invisible Nurse tech

[MariposaNoir]

Hi all,

I am currently a 2nd semester nursing student at a 2yr ADN program. I have just recently received the employment opportunity to work as a nurse tech at an acute care facility in my area. I was initially excited because at my nursing program we hardly learn meaningful skills aside from vitals, TAP q2h, or toileting. occasionally I have given an oral med here and there. However, I feel my overall clinical experience is lacking due to limited opportunities to perform new skills because my program teach to the lowest level of learning . We are not allowed to perform blood draws or handle nursing interventions that involve IVs. This is why I initially sought a NT position to learn new skills beside from general care.

I have been employed 2 weeks and I already hate it. I am the only tech on a 32 bed unit with little orientation to the unit. The morale there is dog eat dog. The nurses either turn their noses up and overlook me and I miss out on learning opportunities, or they bombard me with literally 20 tasks and get upset when 1 out of the 20 is not done. Worse, I even overheard 2 nurses gossiping about me. This is not the experience I wanted and I absolutely dread going to work.

I hear a few of my classmates that are techs rave about their units and how the nurses are such wonderful teachers or how much they are learning. I do not want to quit, as I could potentially severe ties with a future employer, but at the same token not sure how much more abuse I can withstand. I know as a nurse you must have thick skin but I am not even a nurse yet and if this is what I have to look forward to I am seriously reevaluating my desire to pursue my RN degree.

[cdsavannah59, CNA]

Don't let working in this unit stop you from becoming a nurse. This is only the start of your nursing career and eventually you will find the perfect unit to work for. I am a nurse tech in mother/baby unit and I work with a awesome staff of nurses who are all team players. I have learned to tell them if I don't have time to do a task they request, because otherwise they will overload you and cause you allot of work stress if they cant be team players themselves. Some units like yours I hear this kind of stuff about and I can almost bet they are not team players, and hard to get along with on some days.

[thenightnurse456]

I think it might just be that you are new to this job and the staff are just getting used to you.

Being a tech can be very stressful, you have a lot of responsibilities. Once you have spent some time on the floor and get used to things, the job will get easier and the staff will get to know you and share their words of educational wisdom to you.

Like everything in this profession, it all gets better with time!

My real concern is the lack of skills being taught in your nursing program...

Good luck!

[FlyingScot, RN]

I'm probably going to be flamed for this and I'm most certainly NOT saying that their behavior towards you is acceptable but you have to remember what your role is when you are at work. You are not a student you are an employee with an entirely different set of expectations. Not only that but many of the things you want to learn you simply cannot do in your role as a tech. Any nurse who would allow a tech to do something outside of their scope, although seemingly nice, could get themselves and the tech in a heap of trouble. I've worked with plenty of student techs and I try to educate them as much as I can within the boundaries of their job descriptions and my time constraints. Perhaps you were hoping that this job would afford you extra quasi-clinical time?

[runsalot]

I am a nursing student and a tech. The nurses on my unit know I am a student and if there is time they might show me something. Otherwise. No. I am there to tech not to learn how to be a nurse.

And if I only finished one out of 20 tasks. My nurses would talk about me too. You might need some more more training. Good luck. Teaching is hard work. Nothing like clinicals.

[MariposaNoir]

Thanks for your comforting words of reassurance. It's nice to know that some in the nursing culture lack hubris and can actually recall the feeling being the new nurse/inexperienced person. I wish the individuals on my unit were more like you opposed to being the cliché depiction. That is, the cynical nurse that finds pleasure in being labeled the unapproachable, malicious nurse that is too proud to pay it forward to those next in line.

[MariposaNoir]

Don't let working in this unit stop you from becoming a nurse. This is only the start of your nursing career and eventually you will find the perfect unit to work for. I am a nurse tech in mother/baby unit and I work with a awesome staff of nurses who are all team players. I have learned to tell them if I don't have time to do a task they request, because otherwise they will overload you and cause you allot of work stress if they cant be team players themselves. Some units like yours I hear this kind of stuff about and I can almost bet they are not team players, and hard to get along with on some days.

Thanks for your comforting words of reassurance. It's nice to know that some in the nursing culture lack hubris and can actually recall the feeling being the new nurse/inexperienced person. I wish the individuals on my unit were more like you opposed to being the cliché depiction. That is, the cynical nurse that finds pleasure in being labeled the unapproachable, malicious nurse that is too proud to pay it forward to those next in line.

[ArrowRN, BSN, RN]

Well at least you are learning what not to be or how not to treat people when you become a nurse. Just stick it out and chalk it up to learning because this will definitely put you ahead of the game during your nursing clinicals when you get like 1 or 2 patients.