Feeling broken and there's no way out...

[RNRichi]

Hello All, I need you all to lend your help. I am a new grad RN in a very busy ER, I just came off of a 9 week orientation in which I spent one of my 3 shifts each week in an Emergency Nursing course. I felt that I didn't get the best or most out of my orientation because my preceptor simply would NOT relinquish duties and let me do it alone. I would tell her that I can do it, will do it, and need to do it alone but only on my 2nd to last day did it happen. So I asked for an extension and was only granted 1 week more, hence the 9 wks instead of 8.

I had my first shift on my own yesterday and all was going well, I would ask the other nurses a question here and there, until I got the worst pt ever, who came with barely any info from the paramedics because they picked her up from a hostile environment. The pt was combative and clearly either on something or had a psych issue, refused to talk to us, was screaming, hollering, and lying on the hallway floors. Not to mention she was having lady partsl bleeding and just nothing could be done until we sedated her. (She painted the rm & bathroom in blood-literally, climbed over siderails, etc) To make a long story short, the hostile people from whence she came called, then showed up, then her mom called 911 saying we had her dead in the ER and wouldn't allow her to see her.

The mom turned out to be crazier than the pt, the md there was of no help as he refused to talk to the mom until I got my charge involved. I had every senior nurse that was working in my area helping me. I still somehow managed to try and care for my other 3 pts. After all was said and done, I stayed after my shift and made sure that I had charted graphically to "cya". As I was leaving my preceptor who was one of the nurses helping me said " this is why you needed more time, how are you supposed to ever work alone if you need help from everybody all day long". I feel that NO ONE could have handled that pt alone! (Did I mention that everyone stays there long enough to get experience then leave, the hospital has a constant revolving door, only the senior nurses on the old contract stay).

I have tried to be positive even when crying my way home after many grueling days. I study on my own time the things I don't know. I'm not completely new to nursing in general as I was an LVN for 13 yrs, but this is a different ball game. I never wanted ER, but have tried to make the best and do my best because frankly this is the only job offer I received. I REALLY want out, but who hires an RN with 9.5 wks experience:cry:

[sauconyrunner]

The last ED I worked in started out as a totally hostile environment. I had 12 years experience, much of it at a Level one, and also at the busiest ER in the state. So now I had this little community hospital job. I loved my new job. It was a lot easier for me to handle the patients. Immediately I got along with the doctors, and the registration staff. The Nurses hated me. They were awful to me, did not usually help, implied that I wasn't doing things their way, and so on and so forth. They really found they could not attack my nursing because I could handle it, but I remember describing my experience to my friends. I said, "I like the hospital, I like the pt level of care, I like the docs and my paycheck is great, but man the nurses hate me." Since I was living in my dream community and the pay was good, I decided to just go to work and go home. After about 4 months, they all decided I was one of them. I didn't do anything different. Turns out the whole department has this reputation. Everyone is given a cold shoulder, which is better than everyone being talked to rudely.

Hang in. You are going to be great!!!! keep the head down, chin up (hard to do both?) and eventually you will be accepted, and you will be a position to be sure no one else gets dumped on like you did.

[SENSUALBLISSINFL, BSN, RN]

This is an interesting post. I am a new grad and soon will embark in looking for a job.

First the comment of "you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar", is one I was to taught since a child. It is so true in so many levels.

So I ask, how can one stand one's ground against a comment made by a preceptor such as that one? This is the part that I am dreading, I pray that whoever will precept me will be patient and understanding that I will be new to everything in the unit. I am no pushover, I think the preceptor will soon discover that by my demeanor and my maturity (in my late forties), but I am sure to encounter one that will try to push boundaries, and I want to be tactful and diplomatic in the way I will reply and let my ground be known, but mostly I want to be professional.

I know as nurses we are not perfect, but in the end who is the one that suffers? The patient. The fact that the nurses this new nurse works with behave in such a way is not a behavior one should expect from a nurse. What happened to team work, to helping each other? At the end we help the patient and keep our sanity.