My externship is not going well

whinnymay · Jun 23, 2004

In my last semester @ the nursing school I attended, the school gave us the speech of how the preceptors had too attend the class. They also stated how choosing a preceptor was a delicate process. Well when I went to meet my preceptor, she didn't even know that she was getting a student. This was the case with half of my class. This was a required class to graduate. It was a horrible experiece. I do have to confess that I learned a lot. I just recently quit a job, and the preceptor there was verbally abusive. Everything she taught me sticks in my mind-regarding lab,assesments and procedures. I don't know if this was a good or bad thing.

NP2BE · Jun 23, 2004

Thanks everyone for your inputs. Today was even more horrible then last week. I woke up hoping today would go better, hoping that things would click but they didn't. I go to her trying to make myself useful with what I know she is okay with me doinng ( assessing and taking vitals) and ask is there anything else I can do. She barely speaks to me and charts without me knowing it. Meanwhile my fellow student and her preceptor are having great communication, she is setting up rooms by her self, giving meds, hanging drips, intubating NG tubes, and I am just watching . She is my friend and all, I am not mad at her. Her preceptor has her involved not only in her patient, but in every nurses patient on that unit. And to add insult to injury, she comes over and gets involved in a procedure on the patient my precpetor has been assigned to. I am as always gloved up, asking what I can do, being ignored. I give up and just sit down, the other nurse probably think i am lazy. The three of them then sneak off to lunch together (the 2 preceptors and my friend). I am not mad at my friend, or her preceptor, just fuming mad at mine. Maybe being male and all they don't want to discuss kids and swimming lessons and whatnot, and it would be great if my precpetor liked me, but really thats not what important.I expect her to act professionally whether she likes me or not and let me practice skills. That is what she is being paid yo do, I havbe already past the point of getting a refund for the class, and there are no other preceptors available ( I checked). I have been nothinbg but respectful to her. I will continue to do so, but Maybe tommorrow I will confront her. I have informed my instructors about the siuation, they agree it is not good and are trying to find somewhere for me to go. I can some up her attitude in one statement. On our first day, I asked what I could do to help. She said can use our charting system? I said somehwat but i'd like to learn it. She said "what is your hurry?? I may just drop it. My self esteem is shot to hell.

A/A/OX3 · Jun 23, 2004

I was merely trying to accomodate her goal which is to have a successful career on the unit she has chosen as the only one she cares for. You are blindly accepting her characterization of the preceptor which clearly stands in contrast to that of all her peers. Your ad hominem argument about my quote is not relevant here. Women chose the right historical moment to make a stand, a carefully chosen one which will have historical meaning. This other nurse is just as disempowered as she is, in the end. She is not defeating an oppressive power or making working conditions better for herself or others with some kind of inflammatory exchange. I have had my share of inflamatory exchanges in the workplace in the past and have found that it does none of the things which I strived for i.e; build solidarity among workers, earn the respect of the "victim", or resolve the conflict.

To begin with, I believe it is quite presumptuous of you to identify NP's goal as 'having a successful career'. Her goal may be to fatten her bank account. Her goal may be to snag a doctor husband. Her goal may be to please her parents. Her goal may be to use nursing as a stepping stone to greater things. It does not follow that because she is a nursing student, she wants a successful nursing career, particularly 'in that unit'. I have to believe that if she 'is the best' as she has stated, her goals are far greater.

People, such as her preceptor, are people I refer to as 'fillers'. They are present for only one reason... to provide a 'body count'. 'Her preceptor' would be the person who's goal is a 'successful career in the unit', most likely because she has few successes elsewhere... rather like the bank teller that has complete control of your life for that tiny moment in time.

You say that I am ' blindly accepting her characterization of the preceptor which clearly stands in contrast to that of all her peers'. My visual image while reading those words was Hitler standing over the open graves at Buchenwald. The SS claimed he was a swell guy.

I am a CVICU CCRN in the Texas Medical Center in Houston at the DeBakey Heart Institute, Methodist Hospital. It is a 41 bed surgical heart unit. Our patient load includes AAA, CAB's, heart and lung transplants, 8 different types of VAD's (axial and pulsatile) and ECMO. I have worked in community hospitals and teaching hospitals. I have been in the game a long, long time. I know the preceptor to whom NP is referring. At St Margaret's, her name was Mary. At Community, his name was Joe. At Christ, her name was Kelley. At University of Chicago, her name was Kathy. At Methodist her name is Dawn. Because their cronies say they are 'swell nurses' does not make it so. It only perpetuates the abuse.

How did Hitler's seige end? America stepped in and said, 'Not today. Not ever again'. As seasoned nurses, this is our job.

You say, 'I have had my share of inflamatory exchanges in the workplace in the past and have found that it does none of the things which I strived for i.e; build solidarity among workers, earn the respect of the "victim", or resolve the conflict'. I am curious as to what other outcome you expected when your approach was 'inflammatory'?

The scariest comment in that sentence was 'earn the respect of the "victim" '. Were you defending the victim for respect? I would hope that you were doing it because it was right and just. I believe that Emerson speaks to the respect I covet far more eloquently.

"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success."

He also said, "What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say."

Finally, in the words of Emerson, I say to you NP...

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

Go make some history NP.

NP2BE · Jun 24, 2004

Update-

This morning after she refused to let me D/c an IV, she said "I got it" I decided it was time to talk. I know she can DC an IV, I am there to learn to become proficient in such skills. I asked her what I could do to become more involved in the skills side of nursing, the copout she gave me was. " well there are a lot of things you just can't do and I am not so comforytable with with my nursing license on the line" {This coming from someone who a week earlier showed me how she was giving a patient with high BS anywhere between 6-10 units of insulin ( she didn't look) even though it wasn't ordered. She said lets just not say anything about that and do it. ( about the insulin)) I said , maybe I will find something else to do this summer then. And politely thanked her. I never trash taked her ( although the reverse is not true, what she said I can't imagine). And was promptly reassigned to the only area they had left. Outpatient surgery. not what I wanted this summer but I'll take it. my new preceptor seems very professional and the staff is glad to have me there. I will make the best of it and learn a lot. I thank you all.

NP2BE

jaimealmostRN · Jun 25, 2004

I am so happy for you NP2B. The new unit is lucky to have such a modivated and professional extern. Since it's outpatient surg, I bet you'll get to start and d/c more than a few IVs. Also, you'll probably be able to float to the OR one day or cardiac cath. Good luck, let us know how it goes from here. Ugggg, heres an embarrassing extern moment for your enjoyment. Today I consumed a great deal of caffiene d/t lack of sleep and we had a class to attend. Being so ahem, "up" I answered a lot of the questions very eagerly....I guess it doesn't sound to bad but I bet it was annoying....what a great first impression on the instructors! Soooooo embarrassing now!!!

NP2BE · Jun 25, 2004

I am so happy for you NP2B. The new unit is lucky to have such a modivated and professional extern. Since it's outpatient surg, I bet you'll get to start and d/c more than a few IVs. Also, you'll probably be able to float to the OR one day or cardiac cath. Good luck, let us know how it goes from here. Ugggg, heres an embarrassing extern moment for your enjoyment. Today I consumed a great deal of caffiene d/t lack of sleep and we had a class to attend. Being so ahem, "up" I answered a lot of the questions very eagerly....I guess it doesn't sound to bad but I bet it was annoying....what a great first impression on the instructors! Soooooo embarrassing now!!!

Thanks for the vote of confidence! My preceptor is great. She mostly circulates in the OR, and mainly with the same docs,so to give me more experience, she is setting up to where Ill do PACU and pre-op one day, and work with different circulators on other days so its no so much repitition. So I am pretty excited about it.

I know what you mean about the delayed onset embarrasement, I have had a few manic moments in class myself where I got invloved and talked to the instructors probably too much and could hear the sighs of my classmates, but was in such a good mood or jacked on coffee, that I didn't care.Then later I feel embarrased. Its okay though, the older students in the class are usually the only ones who speak up, and that includes me. The younger ones (80 % of our class) will mature eventually. :)

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Jun 25, 2004

Hopefully, I was persuading her not to be an NP. It's sound advice; that's how NPs are treated where I come from.

Let me clarify, because of your experience, then that give you the right to try to convince someone to not persue NP? Okaaaaaay. Guess i shouldn't try for one either.:chuckle