New ER Nurse Reality: Fear, First Mistakes, and a Mindset Shift. This episode discusses starting in the ER straight out of nursing school, describing it as both exciting and terrifying and emphasizing that feeling intimidated is completely normal due to the constant noise, unfamiliar situations, and emotionally difficult cases. The conversation highlights common new grad “flubs,” especially struggling to learn and locate equipment because of different brands and terminology, like being asked to fetch a “pigtail” without knowing what it is. It also shares a practical mindset shift for people pleasers: stop defaulting to “I’m sorry” when asking for help and instead say “thank you,” recognizing that needing guidance is part of learning.

If you want to earn continuing education credits for this podcast, go to www.NurseGwenny.com and subscribe to The Nurse Gwenny Library where learning is fun and nerds are cool!