New RN and I feel alone and lost

[MrsJt]

Hello everyone... I am a new RN, started orientation almost 2 months ago in ICU/CCU. I am just looking for words of encouragement.

I love the aspects of my job and critical care, but I am struggling with not feeling I am getting the guidance from my preceptor, other nurses, or the nurse managers on my unit. It started from the very beginning on this unit. There is such a disconnect bw the staff and management that it is affecting my orientation.

I have gone through a total of 5 preceptors in this time dt, the nurses not wanting to take an orient. I finally got one that I really liked and was learning a great deal from, but then I was switched to midnight (which is the shift I will be on for at least a yr) and now I have a new preceptor. She is very nice, but I am not getting any of the seasoned knowledge that she has as a critical care nurse. She will explain if I ask, but there has been times she has given me the wrong info on why they do certain things and when I am questioned by other nurses about my knowledge, I am scrutinized bc it is not correct.

Last night I worked with a different preceptor and we were extremely short staffed, so other nurses were asking me for help, which led me to become behind on what I needed to have done. So here we are at 5:30 (I work 6-6:30) and I am behind with charting and my 6 oclock meds and a not so happy nurse waiting for me to give report. The nurse gives me attitude about how my 6 oclock meds (which I was informed by my preceptor, that we do not do 6 oclock meds) need to be done and questioning who my preceptor was and this is all in front of a student nurse that she has, I felt so belittled.

My then preceptor for the night then chimes in wondering why I am behind (mind you I took care of my first vented patient on my own with very little help from anyone) and she is literally rushing me to hurry up and grab my bag so she can leave and she is the one that pulled me to help these other nurses! To make things worse, my preceptor had another orient and she wouldnt help with anything or anyone bc she had to get her charting done, but yet she had time to run off to make a phone call to her hubby.

I am just frustrated bc I do not feel I have any support from the other nurses and our nurse managers aren't any better. Last wk I helped a nurse bc she was busy and one of her patients had to use the restroom, he was a post open heart, so I asked the nurse manager sitting at the desk for help, she brushed me off bc she had a pt just leave AMA and couldnt help me and no one else was willing to help bc they were too busy.

I am just afraid that when I am off orientation that I will not have the help or resources and I feel that is putting the pt and my license at jeopardy.

[MrsJt]

Basically, I am a new nurse and the seasoned nurses aren't so welcoming. I don't feel that I am getting an adequate orientation to my unit. I am afraid that once I am on my own, due to events that have happened, I won't have support or resources to go to when I am in need.

[Cowboyardee]

Basically, I am a new nurse and the seasoned nurses aren't so welcoming. I don't feel that I am getting an adequate orientation to my unit. I am afraid that once I am on my own, due to events that have happened, I won't have support or resources to go to when I am in need.

It's not clear if you're looking for advice or just venting.

[MrsJt]

Just some words of encouragement

[noiram_rn]

May I know where are you from?

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

OK, so what have you learned from all this? It seems to me that you've had several valuable lessons. First - it's very important to stay on top of your own tasks & you need to prioritize them before helping anyone else. This may be rough because other staff members may believe that the newbie is fair game. Learning to say "no" with diplomacy... e.g., "I'm sorry, but I need to give some meds right now, I can help you in about 15 minutes".

Before you ask for help, analyze what's happening so that you can be very specific in your request. Asking someone to "help me transfer Mr Jones to the chair" will be much better received than "can you help me with Mr Jones?" Do you need help, information or reassurance? If it's reassurance, your colleagues are going to get tired of it very quickly and you'll be labeled as "needy". If it's information, you should be looking it up yourself - policies and procedures are your friend. It may be uncomfortable, but you're never going to enlarge your comfort zone unless you stretch.

Sounds like you're doing very well. All you need is confidence. You've got this.

[MrsJt]

Thank you for your reply! The issue is more of just protocol between the 2 units (for example when to clear the pumps for I&O's, etc) and managememt working us to bare minimum. They combined two critical care units a year ago, but it is still pretty divided. So ICU does things one way and CCU does things another. Im on my 6th preceptor, did a 5 weeks on CCU now on my 2nd wk in ICU. It's like once I get into a rhythm, they change my preceptor and then I am told that what I have been doing has been the wrong way. As far as the charge nurses, it's not just me or the one instance that they were unwilling to help. Its happened with multiple nurses. The last night I worked, my preceptor and I had 2 vented patients, both on drips and received an admission at 1am and that pt ended up being vented 1/2 hr later. The charge nurse told my preceptor, let her (me) do everything bc she should be able to handle this kind of patient load by now. I just feel that that is unfair for a new nurse.