respect. “Confidence comes from within and nurses have to believe in themselves. They got their nursing license because they’re ready to give safe, good healthcare.”
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