Worst Night Ever

Nurses New Nurse

Published

So I'm posting to vent right now while I'm hiding in the bathroom. After 4 weeks of Orienting bliss I am on my first Night Orientation and it totally went to hell.

From the moment I walked in the door I knew it was going to be a bad night. The Preceptor who I was supposed to be with got changed and I was thrown to the wolves with a different Preceptor who obviously didn't want me with her. I can't even describe how cold and uninviting this woman is. I tried to tell her how my flow has been up until this point in my orientation. I guess that just made her mad. So everything I did after that was up for critique.

Long story short she said I don't click with her and refused to work with me halfway through the shift. After I already assessed all her patients gave them their meds charted on them and settled them for bed, I now have to start over with a new nurse after I've been demoralized and pushed to tears.

I guess I should have known it wasn't going to be all peaches and I wouldn't be a victim of nurses eating their young. It just sucks to be the new person and have something to like this happen when you're so vulnerable.

Specializes in Critical Care.

Sorry you had a bad first night. As a new orientee, maybe next shift lay low and let your preceptor lead, instead of focusing on letting her know your flow from the get-go? You'll have plenty of time to do your own thing and follow your preferred flow once you're off orientation, but these people will still be your coworkers and trust me, you'll need them. I'm new-ish, too, so I KNOW it sucks, but the last thing you want to do is get a reputation for being a difficult orientee, unwarranted or not. It takes a while to rebound from that, and night shift can be insular and clique-ish anyway. So to isolate yourself can be deadly. I know it feels unfair, and it may be. But this is one of those times you've gotta suck it up and decide how you can better approach the next night, even if the other person was in the wrong.

Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

4 weeks in and you are not working independently yet? You are being treated very generously!

This may be a really good time to develop your "service recovery" skills. If you career is like most, it will really help to learning how to fix a situation where you got off to a 'bad start' with someone - co-worker, manager, physician, patient or patient family. Empathy plays a huge part. How do you think that that 'evil' night nurse felt getting saddled with a newbie with no warning? I doubt whether she was any happier than you. As the newcomer, it is up to you to make the first move.

I am in a Nurse Residency program so the first few weeks were class based. The total orientation is 8 weeks long and is one of the reasons I chose this position. I had to sign a 2 year contract to get such a generous orientation so I hope it's worth it. I was on my 5th floor shift with four patients on my own when this happened. I guess I thought I was being helpful trying to let her know how I was progressing this far and how I learn best. I had no real issue with her until she started screaming at me for not heating up a patient's dinner immediately after she ask for it. Said patient hadn't gotten her dinner dose of insulin and had a sugar of over 300 I really wanted to get that into her before I added more fuel to that high sugar. I am really upset about how that night went. I really wanted to have good working relationships with my new coworkers. I've had 3 Preceptors previous to her with no issues.

Specializes in cardiac/education.

I was just amazed you had any time to post in the bathroom! LOL

I know the preceptor/orientee thing really sucks. I just try as hard as I can to put myself in their shoes as well, no matter how bad I think I am being treated. I feel for ya, nursing is hard all around....

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