Do you have a designated crying closet… or have you? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Especially as a new grad nurse, it is emotionally demanding and having a place to gather your thoughts is essential.
Being a new grad nurse in any department can be an awakening. Critical Care Nursing adds another element to it and is very harsh. Things aren’t handed to you, nothing is sugar coated, and when you aren’t ready to show up 100% you… you learn. So…let’s talk about building resilience and thriving while growing the much-needed “thick skin”.
Growing thick skin as a new grad ICU nurse.
Think about it…It is your first big job in a high stakes environment, the environment can be hostile and you have very sick patients. There are a lot of high standards and pressure that others (AND YOURSELF) can put on you.
Perfectionism and people-pleasing are characteristics of a lot of healthcare workers. So, with that in mind… Here are some tips for growing thick skin.
- Detach errors as your identity and self-worth. Just because you make mistakes doesn’t count you out. Feedback received can cause imposter syndrome. That’s not the end game. You are stronger and better than that.
- Help with Delegation. Ask a preceptor or coworker to help you with managing multiple patients. Is there a reason behind helping one patient over the other? Having another set of experienced eyes on a scenario can guide you through the beginning stages of clinical delegation.
- Calling in Charge sooner rather than later in an emergency. Use situational awareness to know you have the time and resources to help you through those things. Plus, they want/need to be involved.
- Learn to Communicate. Be communicative with the other nurses in your pod, your charge nurse and other providers. This helps establish trust with the team, become more confident and competent and makes you a resource nurse very quickly.
How to Take Harsh Feedback
- Channel it into a Healthy Fear. Don’t let it throw you down or begin negative self-talk. Go home, study, have an awareness and study so this feedback can help shape you and learn from it.
- Verbalize with preceptors. Now that you are aware of the feedback and are taking action on it, verbalize that to others. This adds a level of accountability within yourself and others and proves that you are aware of the situation and are taking steps to ensure positive results in the end.
- Take an active step in your learning. Tell people what you know you need to work on. This will help you and they can then give you feedback.
- Ask for constructive feedback. This also helps diffuse scenarios and get other points of view that can ultimately help you.
Mindset Practices for All Nurses.
- Compartmentalization. You’re going to have feelings throughout your shift. Sadness, anger, fear and more. Put your big feelings and put them in a box. Literally, imagine them in a cardboard box and seal it up with each feeling you receive. Look at it at the end of the day. You can then process those feelings, determine what still is important and unpack them with yourself, a friend, in journaling or whatever may be.
- Breathing. Breath work is powerful. We love using Apps like Calm and Headspace. Hot tip – sometimes employers cover these apps for free, so check into it!
- Journaling. Being able to grab those feelings and write them down in a journal can truly help. Using a strategy like thought stopping. When you are starting to have negative self-talk, feelings of anxiety, and things that are bothering you, figure out what that thought is behind it and literally stop it. Tell that thought no. You can redirect that intrusive thought.
Our biggest tip with starting CRNA school and growing thick skin is Communication.
Communicating (and even over-communicating). Ask for help early and often. Showing a full and critical position is needed. Easy beginner mistakes can happen when you don’t verbalize actions. In the CRNA world, involving other providers, such as surgeons, and a full OR team can ultimately be the best scenario for your patient and their outcomes. It is not a failure to ask for help.
Growing thick skin goes along with maturity and learning to stop being “you-focused”. Instead, be more team and patient-focused.
You’ve got this.
