Bad preceptorship assignment

[tajlemm6]

Despite being at the top of my class (I have straight A's) I was passed up for my first two choices of preceptor assignment and given my thirs- which I obviously didn't really want! The only explaination I was given was that spots were tight and it was hard to place people. I know other people were given spots I would have got, and I know that some people who she had trouble placing were given the opportunity to change their plans. I was never given that option.

After she told me that I got my third choice she said, "It was really hard to place everyone. Is that okay?" to which I responded "do I have a choice?" and walked away.

I am so disappointed and have cried for hours now.

I am fairly positive that she won't halp me find another placement and I wonder what I should do. If they won't help me find something at the larger hospital, should I look for a spot at a smaller critical access rural hospital or nursing home- otherwise I will be stuck in behavioral health.

I just want to quit- all this work to get skrewed out of a good spot in the last stretch. I have never hated nursing school as much as I do now.

[OB-nurse2013, BSN, RN]

I'm so sorry that happened. I can see something like that happening to me, I don't know sometimes I feel like in nursing school they just do anything they can to make things difficult. just remember it does not mean thats where you have to work when you graduate. You've come so far just go in and make the best of it and say so long when you walk down that aisle. I have had something, not that bad, happen to me this semester and its really made this semester terribly difficult. I'm trying to make the best of it but it really makes me question choosing nursing. I'm not going to quit, I love clinical and teh actual stuf we're learning but the ten thousand hoops I've been jumping through just gets old....

[OB-nurse2013, BSN, RN]

And by the way-I don't think you're an entitled brat at all. There's nothing wrong with working very hard and getting through nursing school with kids and being disapointed because of what happened. I would too, so would many others.

[Nursein2011]

First, take some deep breaths. Please don't take that as being rude. I know calming down first always helps me to look at my options in a clearer way. I absolutely would express your feelings to your instructor and ask if it would be possible to be placed in a different area. If it is not possible then you will obviously need to go from there. I do not think that working in an area you don't prefer would make your entire time in nursing school not pay off. A friend of mine in nursing school wasn't given ANY of her three choices for her preceptorship. She had about the same reaction as you are having. It turns out that she absolutely loved the area she was in and is pursuing a position in that area. I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason and that good can come out of perceived bad situations. My advice is to try to be calm and go for it giving it your all no matter where you are placed. You just may land a good job with the facility in which you are doing your preceptorship. Also, I am so very sorry about your daughters health problems. You seem to be a strong person who is a real tropper. So, keep that up! YOU CAN DO IT!!

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

I know this is disappointing...it's a cliche, but life is not fair, and sometimes thing don't work out as we anticipated. Sorry that is the case here, but you have to make the most of it and move on.

When I was in school, some people in my class were not happy with the sites of their preceptorships--your's is not the first class to have this issue. An instructor at my schools said that sometimes they put the struggling students with a better preceptor (to try and 'pull them up'), and this means that some of the better students are prevented from getting their top choices. In other words, being a straight A student may have worked against you here.

Wherever you end up having you experience--go there and have a positive attitude. Don't let on that this was your 3rd choice--you never know if a nurse there is best friends with the NM from someplace you want to interview...

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

For what it's worth, I don't think you sound entitled. To me, you sound frustrated because it's clear to you that those who stomped their feet and complained throughout school were given options. It's a major problem in modern society that those who are rudest get something for free.

You have worked hard in school, you have kept your mouth shut about less-than-stellar clinical placements, and you have always hoped that this last major clinical opportunty would be your chance to make the contacts and to do your best to impress TPTB. I find that expectation admirable, because many students just trudge on through without ever realizing the opportunities that the preceptorship can offer.

Rn/writer had a great post in this thread, and I agree with her advice 100%.

My only advice is to approach your clinical placement coordinator again and state your case. If you are unable to get to a more desirable clinical placement, you just have to take your hard-working attitude to the placement and try to get the most out of it that you can.

Good luck to you.

[MadpeysRN]

So do you are worried that because you are doing behavior health that you will never get a chance to work in a main hospital? (That's what I am getting from just reading page 1.) I find it doubtful that that would be the case.

[maryray]

I am in the exact same spot today. Just found out I got choice number 8/8, a nursing home. I also have straight A's and have worked my butt off for this. We were always told we could choose, and when it came down to it, they looked at grades. I'm an older student with 3 kids and a husband who runs a business, so relocating is out of the question. We also don't have health insurance, and my son has a procedure he needs this summer that will cost us thousands of dollars, so I am desperate for a job ASAP. I have also sat back and not complained about complete chaos in the program while others have been LOUD about their disdain for the school. I am planning on speaking with the director about my concerns regarding how to land a job without being able to use much from my preceptorship, and look into any shadowing experiences possibly available in the area hospitals.

Good luck to you!

[jbluehorseh]

i have to say your post bothers me, youdo come off with a scene of entitlement. at my school we had nopreceptorship program. if youthink your situation is so wrong, then just what until you get your firstnursing job. you need to keep this in mind, nursing jobs are hard to come bythese days, in 2010 the majority of the graduating class of my school could notfind job. i had to take a position i didnot want, but i am glad i did. it did not matter because i was willing togive a 100%, in the while i am still looking for the job i want. you have achance to learn valuable information that one just cannot find in a book. yesmental health is not very exciting, but neither is cleaning up patient with cdiff poo who is demented. i hope can learn to give yourself a break, ifyou enter any job that tightly warped, you will most definitely fail. innursing having the best grades is not enough, it is critical thinking, time management,and therapeutic communication. all those things come with experience. as anurse he or she learns to make the situation work for him or her. take this timeto work on therapeutic communication for patients in behavioral health, it is agreat opportunity whether you realize it or not. i do not know how old you arebut you sound young, with that said you have many years ahead of you to get theexperience want. when you graduate keepthis in mind. this is not the end of your nursing education but rather the beginning. best of luck

[NCRNMDM, ASN, RN]

I understand why you're upset, and I know this seems like the end of the world for you. I get that it makes you angry to see people who didn't do as well as you being rewarded with their number one choices. I can only imagine how terrible it must feel. However, this is not the end of the world. I know psych seems terrible (I don't ever want to work psych in my career), but I have to wonder why you even listed it as a choice. I know that I don't like psych, I know that I wouldn't make it as a psych nurse, and because of that, I would never even put it down. I can see how an instructor who is scrambling to place students would say, "Well, this student did rank psych as the third choice, so it can't be too bad," and go ahead and stick you in there.

If I was in your position, I would go back and ask about being placed in a smaller hospital on a medical unit of some kind. If medical nursing is what you want to do, then the experience would be more beneficial to you than psych. I realize that you won't see as much working in a smaller hospital, but you will learn more about medicine on a medical unit at a small hospital than on a psych ward at a large psychiatric facility. If you can be placed at the smaller hospital, be extremely grateful, don't complain, and take the spot. If you can't be placed in a medical unit, go into the psych position with an open mind, and try to learn as much as you can.

I feel like it would have been wise to select very carefully when it came to choices for preceptorships. You should have given each unit careful consideration and decided which three units you would be okay with being placed in. For instance, my unit list goes something like this:

1: ICU

2: ED

3: Oncology

4: PACU

5: ICU Step-Down Unit

6: Telemetry

7: Surgical Floor

8: Pediatrics

9: Long-Term Acute Care

10: Neonatal

No matter how things work out, try to have a positive attitude, and learn as much as you can no matter where you're placed. The preceptorship won't last forever, and you may find out that it's better than you expected it would be. Good luck!

[LoveMyBugs, BSN, CNA, RN]

Getting a great preceptorship dosn't = a job after graduation.

While it sucks that you are not in your 1st choice, it may not carry the weight that you think it does. My school messed up with my 1st year clinicals and I ended up with 2 rotations in LTC/SNF cutting my med/surg rotation.

My 2nd year was much better, got an ED preceptorship (which I rocked) but due to budgets and other politics at the hospital I didn't get hired there, and due to the economy plus the saturation of new grads in my area I didn't get a job untill 9 months post graduation in a SNF.

A couple of jobs I interviewed for were for the State mental Hospitals, but I never did a mental heatlh rotation so I did not get the jobs. If it is a job you need right away a mental health rotation may not be so bad as mental health - hosptials, group homes, out patient clinics may be more willing to hire a new grad

[MattNurse, MSN, RN]

Any time you put yourself out there on this site you will draw negative critics. I notice in almost every thread that people are negative and attack.

Behavioral health is awful IMO. In med/surg you will get a ton of behavioral issues and what you learn will help in the future. I hope that helps you, you won't be wasting your time but if you can get out of it try too. School stinks and it is almost over for you and all the political stuff that goes on at a state or community college. At this point your goal should be to pass your NCLEX and get any job for your year experience. If in behavioral health you have a lot of down time, study, study, study for your boards.

BTW, in nursing school I never did med-surg rotation, I was always in ICU, NICU, ER, tele, neuro. Now I am a medsurg nurse and it doesn't matter at all.

[cityknitty_RN]

Just my 2 cents...

This actually is a pretty good reflection of the job market out there right now.

You will probably not get your first choices in jobs. Many new grads are having to take jobs in less-that-desirable (to them) situations to just get experience.

So, all that to say, this may be a very real situation that may carry over after you graduate. I agree with other posters -- make the best of this situation. Behavioral health can offer a lot of medical skills, not just therapeutic communication. And actually is a place where a new grad may find a job after graduation (especially with some experience, which you'll gain). I understand you needing to vent, and this is a place to do it. However, I'm sure that your professors don't have a vendetta against you-- it's difficult to place so many students in areas where many people have similar 1st and 2nd placement requests. The fact that you got placed with your 3rd option (that you put down, not anyone else) is pretty fair.