Future Goals as a New Nurse

I recently sat down for a performance evaluation with my nurse educator. We went through the expectations my department has for me as a new nurse and whether I was meeting them or not. It was good for me to really go through step-by-step what my supervisors expect of me and my performance. I felt confident, as did my educator, that I was exactly where I should be at that moment.

Then my educator asked me a question. She asked me what my future goals were as a nurse. I remember in nursing school sitting down and planning out my one-year goals, five-year goals, and ten-year goals. They were all very generic goals at the time because I obviously had no idea where and in what capacity I would be working.

However, now I am a new nurse and I know exactly where I will be in one year. So now the goals are more realistic to me. Although I do have certain specific goals I would like to achieve, I also want to be realistic about how much I can actually accomplish as a new nurse. Everybody always says that the first year as a nurse is always the hardest.

I really want to just spend this one year becoming the best nurse that I can be, and learning everything that I need to know to be an accomplished nurse in my department. Someday I would love to become a leader, join more organizations, clubs, do more research, go back to school, and become an important figure within the hospital. However, right now I just want to learn how to become a really great nurse.

What are your goals for the year? Do you simply want to survive nursing school? Have a perfect attendance at work? I’m curious for your input!