I Don't Think I Should Be a Nurse: New Nurse Stories | First Shift
NURSING.com Podcast — NCLEX Prep for Nursing StudentsShow Notes
"I deserve to die. I really think I shouldn't be a nurse." Those are a real nurse's words — posted on allnurses on her sixth day as a nurse. She was working long-term care, a patient fell, and she froze. She never went back to assess him. She never filed the incident report. And she didn't realize any of it until she got home — when the guilt hit her like a truck. In this episode of First Shift, Jon Haws, RN — founder of NURSING.com — tells her story start to finish, names the thing she's feeling (impostor syndrome, and nearly every new nurse gets it), and shares the three things that actually help: stop comparing your insides to everyone else's outsides, keep a file of the good moments for the bad days, and let go of perfect — it doesn't exist in nursing. Plus: why the guilt you're feeling is proof you care enough to be great at this. If you're a nursing student or a new nurse, this one's for you. New episodes of First Shift drop every Friday — real stories from nurses' first shifts, and the honest talk that gets you through yours. Studying for the NCLEX? Try SIMCLEX — the adaptive practice exam that tells you when you're ready: https://nursing.com/simclex It's time to go out and be your best self today. Happy nursing, y'all.
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Two years on the unit as a tech — then her first night alone as the nurse. The quiet shift that teaches you everything. "She'd worked the unit for two years. As a tech. And then came her first night... alone. As the nurse." Not every first shift is a disaster. Some of them are quiet — and the quiet ones teach you something too. The night team took care of her with a fair, gentle assignment. She made it through. And she wrote something worth keeping: it felt "really, really lonely"... with no preceptor beside her. But she didn't mind the sound of silence. In this episode of First Shift, Jon Haws, RN — founder of NURSING.com — tells her story, then tells his own: his first solo shift in the Neuro ICU, sitting with a family as they withdrew life support. Afterward, the patient's mother hugged him and said, "I love you. I will never forget you." He didn't do anything special. He just stayed. Three things for the quiet shifts: you're never actually alone — build your team, learn their names, say thank you. Asking for help is the job, not a weakness. And the oxygen mask rule: take care of yourself first, so you can take care of everybody else. If you're a nursing student or a new nurse, this one's for you. New episodes of First Shift drop every Friday — real stories from nurses' first shifts, and the honest talk that gets you through yours. Studying for the NCLEX? Try SIMCLEX — the adaptive practice exam that tells you when you're ready: https://nursing.com/simclex It's time to go out and be your best self today. Happy nursing, y'all.