First job after LPN licensing & Being treated with disrespect!

[Mary0000]

Hi I need help on making a wise decision. I just started my career as an LPN and my first week has been hell. I was hoping this dream job would focus on patient care but so far it has been gossiping, a lack of respect from colleagues due to my preceptor trying to make me look incompetent. I was put with this preceptor to train but so far the preceptor leaves out important details as far as where to chart important information therefore the doctors are complaining to management that I'm not doing the job correctly. Management believes everything the preceptor says and gives her high fives and congratulates her on doing a great job. I'm thinking the preceptor is making up lies about me behind my back to make me look incompetent. Management and the preceptor seem to be good friends. The manager makes her the leader in the area and totally disregard that we both are LPNs. She prefer to treat me like a tech. Management makes these huge announcements in front of other team members that the preceptor is the leader and we must follow her lead. I've tried to talk to manager but she always says, ask your preceptor if you have questions.

When I am seeing patients, the preceptor interrupts my time with the patients and states, speed it up with your assessments In front of the patients". She also will whisper to the doctors that I take a long time with assessments so now the doctors have started to interrupt my time with the patients. The preceptor sits and gossips with the techs and since her influence on them, now they don't have conversations with me and have no respect.

When I took this job as a new grad, I was hoping to focus on patient care and just being there for my patients as well as a positive welcoming atmosphere but it has been drama and backstabbing. I graduated at the top of my class and for someone to try and make me look incompetent because I'm not being trained correctly and because I'm the new employee is unacceptable. Being that this is a dream job for me, should I leave or stick it out and just ignore this behavior?

[pixierose, BSN, RN]

Er, I see the drama.

OP, if you're anything in real life like you are in these posts, I can see the problem.

As a newer nurse (1.5 years in), I remember (and am living) that low hierarchy, the low man on the totem pole. Being told to go to lunch is a GOOD thing - it means it's a quieter night and nothing has hit the fan. Jealousy doesn't exist in regards to the new grad - why would it when I have so much less experience?

Learn. Focus. Breath.

[Mary0000]

Ha, it exist if you have the beauty & brain! You will be surprise at how jealousy operates...sometimes having experience is not enough if you don't have anything else to offer & others do!

By the way, who cares if one has more experience, that's good for them, eventually you will too & there will be another new grad who comes walking through the door but won't be the nurse who tries to belittle another nurse but instead focus on patient care & being there as a support for the new nurse... You too had to crawl before you walk in gaining experience in nursing. Didn't you?

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

Mary0000 said:

Ha, it exist if you have the beauty & brain! You will be surprise at how jealousy operates...sometimes having experience is not enough if you don't have anything else to offer & others do!

LOL. I knew it...I absolutely knew that you would say people are jealous of you because you are pretty and smarter.

Carry on.

[Mary0000]

Horseshoe said:

LOL. I knew it...I absolutely knew that you would say people are jealous of you because you are pretty and smarter.

Carry on.

Nope that's not it!

[Mergirlc, MSN, APRN, NP]

Mary0000 said:

Ha, it exist if you have the beauty & brain! You will be surprise at how jealousy operates...sometimes having experience is not enough if you don't have anything else to offer & others do!

By the way, who cares if one has more experience, that's good for them.....

Would you care to go into detail as to what it is exactly that you bring to the table that supersedes the experience of your preceptor? Your sentence of "...sometimes having experience is not enough if you don't have anything else to offer & others do," stood out to me.

I'm not trying to be mean, but I am curious.

And with all due respect, your sentence about beauty and brain does imply you feel the preceptor is jealous about your looks and intelligence. Perhaps it was not what you meant, but that's how it came off as pointed out by another poster.

[amzyRN]

If I were you I would try to keep my ego in check and use this as a learning opportunity. Extract all the knowledge you can and get out of that place. Don't gossip, help your coworkers out, be an example of what teamwork looks like. Work hard, be respectful and set boundaries. You can talk to your preceptor in private in a calm and professional way and tell her what is bothering you.

Give her the benefit of the doubt to be able to see you as a valuable team member. It sounds like your unit has a negative culture, but there is still a way for you to come out ahead by learning as much as you can and taking that knowledge with you. Sometimes the wisest thing you can do is keep your head down, especially if you are in a position of need. That's what I would do if I were you. I need to pay my bills and look at the big picture and I pick my battles. I strongly suggest you stay on at least another 5 months, then put some applications out and see if you get any responses.

[Guest219794]

Mary0000 said:

Ha, it exist if you have the beauty & brain! You will be surprise at how jealousy operates...sometimes having experience is not enough if you don't have anything else to offer & others do!

By the way, who cares if one has more experience, that's good for them, eventually you will too & there will be another new grad who comes walking through the door but won't be the nurse who tries to belittle another nurse but instead focus on patient care & being there as a support for the new nurse... You too had to crawl before you walk in gaining experience in nursing. Didn't you?

I also wanted to thank you for the amusement before this thread is closed.

I, for one, admire your ability to function in this cruel, unfair world despite your dual handicap of brains and beauty.

I feel your pain. Brad Pitt will no longer be seen with me in public, as being near me makes him look like Shrek. Stephen Hawking is an idiot. I told him so after explaining quantum physics using the smallest words I could muster.

Yet I go to work every day, feeling the burning hatred of the stupid ugly people around me.

It is if they blame me. It makes no sense. I didn't choose this, I was born this way.

[Rainbow_RN, BSN, RN]

No shade, but let's flip this situation around for a second. You state that your (former?) preceptor is bringing a lot of negativity. You have a choice about how you let this affect you. What if you chose to bring more positivity to the situation? After all, there is only so much to this situation that you can control. In the end, you can't change how she is treating you, only your reaction. If you quit the job or leave the unit, you are avoiding the situation instead of dealing with it, in my opinion. As a fellow new nurse, I have noticed that I only really get pushback when I don't acknowledge my own limitations. So therefore, it is possible that you could acknowledge you have limited options here. If you refuse to engage in gossip, and you consistently bring a willing attitude and a desire to learn, people may change their views about you--even this preceptor of yours. I recommend that you communicate to her some of your feelings in a tactful way, and you might then learn what is causing her to act this way. At best, you would feel more satisfied at your job, and the worst that could happen is you gain a little more understanding of why she is acting the way she is. I wish you the best of luck and I have a feeling that you are highly capable of dealing with this situation as long as you approach it with an open and humble attitude. I bring up humility because seniority probably is a factor in this situation--experience and respect go hand in hand, and it is possible that you are encountering push-back due to a perceived lack of respect on the preceptor's part.