Confused

[jenal77]

I have a question, I am a new grad and got hired for ER. My preceptor was never with me, always sat at the nurses station and if I needed something I had to go find her. She was scheduled as charge nurse on days I was working with her or on the main floors doing IV's or Midlines because she really awesome at it. I couldn't handle the stress of being left by myself anymore and always feeling like I wasn't safe because I never had any validation, so I turned in my two weeks notice. Two days after turning it in my manager called and said I didn't have to finish out my notice, I informed HR to CYA, fast foreword 3 months later, I contacted my old manager to see what my standings were, he told me he put me as non rehire able because of my pace, critical thinking and because my preceptor asked for 3 weeks more time because she was pulled so much during my orientation. Again I emailed HR to contest this, but yet again like before no one is responding. It's to the point of where I want to give up on nursing all together. How can I gain experience and learn if I can't get a chance to?

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

I am really sorry your first RN job experience was anything but pleasant. However, I do believe there should have been other ways for you to handle such a situation rather than just resign.

Maybe give some suggestions?

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

Sounds like you just took the first job they offered without considering whether it's something you really wanted to do.

"My preceptor was never with me, always sat at the nurses station and if I needed something I had to go find her."

Orientation is not skills or tasks training. Orientation is more like being introduced to the way business is conducted day to day at the facility, understanding your role in relation to the health care team, and what duties your expected to perform as a functional team member.

While some facilities offer training programs prior to entry into specialty fields, others expect you to hit the ground running. The latter seem to be the case with your situation. If being proficient at a new job requires new skills, most people are expected to engage in methods of self study, finding a someone to mentor while performing a task, or doing whatever else it takes to become proficient. That's the hallmark of professionalism.

I'm not sure what you mean by validation. Health care is largely 'management by exception'. If you're screwing up, plenty of people will tell you, sometimes to your face or other times to your back. But you will find out. Validation occurs every time you don't injury a patient, perform all duties as expected, and don't get called into the DON's office for a reprimand.

This sounds like a very wrong way to train a new grad, new employee. It's probably pretty standard, unfortunately, but it isn't very smart, as we see by the nurse having no job now and the hospital having wasted their money and now having to hire someone new and start all over. Ridiculous for both OP and the former employer.

Her post sounds like she was not really oriented very actively. There's a certain degree to which she should have been with the preceptor and the preceptor can't just sit at the desk or go do IV's on other wards. Certainly not at first.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I respectfully disagree with some of the posters. If you gave an incorrect medication, dose, or performed a procedure that caused patient harm because you were not being appropriately mentored, if the error was significant enough, either the patient, family, or your own employer could report it to the BRN.

Yes, a nurse's licensure can certainly be censured for mistakes that resulted in harm or patient demise. However, censures and actions taken against nurses' licensure for these commissions or omissions in patient care hardly ever occur.

The overwhelming majority of licensing censures and revocations across the U.S. happen as a result of impaired practice, substance abuse, narcotic diversion, theft, intemperate alcohol/drug use, or failure to satisfactory comply with the terms of intervention programs for addicted nurses.

Again, the "my license is on the line" cries are wildly exaggerated.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

Honestly, I think you're screwed. No way HR is going to side with you after the fact, and if you're nonhireable now not much is going to change that. What have you been doing the last 3 months? If you haven't been working as a nurse, I think you're even more screwed. Take this as a valuable learning experience to advocate for yourself. Ask for a different preceptor if your original one isn't working out, tell your preceptor that her style isn't working for you, develop a plan with your manager, etc. I think you've burned this bridge completely, you need to start looking elsewhere for sure.

So much gloom and doom. She just needs to keep looking. She will find something, even if it's not in the area she wants the most. Might be skilled nursing, doc's office, clinic, teaching CNA's or LVN's, some other non acute care.

[jenal77]

Then tell that to my nursing instructors, they honestly made it sound if you sneezed wrong your license was on the line lol

[chacha82, ADN, BSN]

"Put your courage to the sticking point" as they say and apply for new jobs. List this job, when asked about it, explain that it was not a fit for you and you wanted to pursue other opportunities. Just keep moving forward. You can only say so much about a bad job experience before it begins to look like YOU are the issue, not your employer. It is tempting to give them the laundry list of reasons you couldn't stand the place but it's not constructive. Just keep it positive. As others have said, you may need to be open to different types of nursing, but there are opportunities out there. Once when I was job searching I made a list of everywhere I applied. As I heard back "No" I crossed the places off. At first I was discouraged, then I was like "Nope, that door is closed. Look for another one." Within a few weeks I had an offer and it was a great workplace.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Then tell that to my nursing instructors, they honestly made it sound if you sneezed wrong your license was on the line lol

Unfortunately, many nursing instructors do not live in the real world of nursing. A large swath of them are immersed in a textbook world of nursing full of ivory towers and abundant time. Many of them have not delivered direct patient care in years.

Your career will be filled with countless uphill battles and a detritus of lost jobs if you practice nursing in the textbook manner that most instructors instill into students.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

I am so sorry this experience did not turn out well for you. Hopefully you can learn something from it and bounce back stronger than ever before.

Nonetheless, no one's license is on the line. The "my license is on the line" chant is exaggerated and overused. Nurses hardly ever have actions taken against their licensure for sloppy patient care or mistakes made during the provision of care.

Per disciplinary action records from most state boards of nursing, most nurses who have had their licensure censured were involved in theft, narcotic diversion, intemperate use of alcohol and/or drugs, impaired nursing practice, and other issues related to addiction.

Again, your license is not on the line. Good luck to you.

I agree with the "license on the line" chant. It often seems to me to be an excuse the posters offers up to justify doing what they were going to do anyway -- quit their job, usually. I agree that quitting during orientation was a bad move and that there were probably other ways to address the situation. Harassing HR with emails is probably not going to have a good result for you, either.

[Orca, ADN, ASN, RN]

In that situation, I would have requested more mentoring because my preceptor was not able to spend adequate time with me due to other responsibilities.

[audreysmagic, RN]

Then tell that to my nursing instructors, they honestly made it sound if you sneezed wrong your license was on the line lol

I honestly think that's where it starts for most nurses, being so obsessive about it. Prudence and good practice and considering safety are of COURSE always top priorities, but I think they use the "your license is on the line" to scare students into being over-cautious.

[DTWriter]

OP, here is something I posted in another thread; anyone, feel free to pass it along:

As a nurse relative of mine advised me - get in the mindset that the employer expect you to know what you are doing. Act as if you know what are doing (though, ask questions when necessary). Get the "I am a new nurse" notion out of your head. Employers do not give two sh#%s that you are a "new nurse." They want someone who can perform independently as soon as possible, no matter how much orientation time they promised you.

[cinderella1521]

don't ever give up. Keep positive and you will do fine. you know that you are good at what you do and you will do fine. if you need guidance and assistance all you have to do is hang in there and don't be afraid to ask for help, you'll learn what you need to learn and you won't go wrong. just believe in yourself.