Fired during orientation/7 weeks in

[beachlover]

I worked at a hospital for 2 1/2 years as an NA with no issues/writeups/problems. Once I received my RN, I was hired on a floor. On the last day with one of my preceptors, I was told to do things that were unethical and illegal. (giving meds without scanning them or the patient, giving insulin coverage when the trays were not on the floor and pt was being downgraded/transported soon). I stated each time that I was not comfortable doing this since I was on probation, but was told "we all do it and its no big deal" and yelled at for questioning her. I went along with it, hoping to speak to someone the next work day about this (it was a weekend with no admin/nurse educators/management in, of course). First thing the following day I was let go due to my being"disrespectful" to my preceptor and telling her what to do, not asking. I am still stunned. I have no union recourse, as I was on probation. Any suggestions?

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I understand what you are saying by my tuning her out, but would you ask your new preceptee to stop in the middle of drawing up heparin to come out of the room to show her something insignificant? (i.e., where to find discharge instructions just in case you have a discharge today?) How would you suggest I had handled it? All opinions are welcome since I hope to learn from this. :)

On the next job, be kind to the preceptor and do whatever (s)he says. It is important that your preceptor likes you. If your next preceptor dislikes you, this same situation will repeat itself.

Unfortunately, nursing is full of politics. A new nurse's likability often overrides performance issues and will keep you from getting canned in the future.

[beachlover]

She showed me where to find the information for a discharge, in case we had one. (we didn't). It wasn't one incidence. It continued to happen. I listened to her the first time, walking out of the room with filled syringe and vial in hand, knowing I shouldn't do that.

I am an "older" new RN, and believe me - I understand what you saying about maybe she wanted to stop me from doing something wrong? But she wasn't in the room with me to begin with, and had no idea what I was doing. Ever. I had one other preceptor and no problems with her at all. I almost feel that she told them I was disrespectful so that I wouldn't be a whistle blower on her. I was not going to be - I just want to do the right thing for me and my patients.

[Julius Seizure]

You stop what you are doing and go see what she wants to tell you. If its something like showing you where to find discharge instructions while you are trying to draw up heparin, then that probably wasnt the best time to interrupt you, I agree. So then, later, perhaps at the end of the shift when you are reviewing how the day went, you bring this up to her and mention that you are trying hard to focus on one task at a time, especially when doing meds and maybe during those times she can make a list of things to show you later. Find a way to say it that is very non accusatory and is offered as a suggestion of how you can learn better. You may be an "older" new nurse, and maybe even older than your preceptor, but do your best not to let that get in the way of the proper student/teacher dynamic. Being liked, as you and others have already agreed, is important and you dont want to come off as unteachable.

Good luck in the future and im sure you will find another place to work!

[turtlesRcool]

In the future, if you really feel like you and your preceptor don't "gel," ask for a different preceptor. This advice was given to me by one of the veteran nurses during my last clinical rotation. She said not to worry about hurting someone's feelings with this request because a good first job sets up a solid foundation for a successful career. Her position was that you've worked too hard to get through school, NCLEX, and the hiring process to let a bad preceptor relationship possibly derail your career before it really starts.

[greenandsilver]

Pick yourself up, start over. You are a New Grad so you have your nursing school experience and instructor/preceptor recommendations to go by. Good luck. You made it through nursing school do you know you are resilient.

[MusicGuy]

I was the victim of a horrible preceptor as well. She didn't care, and half of the time I was pawned off to multiple other preceptors. I was happy when that happened because I learned more, but the others where disappointed and surprised at what I did not know. Since they were colleagues of my primary preceptor, I was the problem! I remember at week 5 thinking to myself, "How the heck am I going to do this?"

As yourself I was let go and devastated. I got another job a month later. I was nervous meeting my preceptor, but she took one look at me and said, "you are going to be great"! That was 10 months ago. Don't let one situation get you down.