Feeling Very Sad At New Job

[Monique Barber]

I began a new job late last year, and it is kind of breaking me. I'm due to come off orientation, but I feel extremely scared about it. I don't feel like my critical skills are there yet, but I feel like my preceptor and manager expect me to be on their level of nursing. They have like 20-30 years of experience between them. Since I started there, I feel like I'm not wanted due to my weight and my height. They're all extremely cliquish, and I feel like I'm excluded most of the time. A Filipino contract nurse who's been there since the Summer and a new Filipino contract nurse who's been there for one to two weeks were immediately bought into the fold. I noticed they all text each other and ***ociate outside of the workplace, and they immediately began to invite this new nurse from the Philippines on outings and gatherings. When I try to socialize and add something new to a conversation, someone will give me a sarcastic comment, and everyone will go back to ignoring me. I've even caught them talking about me with CNAs as I return to the nursing station. Things came to a head this week when my manager told me that I'll probably be put on call for a week when I get off orientation. That same day, she yelled at me and threatened to fire me because I forgot to tell the oncoming shift about a patient's stress test in the morning. I really notice a disparity in treatment. The contract nurse who has been there for 6 months sent home a patient with a 16,000 dollar piece of equipment, which was never returned. The house supervisor asked who it was, and my manager claimed it was stolen. On the other hand, I as a new nurse make some mistakes while in the learning process, and I have my job threatened. I don't know what to do. 

[Dani_Mila, BSN, RN]

Are you Filipino? Because if you are, it is quite unusual for FIlipinos to demean their kinsmen. Normally, Filipinos help each other out. When you mentioned about the nursing staff as being cliquish, that is a warning sign there. Unfortunately, it is quite common in any healthcare facilities. I had the same issues at my job when I started. I was the outsider/ brand new nurse. It was definitely a lot of cliques during days but when I transitioned at nights it was more mellow and most nurses were helpful. OP, can you ask if you can switch your days? make an excuse that something happened and that you cannot work with your usual schedule. If it bothers you, maybe request for unit transfer.

[John2018]

I've been to several jobs and what I usually do, if they don't ask me to come to an event or outing or their so called "team building" I don't care, would I want to spent hours with them denying and ignoring me? ofcourse not. I'd rather spent the day at home hungry or cold rather than to be with them plus I have friends. What I'm trying to say is that focus on what you need to do, your job especially that they have their eyes on you.