changed my preceptor-did not go well with the manager

[anfe]

I need a hug!

Monday was the last day of our summer nurse extern program. for the 1st four weeks of the externship I was teamed up with this nurse, to make it short, loved the idea of preceptor, she was the ultimate teacher and mentor. After that I was teamed up with the exact opposite. She was not mean or rude, I think she just had no idea what a preceptor should be doing, so most of the 12hr day, I'd be left 'hanging", nothing to do.not being taught anything, she was sloppy in patient care, definitly not the nurse I wanted to learn anything from. Most of the time its like she forgot she had someone working with her. I was so fustrated that I winced every time I looked at the schedule and saw my name next to hers. I just knew it was going to be another wasted day.Finally one morning I went to the charge nurse and asked if I could work with someone else that day. She ask me why, and to be diplomatic, I said I just like to learn from, and work with different people. She said that was ok with her. Later that day, the floor manager noticed that i was working with with this other nurse and asked the nurse, not me, why I was working with her. I jumped in and told her I had ok'd it with the charge nurse. She spoke to my dreaded preceptor, the charge nurse and the nurse I switched to, separately, but never said anything to me. Later that day, I went to her office and apologized for what happened. She shrugged her shoulders and asked me to be honest and tell exactly why I was not working with the preceptor. Without saying anything negative about the preceptor, I told the manager my fustrations as an extern. She asked me if I had told the preceptor that I was not going to work with her that day. I told her no. she said she understood and immediately switched all my shifts with this nurse and teamed me up with other nurses, who were all great. Everything was fine after that.

I thought that was the end of this incident, until last week when I called the lady in charge of the externship program at the hospital to find out about getting a PCT position at the end of our externship(the idea was we stay on as techs/PCA/CNA during our senoir year and hopefully for them, transition to RN next year, after our boards). I was told that the floor manager did not offer me a tech/pct position because I had changed my preceptor."it did not go down well with your manager" she said. She asked me to email her which other floors I'd be interested in working. I did that but I have heard back from her. I feel I am getting the run around.

My question to you in the nursing world is, Is this going to hurt my chances of getting another job as a PCT/CNA at another hospital? is this going to hurt my chances or do I even mention it? This is my senoir and I was looking to continue working PRN as a tech thru graduation to help with the family bills. need the money to for tuition and gas, etc. I have started applying to other hospitals in the city, but keeping wondering how will a hiring manager view this? i'm just not sure what to put on my resume/application. I learnt so much about patient care , nursing skills, meds, etc. during this summer externship . Except for that one preceptor, the whole experience and the nurses and techs on that floor were just great. Does that look bad on me?

Just to let you know, even before this incident happened , I was not planning to work threre as an RN next year. I have my eyes set on this teaching hospital in the city. I am going to apply to be a PCT/CNA there today, but I am worried about this incident.

I know this is a long thread. tks for reading.

[RunnerRN, BSN, RN]

I doubt it will hurt your chances of anything. Just put the nurse externship on your resume, and include what aspects of pt care you learned. Yes, maybe you should have brought up this issue with the NM before it became a big deal, but you didn't - and it sounds like you handled it with grace, no by bashing anyone's skills. I would be more inclined to think that this is just an excuse; maybe there aren't enough PCT positions in that dept now. Apply to the teaching hospital, highlight your experience, and if asked why you aren't staying there, bring up all the usual BS (want to work in a larger/more focused on teaching/Level 1 hospital etc).

Congrats on on your learning this year! Good luck!

[deanaRN]

All hospitals here are desperate for techs. Just apply somewhere else. I wouldn't bring up the preceptor thing unless asked about it. Then I would stick to the "wanted a chance to learn different nursing styles" line. As a rule when references are checked (around here anyway) they just call to verify employment and to ask were you fired or would you be eligible for rehire.

[Beary-nice]

First, here's your :icon_hug: .

Next, I don't know why the incident would cause you not to find employment elsewhere...but someone other than me may know more about how that works.

Lastly, I know the externs that I have come across at the facility I work in cannot just up and leave their preceptor without going through the proper channels. There are some preceptors that are better than others, that I know, but if you felt like you were left hanging with not a lot to do, did you talk to your original preceptor about it?? Not many people like confrontation, but alas, it is something we must deal with from time to time. I hope that things get better for you and I hope that you see that there is a little lesson here that you can learn from this experience.

Take care!

[husker-nurse, LPN, LVN]

Hey, anfe, I applaud you in your effort TO actually LEARN, instead of showing off all your new-found knowledge to the tarnished old nurses or finding the most comfy chair.... WE NEED RN's LIKE YOU! I have every confidence that you'll be fine, and, always remember this; "When one door closes another one opens". Best to you in your bright future! (Just go easy on the managers for a while)

[mom and nurse]

Just highlight your experience during the externship, highlight what you learned as the previous poster noted.... Put this experience with the preceptor behind you. Right now it may bother you, but in the long run your life will go on.... :) :)

[llg, PhD, RN]

I am the coordinator of the extern program at my hospital & I thought you might like my take on all this.

I think 2 mistakes have been made here. The first mistake was yours. You did not handle the situation with your 2nd preceptor very well. Instead of dealing with your frustration openly and honestly by talking with that preceptor and/or the person responsible for coordinating the program to let them know that you were having a problem ... you went behind their back and "snuck around" to manipulate the situation to get what you wanted. That was a big mistake in problem-solving. It hurt your relationship with your manager and your reputation with the people involved. People are hesitant to hire employees who sneak around and manipulate things behind the unit leadership's backs.

The second mistake was your manager's. I think she is over-reacting to your mistake (unless there is more going on that you did not convey in your post). While you are not young, you are still a student and 1 political mistake should be tolerated. If you were at my hospital, we would counsel you about the appropriate way to solve problems -- and give you another chance. Perhaps, as another poster suggeted, there are simply no vacant positions at the moment.

My recommendation to you depends on what sort of evaluation you get from your current employer. If it is positive, I would simply apply to your first choice place as if nothing has happened. Show them your positive eval as evidence that you did a good job as an extern. Tell them that while you learned a lot as an extern, your long-term hopes are to work at XYZ hospital and so you are now applying there.

If your extern evaluation is negative -- or you think that it will be, then I would meet with the extern program coordiantor and write a letter to be added to your file apologizing for handling the preceptor situation clumsily. Emphasize that you are still a student and did not know the proper way for handling it at the time. You have learned from the experience and will handle similar situations better in the future. The extern coordinator may be able to give you a job recommendation and/or help you smooth this over so that you can move forward in your career with no problems.

Let us know how it works out,

llg