Your First Year as a Nurse: Making the Transition from Total Novice to Successful Professional

by Donna Wilk Cardillo

This classic primer takes first-year nurses inside the hospital, the exam room, and the locker room to help you survive and thrive on the job--now updated for the post-pandemic world.

Perhaps no year in recent memory summoned as much appreciation for healthcare workers as 2020. The global pandemic brought physicians and nurses into the forefront of everyone's minds, and while the cheers at shift-change may have subsided, nursing will only continue to take on outsize prominence and esteem as a career path.

In this thorough, readable guide, Donna Cardillo, known as The Inspiration Nurse, pulls back the curtain on what it's really like for first-year nurses, with practical tips for navigating the healthcare system as a new member of the workforce in a world that looks vastly different from ever before. Drawing on her thirty-year nursing career, as well as her certifications in forest therapy and meditation, Cardillo shows nurses how to use the principles of self-care, assertiveness, and mindfulness to navigate the interpersonal dynamics that are so key to nursing success and preserve their own longevity in the field.

New graduates, second-career nurses, and healthcare workers will learn to:
- Find a job that's a perfect fit
- Develop positive relationships with physicians, patients, and other nurses
- Stay positive, deal with conflict and adversity, and avoid burnout
- Connect your practice to the larger world of global health

With newly updated material on holistic patient care, empowerment, wellness practices, and cultivating resilience, the third edition of Your First Year as a Nurse is an essential guide for nurses and healthcare workers looking to enter the post-pandemic world of healthcare.

Genres: Nursing, Health Care, Nonfiction

336 pages, Paperback

Published May 10, 2022

Reviews

[Becks · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a great book with lots of tips for surviving your first year as a nurse. I'm about to graduate in May of 2009 from a 2 year RN program and I feel that the stories and advice given is really encouraging. If nothing else it makes you think about the challenges you may face and how your attitude affects how well you get through. It's nice to know that many others have the first year jitters. I would tell anyone graduating from a nursing program to buy it and gain some words of wisdom before venturing out into the "real world".

[Daria Marshall · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Mariam]

it a good book that i always want to read

[TheYogaCat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for any health care professional who is preparing to transition from school to the professional workplace (nurses, technicians, etc). This book would be great for not only new graduates seeking their first jobs, but current students preparing for clinicals and even new students who are going to be doing a lot of hands-on learning in the classroom.

[Matthew Gatheringwater · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of the various books I've looked at in the "new nurse" genre, this has been the one with the most practical advice. Insights into the hiring practices of hospitals and how new nurses can position themselves in the job market were particularly helpful.

[Kimmie · Rating 5 out of 5]

All nursing students should definitely read this.....especially once graduation is upon you. Great insight and advice for novice nurses. All of the things I was feeling those first few months on the job.....I knew I was not alone!

[Zoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book for new nurses. Full of valuable resources, tips for success, and inspiration. I'm glad I read it prior to graduating as this allows me enough time to implement some of her suggestions in my job search! I'm sure I will be referring back to it throughout the next year or two.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I'd read this while I was still in school or right after graduation, but it has still been very helpful!