Your First Year As a Nurse: Making the Transition from Total Novice to Successful Professional [Paperback]

Donna Cardillo R.N. (Author), Donna Cardillo (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0761533338 | ISBN-13: 978-0761533337 | Publication Date: July 10, 2001 | Edition: 1

Survive and Thrive As a Nurse from Day One!
Welcome to the compassionate and caring world of nursing! You are entering a profession that offers great rewards and endless opportunities. But you must prepare for the challenges ahead and do everything you can to ensure that you experience the best that nursing has to offer. This invaluable book will get you started!
Written by an experienced R.N., Your First Year As a Nurse provides practical, real-world solutions to the profession's most common and difficult issues. Inside, you'll find out what you really need to know, who you need to know, how to avoid missteps, and where you can go for help when you need it. Gritty, witty, and full of invaluable tips and advice from first year nurses, this book is your personal mentor for your new career.
Ensure a healthy first year by knowing how to:
·Acquire the job that's perfect for you
·Create your own patient-centered style of nursing
·Develop positive relationships with doctors, patients, and other nurses
·Stay positive, deal with conflict and adversity, and avoid burnout
·Network, enhance your education and career, and become a leader
"Combines common sense with the wisdom of a seasoned professional. A valuable resource for new graduates as they begin practice."—Lucille A. Joel, R.N., Ed.D., FAAN, professor, Rutgers College of Nursing, and former president, American Nurses Association
"A must-read for all nurses, not just new graduates!"—Joan Orseck, R.N., president, National Association for Health Care Recruitment

Editorial Reviews

Review

Survive and Thrive As a Nurse from Day One!

From the Author

My name is Donna Cardillo, RN and I am the author of "Your First Year as a Nurse." Over the last year, I have lovingly worked on this book in order to ensure your success in the profession...a profession that it has been my privilege to be a part of for well over 20 years. I interviewed scores of new graduates, as well as experienced nurses, in the course of my research. I share many of their stories and experiences, as well as my own...some funny, some poignant, some inspirational...but all of them from the heart. Although the negative stories about nursing get a lot of air time, the good and wonderful things about this glorious profession are rarely told. You get all that along with down to earth advice and practical tips on what to expect, how to deal with the most common and difficult issues, and most importantly, how to be successful.

I wrote this book for both RN's and LPN/LVN's in Canada and the United States. I even included a section on the unique experiences of men in the profession. The book contains an extensive resource section for both Canada and the U.S. including professional associations, web sites, magazines, clinical databases, etc. New graduates in other countries have also found it helpful. You can even earn continuing education credits for reading "Your First Year as a Nurse." Contact Nursing Spectrum at 800-866-0919 for more information.

I would love to hear from you. Please send me your questions, tell me about your experiences, and let me know how the book helped you. I am committed to your success!

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 267 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; 1 edition (July 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761533338
• ISBN-13: 978-0761533337
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 0.6 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #363,709 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Donna Cardillo, RN travels the world helping nurses to be happy in their careers and to reach their full potential. She is fiercely passionate about nursing and about life in general.

You may know Donna as "Dear Donna" at Nursing Spectrum and NurseWeek magazines where she writes a regular column and doles out daily online career advice at nurse.com. She is also an "Expert" Blogger at DoctorOz.com - the first and only nurse blogging there!

Donna is author of 3 books: Your First Year as a Nurse, The ULTIMATE Career Guide for Nurses, and a Daybook for Beginning Nurses.

Donna has received numerous awards and recognitions but is most proud of being named a Diva in Nursing by the Institute for Nursing in NJ for outstanding achievements and excellence in practice.

Donna has been referred to as the Ann Landers and the Dr. Phil of the nursing profession. Regardless of who she's compared to, there's no denying that she has her own unique style, indomitable spirit, and uproarious sense of humor.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good medicine for nurses RETURNING to work, too, March 2, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Your First Year As a Nurse: Making the Transition from Total Novice to Successful Professional (Paperback)

And in the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
T.S. Eliot

*Your First Year As A Nurse* was exactly what I needed when I needed it, but not for the reason you might expect. I will be 50 years-old this year. I practiced nursing from 1977 to 1991 and am returning to clinical nursing after I complete an RN refresher program. While I may not be "a new grad" I certainly feel new. So much has changed in the last 12 years. I am in need of a big dose of confidence and Ms. Cardillo's book is just the right medicine.

The book is well-written, organized and sprinkled with gentle humor. It addresses almost every aspect of feeling inadequate because of inexperience, but it doesn't dwell on negatives. Instead, it focuses on the joy and value of learning and emphasizes strong communication skills. I especially liked it because it is filled with personal stories, and comments from real nurses in the trenches.

The most amazing thing about the book, to me, is that it maintains a realistic outlook in a positve manner without sounding like it was written by someone named Pollyanna. Ms. Cardillo makes it all seem possible in the real world because she writes with honesty. She looks at difficult situations head-on and instead of asking "What's the problem?" she asks, "What's the solution?"

I left nursing in 1991 in a state of complete burnout. It was a time of change that I could not accept: the dawn of HMOs, DRGs and managed care. Hospital nurses were being laid off in great numbers to save money and replaced with technicians who had two weeks training. Delegation and case loads became the buzz words.

Because of a severe shortage of hospital nurses, there is a huge recruiting effort to get nurses who have left back into the workforce. You'll find everything from RN refresher programs to intense hospital-based internships for nurses who have been out of the workforce for more than five years.

Our finances have changed and I need to go back to work as an RN. I was very frightened by this possibility even though I have always kept my nursing license active. And then I found Ms. Cardillo's book.

I have cried in places while reading it. It is as though I am recapturing the sacredness of nursing that I had lost. It isn't written just for the beginner. It is also wonderful for someone like me who has been out for a long time and wishes to return.

No, I don't have a long time left to work as a nurse (maybe a decade, 15 years at most), and some of the chapters on career building make me very sad when I think of what could have been. (I would love to go back and talk to that young woman but I can't.) Still, *Your First Year As A Nurse* gave me another lens through which to look at nursing.

The author reminded me of why I became a nurse in the first place so many years ago. 9/11 affected me deeply. Because of this book, I will "dare to care" once again-and maybe, if I'm lucky, know the place for the first time. Thank you, Ms. Cardillo, for writing the book.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just what I needed, September 11, 2005

By 

kathyc (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Your First Year As a Nurse: Making the Transition from Total Novice to Successful Professional (Paperback)

This book was a God-send. I was out of school only 4 months and was questionning my career choice. Someone gave me this book as a gift and it turned things around for me. It reminded me why I got into nursing in the first place and that I still had a lot to learn. The stories and comments from other new nures were both comforting and inspiring. It made me belive that if they can do it, I can do it, too, and I will. I refer to the book when I need some encouragement which is often these days! I am more determined than ever to succeed as a nurse. I highly recommend this book.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Encouraging resource for the new grad, June 27, 2005

By 

Diana Hulstedt - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Your First Year As a Nurse: Making the Transition from Total Novice to Successful Professional (Paperback)

This book is so encouraging and gives great suggestions for the new nurse graduate. I, in particular, put into practice Donna's suggestions for becoming involved and doing things that promote being a professional. I would recommend this book for all new grads hired in the hospital as part of their orientation package.