Bullying-Need Advice with First Hospital Job

Nurses Relations

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Hello everyone. First off, thank you for reading my post and thank you for any replies that you give. I'm graduated 12/13, took NCLEX 2/14. I'm in my second RN job-I left the first one for this because it's a hospital and pays more, also I'll obviously get lots more experience. Anyways, it was hard to get a hospital job-as everyone knows, as a new grad.

I'm doing my BSN now but won't be done till 6/2015. I'm still training/orienting-which is 10 wks long. I'm in my fourth week. I need advice about my preceptor.

On my unit-the preceptor who oriented everyone left that unit just before I started for another unit. I know this because there's someone whom just came off orientation and everyone told me. My preceptor has not oriented anyone in years. She told me so also. She knows what she's doing because she's been there really long-but she's not teaching me nor doing things the right way.

First off-she literally went into a contact room with NO PPE on, not even gloves, and pulled the patient. By pulling-I mean she was touching the patient. She has not taught me anything about wound care, which the techs normally do but I'm worried about when the state comes-so I don't even know where to find the orders. I will ask about the orders though.

On top of that-she's already made a comment about me not having any skills. Duh-I'm a new grad. She showed me how to restart an IV. The next day she said to go restart another one. I said can you please help me. She said I showed you yesterday and I was like yeah, you showed me one time.

Also, she had gone on lunch and I had come back on the floor. She had an admission that was being wheeled in. I asked the other nurse-whom is the Clinical Coordinator on the unit if anything was done with the admission. She said no, your preceptor said to give out meds. I had never had an admission before so I gave out meds. She comes up on the floor and says did you check the admits vitals? I said no. And then in front of everyone she says when you have a new admit you must ck their vitals as soon as they get here, like I'm supposed to know.

I know some of this may sound like common sense to anyone who reads this, but in my opinion, she should not be precepting. And I feel as though I've gotten the short end of the stick because I speak with the other orientees that started with me(they are on other units)and they are not going through this.

I was an LPN before and I was bullied by my manager and was very unhappy. I don't know what to do. Sometimes I want to talk to the person that is following my progress-she is a nurse educator-I think-but I have to keep working on this unit with this woman-so I don't want to cause conflict already. Plus there is no one else precepting on the unit.

I've looked to see what other units have openings-they are only evenings where there are 12-13 patients per nurse or days-3 8 hr shifts(we have 8 hr shifts). I had another job offer right before this near me which paid well but was assisted living. I turned it down because of the hospital. I don't want to leave-I need the experience-but I already see I will not be happy on this unit.

Any advice please? If you think I should have a conversation with my nurse educator, what do you think should be said. Thank you.

brattygrl

51 Posts

Specializes in Peds critical care.

I don't see anything related to bullying here.

I'd be willing to bet your new preceptor didn't really want to be a preceptor but was put into position due to old preceptor leaving. Anyhow, you shouldn't take any of it personally. If you're still concerned, talk to your educator. Your preceptor probably expected you to know to do vs before med pass because you were an LPN before, asyou said.

llg, PhD, RN

13,469 Posts

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

I agree with the previous post. This is not bullying -- just a case of an experienced nurse being "dumped on" with an orientee she doesn't want. She should have the ability to handle the situation with more grace, but unfortunately for you, she is handling it badly. Don't take it personally: it really has nothing to do with you.

Talk to your educator and ask her for some advice. Tell her that the preceptor appears to not want to teach you anything and is giving you tasks to do without teaching you how to do them. Suggest that it might be due to the fact that you are a former LPN, but maybe not. Ask the educator for advice on how to handle the situation so that you can get the orientation you need to be a good RN.

FineAgain

372 Posts

Specializes in ED; Med Surg.

I'm not trying to be unkind but you are in your fourth week, right? There are lots of things you mentioned here that you SHOULD know by this time. Checking vitals with a new admit? Have you not had an admit since you started? if your preceptor is not teaching you, then you need to start making lists. This is what I do with a new admit. This is what I need to chart with every patient. If you want to learn about wound care, then follow the techs and ask them questions. As far as her not teaching you the "right way", you cannot control others behaviors. You are responsible for your own.

I'm sorry but not only do I not see bullying behavior...I am truly growing weary of people calling "BULLY" every time they are not treated exactly how they think they should be. We play with live ammo in the hospital and you need to learn to dodge the bullets.

For the record, my whole orientation was 6 weeks and by the end of the first, we were expected to carry a full assignment.

Do you have a written orientation /education plan? This should be a specific guideline for your educational weekly goals and your experience and progress towards meeting those goals.

You should also be giving a bi-weekly evaluation of your preceptor.

If your orientation does not provide this, your facility and nursing education department are rinky- dink at the least.

This gives you an excellent opportunity to approach the nursing educator with your concerns AND you will be providing them with the answer to the problem.

As far as IV starts, this is most certainly not in the see one, do one, teach one group. This is an invasive procedure that requires a specialized technique. Your preceptor is setting you up for failure and the patient for a pin cushion!

If you have an IV team, request at least one day of orientation with them. If not, find out who has the strongest IV skills on your unit, seek them out for teaching opportunities.

Stay strong, you can do this.

elkpark

14,633 Posts

You're a former, presumably experienced, LPN, you've been licensed for six months, and you're in your second RN position. Sure, your preceptor could be more "warm and fuzzy," but how much handholding do you think you should be getting? You're getting past the point of being treated like a "new grad." It's time for you to start taking responsibility for your own actions and practice. I agree that none of this sounds like "bullying" to me, and it's kind of a red flag for me that you mention being bullied before in another position. As the old saying goes, if something like this keeps happening to you, at some point you've got to stop and think about whether the problem might be you rather than the other people.

You mention not wanting to leave, but realizing already that you "will not be happy" on that unit -- the way it works is, you will be exactly as happy or unhappy on the unit as you make up your mind to be. If you go in each day expecting to have a bad experience and to be unhappy, guess what? That's what will happen. If you make up your mind to have a good experience, that's likely to be the outcome.

Best wishes!

missy26

34 Posts

Thankyou for all of your advice. Yes, I was an LPN-in a dr's office(srry I didn't make that clear.) So, no, I have no experience with med pass, foleys, IV'S, suctioning, etc. I have given injections, neb tx's, blah, blah-nothing serious. And the preceptor knows this and new it from the beginning because she asked me. As for the new admit-no-I've never had a new admit-anywhere-and honestly I was waiting for the preceptor to come back up before doing anything I've never done(I mean I've taken vitals but I didn't know what to do exactly with the new admit.) Wound care-I have seen some of the techs and I've expressed to her that I would like to see wound care so she has brought me into the room for maybe three, but it's not enough. I have 5 patients now and will have 6 that I'm doing basically the same things as the other nurses are doing, so I have to time manage my meds. Yes, I have weekly meetings with things to check off-but my preceptor is there, so how can I say anything about her? In the last meeting I said,"the only thing is that I don't have skills," basically to reiterate what she had said to me and make it known to the unit manager and educator in front of my preceptor. They were like-well we don't expect you to yet-you're a new grad. It's one thing o watch the techs do wound care-but I need to see how the nurses do it and what their flow is so I can find my own. Don't get me wrong-she says I'm catching on quick as far as charting, giving meds, etc., but even when you come off of orientation you will still have ?'s. And I already see that when I have ?'s, she's not going to be very helpful if she expects me to learn things after one time of showing it. So how would you like me to have a "good experience" if that's how it's going to be. I also told her "I've never suctioned before," and she's like you've got to be kidding me. And in that hospital-someone who's worked 5 mths in another hospital is still considered a new grad and they get the same amount of orientation as me. I've been there 4 wks. But I appreciate all of your feedback. Send me more so I can see how experienced nurses look at this situation.

Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

As a new hire in any organization, you have to take responsibility to familiarize yourself with the clinical P&P. These will outline the process for admissions, and other tasks you need to perform. How many times do you expect your preceptor to show you a task or stand at your elbow when you perform it?

I'm actually a bit shocked that a new grad would not be somewhat familiar with "med pass, foleys, suctioning, etc". What in the heck did you do in your clinical rotations? In order to have a long and successful nursing career, you need to take responsibility for your own learning. Identify your own gaps in skills/knowledge, uncover all available resources and use them accordingly.

missy26

34 Posts

I also apologize for calling this "bullying." I guess it's more I feel uncomfortable being new and feeling like I can't ask questions without being reprimanded in front of everyone. I'm guessing most of you know how that feels from your first times working as a nurse, but maybe it's normal. Thanks again. I may talk to the nurse educator and explain the situation.

missy26

34 Posts

Really? How many times did I say she showed me how to an admission? We haven't even done one yet because if they come after a certain time we don't do the whole admission. The admission nurse does them. I will be following her next week though. And foleys, suctioning, etc-I did them on manicans as part of our skills in school, so if I ask a nurse to come with me the first and second time I do it on a real person, I think that's fair. I'm not asking her to show me-I asked for her to come with me. Don't tell me that at your job nobody asks anyone-how do you do that again? Or, can you come with me or show me something? Someone just came off of orientation and they are still asking how to document certain things. There's another girl that left there to work at another hospital and still comes per diem and supposedly can never get a foley in-not her strong suit I guess. She tries-but it's hard for her. So I'm surprised that wherever you work no one asks questions.

Mr. Murse

403 Posts

Specializes in Critical Care/Vascular Access.

well, as everyone has said, definitely not bullying, just someone who doesn't like the job they've been given.

I've always been of the mind that education is what you make of it. If your preceptor doesn't want to stand in the room and show you how to do an IV, then you should already have the basics learned from nursing school, at least enough to be safe about it. So go in, follow what you know and give it a try. Think the process through before going in the room and be confident in yourself. If you can't get it in two tries, go ask for help and who cares if she gets snide when you tell her you couldn't do it. You tried, and you'll learn. Watch some youtube videos at home on procedures you're not sure about, and reread your nursing literature on it. There are so many skills in floor nursing that just take practice, as long as you know the basics to keep your patient safe, then just go in and give it a try. If you're just flat out ignorant about a procedure and are afraid of injuring the patient, then politely refuse to do it without someone going in with you.

Also, try to find the helpful nurses on the floor. You can almost always find one other nurse who is considerate of your new position and knows you're feeling a little lost. One that will help you out here and there, or at least give you advice on things you're not sure about. Your preceptor may get annoyed if she sees you asking someone else for help, but then be blunt. You didn't want to help me, and he/she was willing to help me.

Basically, you're going to need some thick skin for nursing. So consider it a blessing you got a tough preceptor, she may be helping you out more than you realize.

Specializes in Gerontology.

Sounds to me you need to make a skills check list and tell your preceptor that " these are the skills I need help,with" what has she been told about your background? If she was told you are an experienced LPN and this is your second RN job, then yes will expect you to have some skills. It sounds like your are still in student mode. You are waiting for someone to show you each step, rather than initiating things on your own.

Frankly, by the time I graduated school I could do a foley, auctioning and basic wound care on my own so am a little surprised that you still need your hand held with these procedures.

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