Another outcome possible? Originally Posted by katlpn6 I told her that was not clinically appropriate and I would not be doing that. I worked there for two weeks and was brought into the office managers office after work one evening and told that it wasn't working out and they would have to let me go. When I asked why she told me it was because I was too set in my ways and obviously was not willing to do things their way. !
I think there's another way to look at this situation, another perspective. Many of us have been in clinical situations where the practice ranged from "not supported by research" to "unsafe". I wonder if the time had been taken to build rapport and trust with your new coworkers if you couldn't have made a tremendous positive impact on their practice? Could you have closely watched and listened to your preceptors instructions and then done it the way you knew was correct anyway? Show rather than tell? No one likes being TOLD they're doing something wrong, especially from a new employee who they don't know or trust. At the same time, I have never met a nurse who purposefully wanted to harm a patient (although I've heard about them on TV!).
I have a fundamental philosophy that I
strive to use in every situation, it's simply to "believe the best" about people. No matter how I want to question motives, etc. I try to remember that most people WANT to do a good job. This is how I would apply this to your situation: First, I would believe that my new place of employment wanted to provide great patient care to their pediatric patients. I would approach each day with a "what can I learn from my new coworkers" attitude and how can I provide the best patient care possible. I would seek to ASK QUESTIONS rather than to TELL.
I would not compromise what I know to be safe patient care while at the same time being respectful of others. For instance, instead of TELLING your preceptor her practice is "clinically inappropriate" and you would "not be doing that". What might have happened had you ASKED her questions like "I've never seen that done like that. What's the benefit to the patient?" and look like you're INTERESTED in the answer. She may have been told to do it that way by an LPN with 20 years of experience or she may not even know why she does it. But you created an opening. Then you can start a dialog and you never know you both might learn something. Regardless, you've
not created an enemy, you've shown that you ARE willing to do things differently and you begin building trust with your coworkers so that you can ultimately impact the care given to the patients.
I realize I'm making a lot of assumptions based on one brief email (as all the other posters have done as well) but I would guess that your preceptor, even after the health department came to "straighten them out", still has her job. Ask yourself
if it wasn't the fact that you refused to do things their way that you were fired what could it have been? Is it possible it could have been your attitude? Was there ANY other way to handle the situation besides TELLING or REFUSING - both of which don't invite trust but do build walls that prevent good communication.
I highly recommend two books to everyone - "Crucial Conversations" and "Crucial Confrontations" both by Kerry Patterson. Excellent books on communication.
Best of luck to you.
Who taught her to do that??
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