A feeling of impending doom

[beeker]

Disaster is on the horizon. We have new grads orienting, once they finish their orientation they are being given an orientee to train. They took away preceptor pay and with our floor being so short staffed, there simply is not anyone willing to train anyone. I love new grads. I love them, they are positive and full of hope and knowledge. But they don't know what they don't know and should be learning not teaching. And our manager chooses the cocky ones to be the preceptors. So there are a few "know it all" newbies leading the troops. There are people who have never put in a foley teaching new people how to put in a foley. Its a mess. I think the time has come to move on.

Please discuss. Anyone ever seen anything like this? Its scary.

[Do-over, ASN, RN]

I have precepted for no extra pay, I will not do that anymore. I enjoyed working with them, however, it is a TON of extra work/time. Plus, No consideration is given with the assignment (unless it is "oh, there is two of you! You can take the crazies/admissions/all the total cares") Newbies and students are SLOW, as is to be expected. I will no longer do it for free.

I will not agree to extra duties without extra compensation. If training new nurses is expected of us, simply because we are nurses, then why don't nursing instructors and nurse educators in the hospitals give up their pay? Why don't I just work for free, I am a nurse, after all - shouldn't I do all this out of the goodness of my heart?

[Do-over, ASN, RN]

However, if their budget does not allow preceptor pay and preceptors won't work without it, then the problem is also with the preceptors. They have a professional duty to assist new hires in reaching competency

Who has the duty to ensure the nurses hired are competent? How about the hospitals that hire them?

[BlueDevil,DNP, DNP, RN]

See one, do one, teach one. That's not new, it's been that way since the dark ages.

[merlee]

I never received any extra pay for being a preceptor. Sometimes the assignment was a bit different, but not always.

One placed I worked had a clinical scale for pay, and those of us who were willing to be preceptors were higher on the scale overall. So my base was a bit higher overall, al the time.

But if the admin was willing to pay for this, and then took it away - wrong. And how can someone who has not proven their competence be appropriate to train the next one? See one, do one, teach one only works if you are actually competent in the procedure.

Scary.

More and more we're all kow-towing to the bean counters. Until nurses are in charge of nursing again, it's just best not to get sick.

Nurses are in charge of nursing... all the way up the line... the officers of the company include CEO, CFO, COO, and CNO... the "N" in CNO is Nursing... There are nurses all the way up the line and into the board room.

[Tina, RN]

OMGoodness, what a mess.

[ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP]

This is going to become more prevalent. The market has a bunch of new grads waiting for an opportunity. Many baby boomers are still clinging on to their jobs. As soon as the economy picks up, we will be seeing a bunch of baby boomers retiring from the bedside en masse, leaving nurses fresh as summer grass to "teach" all the brand newbies.

Nursing has done it to itself.

[ArrowRN, BSN, RN]

woeee that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. The cocky talkers are often the ones who think they know it all but actually are ones with least knowledge and often do not think through things before acting...I hope this does not happen to me once I graduate.

[TrevyRN, BSN, RN]

Isn't there like... an education department or something...? Sorry for your tragic tale or woe. Best of luck. Usually new people notice who actually knows what they're talking about and who is a cocky show off. Sometimes, there are even cocky show offs that know what they're talking about LOL. I completed my orientation in an ER earlier this year and I quickly learned who to go to for advice and who not to. Even if you aren't their preceptor, at least be nice to the newest newbies. Sounds like a crummy situation.

[evolvingrn, BSN, RN]

Sounds like a mess. I think the ideal preceptor is a competent nurse that is 'new enough' to remember what it feels like to be new but experienced enough that others come to them with questions naturally.

[ufnurse13]

Haha!!!!

[MommyandRN]

I thought this was a thread about adenosine.