Abuse During my first few months as a new Graduate Nurse.

[muffin416]

Hi there!

I would like to share my experience during the orientation phase at a local hospital as a new Graduate Nurse.

I went to this hospital for employment as a Registered Nurse because I originally worked there in the past in the Emergency Room as an Access Representative and I really liked it!

I had no problem in nursing school, receiving excellent grades. I have a great personality and am people oriented. When I started this facility, starting from the second week on forward, I was continuously being yelled out in front of patients, sometimes over trivial things that could have waited until the appropriate time when I could be taken aside privately and given feedback. Almost every day, I would get negative feedback from the nurse manager, I did not receive any positive feedback. I would be humiliated in front of those poor patients. They even asked why the nurse manager yelled at me in front of them. They felt I was a good nurse and did not deserve being treated as I was. I was not preceptored properly. I was taught in nursing school that when I graduated and got my first nursing job, I would work with a preceptor every day for the first three to four months. The nurse manager, inturn, told me to work alone and ask questions only if necessary. Apparently, they just could not be bothered to teach me.

I basically taught myself the majority. I never knew from one day to the next whether I would be screamed out. My self confidence is shot.

I got to the point where I became afraid of doing anything. To this day, I am trying so hard to regain the confidence that I once had, but it's hard. They tried to destroy that. I was so poorly managed. They felt that my performance was not up to par. I explained to them that how could my performance be up to par if almost every day there was continous negativity.

I have applied to other facilities, such as rehab centers, nursing homes, in hopes of a better working environment. I am so nervous to start somewhere else due to lack of confidence.

Can I get that confidence back and how?

What do you think?

Hope to hear from you soon.

[ss07]

It's important that you realize that no two places are alike, just like two people arent. I understand why you feel the way that you do, but I had a similar experience. Everytime I looked around, I was called on the carpet. Finally, the person highest in charge said, as an aside, that the hospital was not designed for new grads in all fairness. Yet they hired me. I quit, by the way. But my confidence was shot too. I know exactly how you feel. My best advice to you is word of mouth. I would contact anybody I knew that was happy at their job, liked the way staff was treated, etc., and I would apply there. Word of mouth is a valuable thing. I wish you the best.

[starcandy]

I am sorry this happened to you. Unfortunately their are many people out here that should not be a preceptor. It sounds like you were paired with someone who either did not want the responsibilites or just basically mean. The next place that you are employed let the nurse manager know you will need someone with patience and supportive of new grads and that they enjoy precepting. You can periodically update how your preceptoship is going. If it is going badly request a new preceptor. Unfortunately the person that is chosen to be preceptor is a lot of times the person that has been employed the longest and not on skill/personality or even wanting to do the job. Getting a good preceptor will help build your confidence. You learn from this experience to not allow anyone to disrespect you.

[leslie :-D]

you need to leave there.

wherever you interview, ask about the length of orientation.

teaching hospitals typically provide good ones.

i'm sorry your first experience was so negative.

don't let it define you or your experience as a new nurse.

keep your chin up and move forward.

best of everything...

leslie

[ICRN2008, BSN, RN]

My first (lab) job was similar in that I did not receive any orientation. My first day someone showed me what I was supposed to do. The second day she watched me do my work and said nothing. On the third day, she told me to do the work and promptly sat down in the corner to read a novel. I was given a hard time by my supervisor for every little mistake I made, even though I had never been preceptored properly.

I was given five days orientation to learn how to run HIV and Hepatitis tests (by a semi-manual method), and then my preceptor called in sick two of those days.

Finally, after months of frustration one of my co-workers told me that my supervisor never wanted to hire a new graduate in the first place, but was encouraged to do so by her superior because the other candidates were less qualified (ie. not nationally certified). My preceptor readily admitted (later on) that she hated training new employees and avoided it whenever possible.

A bad first experience can sour you on an entire career. However, please don't give up too quickly. My current lab job is like a dream, with a comprehensive orientation and a fantastic supervisor. There are good places to work out there; you just have to have the courage to go out and find them.

Maybe talking to some of your former professors or looking over some of the work you did in nursing school will help to boost your confidence. If you did well in school and passed your boards, then you obviously are capable of performing well under the right circumstances.

Good luck to you.

[sticknurse]

Try this when the bully shows up. Be firm, and make sure your voice is audible (as loud as his or hers was when they were "communicating" with you) Say " My name is (insert name) and I will not tolerate your verbal reprimand in front of my patient's or peers. If you wish to communicate with me in a professional manner I would be happy to do this. With all due respect I find your actions disrespectful and ultimately irrelevent, you accomplish nothing with this except to alienate me. Is this what you hoped to accomplish? " Bullies repond to bullies. But they eat those whom they intimidate. Learned it the hard way. Good luck.

[azor]

So pathetic reading this thread.but all i have to say is that when you are working in a place where you have no rest of mind,its better to find a way to make yourself comfortable or possbly move away to another hospital so as to have that job satisfaction you deserve and need.Goodluck

Azor

[time4meRN]

Sorry to hear your going through this. Hang in there, it sounds like changing places is just what you need. There really are good preceptors out there. It always amazes me that those kind of places just can't figure out why they can't keep staff. Look at it this way,, you got a few pay periods from them, you gained experience of how not to treat a new nurse and sounds like you are developing a thicker skin so,,,,,take it for what it is and move on. Hang in there, that's the good thing about nursing, at least most of the time we have more choices for change than other professions. Consider yourself hugged, and keep on keep'n on.

[walk6miles]

Leave immediately but give the proper notice. Ask for, actually INSIST on a meeting with whomever the hospital has assigned in HR to speak with nurses who leave and give them your complaint in writing. Make it very clear to them why you are leaving.

Do not leave without the aforementioned meeting. If they try to pass you onto a flunky in HR, insist on meeting with someone up the chain of command.

When you interview for another position elsewhere DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT say one word about the supervisor; instead, say that your orientation did not meet your expectations and you feel safer with a more in depth orientation (stress the safety issue).

God bless; good luck!!

[jamonit]

tell me about it...seriously, this post sounds like i could have written it. so, for my first job, i decided i'd start in the PICU at the best, child-specific, teaching hospital in town. they had a 'bridging the gap' program with intense didactic classes/lectures and homework. the learning wasn't the problem, the doing was. i was paired with a girl who was a cardiac-specialized PICU nurse with years of experience. everything i did, thought, wrote, set up, was wrong. i should have said it like this to the pharmacy when i called them, or why did i write that in my charting in that box even, "how many times do i have to show you how to set up that syring pump?!" in front of patients, residents, attendings, families. this made me look and feel like a complete ass. my preceptor stomped on any thread of confidence or independence that i felt i had earned. it was all negative, negative, negative. sorry to say, but 1.7 kilo babies with open sternums fresh-post op atrial septal surgery kids scared the heck out of me.

while i was on a planned and okayed vacation, my preceptor went to my manager and complained that i wasn't fast enough, good enough, or ready enough to be a nurse. when i got back, i was called into a very hostile and attacking confrontation meeting. i felt attacked, my manager/educator didn't stand up for me, no one listened. everyone was talking about it. anyway, after all the ugliness and lack of compassion by my manager to switch my preceptor, i quit.

and then i took another job. was thrown to the wolves. i quit.

so now, here i am with a complete lack of confidence, shaking in my scrub pants worried about beginning my new job at a new hospital. in my interviews, i had to explain the stiuations why i had left my last two jobs (and i've only been a nurse for 5 months). instead of bad-mouthing the places, i say that i felt unsafe and it was a hostile environment.

the one thing this whole debauchery has taught me is that i'm my only advocate and that i'm the only one that can protect my license.

i had no idea that nursing was going to feel like this, or that i would feel like a misfit. i just know that i have to get back up on the horse again and do my best to ride it for at least a year. (so i won't have to take crappy new grad jobs again).

i wish you the best. i hope that in your next job you will feel more comfortable and that your skills and confidence grow.

[Indy, LPN, LVN]

If you talk to human resources you might also remember to mention that the lack of orientation, combined with a manager who screams at you while you're supposed to be responsible for people's lives, constitutes a... say it with me... Hostile Work Environment.

People sit up and take notice when those three words are strung together.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

No one is ever capable of taking your confidence away without your implied consent.