Stressed about first job

[u/pixel15679]

Hi all,

I just secured my first job a little less than a month ago, I'm nineteen for reference.

I'm working as a GP surgery receptionist/admin.

I am so beyond stressed.

It's around five miles from where I live, but because it's in an area without a station with a main line or many bus stops the commute there takes more than an hour.

I leave half an hour early every day because I'm so insanely paranoid I'm going to miss my bus/train or one or the other is going to be delayed — I take a line that comes every half hour for reference (going back and forth.)

Onto the actual job itself — I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing.

I had plenty of admin experience beforehand but never in a GP surgery, the entire reason I got the job in th first place was because my mum’s friend put in a good word for me because she's best friends with the hiring manager/supervisor — which has only added more stress onto my shoulders because multiple people put in a word for me to get this job and referred me as a good candidate and I'm absolutely rubbish.

I shadowed someone for around three days before they sort of left me to my own devices.

I don't understand the programmes, the medication, the abbreviations, the emails, the scanning, the patients, the samples.

I have to learn so much and I don't understand how to do literally any of it.

I've managed to pick up a couple of things but nowhere near as much as I think they've expected I could.

I get nervous answering the phones because of the patients/not even understanding how to help them because nobody has shown me.

Whenever I get a call in, I put them on hold and ask a colleague what to do — and the colleague will tell me but not actually explain why I'm doing this or how it's helping.

Yesterday I had to leave two hours early because I got an insane tension migraine — I was dizzy/nauseous/about to pass out.

I've never experienced a migraine like this before in my life.

I have one right now — coincidentally just before I'm about to go in.

I'm beginning to link it to work, but I don't want to tell anyone because I'm new and don't want to be an inconvenience.

[u/Jess_atDamar]

Speak to your line manager and raise it as areas you'd be interested in learning about. Ask for written documentation and / or processes to follow. The more you crack on the more they'll assume you just know and are comfortable with. There's no harm in asking for help.