Is this new grad a nut or what? Opinions please !

[DutchgirlRN]

We have a new grad on our floor. We kept hearing that she was going to be so good. She graduated with a 4.0 and her parents are both physicians. Well, she is far from good.

She turns off her pager to chart. In the meantime her patients are asking for pain meds and she is ignoring them.

Third, she is sooo very slow. She has been on orientation for a month and this week they have started letting her take her own patients. She says she knows how to do everything but you check on her and she's got the PB plugged in under the pump. I can take alot, I've been a preceptor for years and with some real challenges who have turned out to be very good nurses but I don't know about her.

The thing that really blows my mind is the fact that she has picked up a British accent from one of the preceptors. She has been told her numerous times to cut it out and speak normally. I mean is she immature or what? Any opinions? Suggestions? Thanks!

[chadash]

Yeah that accent thing, any adnormal psychology in that? Might be just a creative type...

[chadash]

I suppose being a new nurse is very stressful, and under that kind of stress some things might surface....could she be very vulnerable, and over identifying with her preceptor...not mocking but emulating her? Could she do with some good counselling to help her sort through this, and possibly you could end up with a great nurse. Lets face it, we're all a little luny.

[talaxandra]

... no common sense and every one is afraid she doesn't or won't be capable of having any critical thinking skills. Yesterday she had a pt with a BP of 230/120 and she thought it was ok because the pt had come in with an elevated BP. The patient was in to r/o CVA and c/o severe headache. She gave her 2 tylenol and wasn't even concerned to call the doctor.

I know this is off-topic, but I once worked with a twit - not a grad - who told a post-MI patient being weaned off GTN (unable to maintain BP) that he didn't really have chest pain, because his vital signs were normal!

OR he was having a massive anterior infarct...

[chadash]

Originally Posted by DutchgirlRN

... no common sense and every one is afraid she doesn't or won't be capable of having any critical thinking skills. Yesterday she had a pt with a BP of 230/120 and she thought it was ok because the pt had come in with an elevated BP. The patient was in to r/o CVA and c/o severe headache. She gave her 2 tylenol and wasn't even concerned to call the doctor.

Oh no! hadnt read this before my "maybe she is just emulating" post....she is a potentially scary nurse!

[MarySunshine]

Yesterday they gave her 3 patients completely on her own and told everyone to answer her questions but not to do anything for her. I saw her talking to the computers "Come on tonto you know you can win this race", others saw her talking to the TV's in the patients rooms. I saw her biting her lower lip so bad that she had blood on her front teech. She would run down the hall for no reason and then get in a patients room and go "wow that's tiring". I think it's time for her to go. Just my opinion. Supposedly next week she gets 6 patients on her own. Poor patients!

Wow. I mean, wow. I don't know what to say. I am willing to let the accent thing go as odd, but in light of this new description she sounds mentally ill. I hope she finds help and health and that all the patients are kept safe.

[AMARTIN1]

So glad to see this post. I'm a new grad (with honors and awards from teachers) and I am working in a small clinic. I'm trying to fit in but the staff is barely civil. They are starting to warm up (I think with some encouragement from our supervisor); all except my preceptor. She has yet to say anything encouraging workwise. I'm too slow and not getting the vast paperwork correct. She is supposed to be showing me how to do blood draws, etc. but right now I'm doing the barest of patient assessment (ht, wt, bp, temp). Being a new grad, we did a lot of things in theory and little practical experience. In the clinic I've done two mantoux (never in class). The preceptor and supervisor where aware of my experience when I was hired. Anyway, the first mantoux was "just do it" and it was more subq than it should have been. The second was fine. The preceptor is one vacation and now my supervisor is showing me how to do IM injections. I'm feeling like I should take a phlebotomy class and keep my options open to move. My work hours are perfect and driving distance is good. I really want to use the skills/training from school and I don't see that happening so much where I am. And the fit with the preceptor isn't there -- with the others, I see progress. The supervisor and other practioner are generous with advise. I don't want to leave this early in the job (working since August part time). I guess I'll see what happens when my preceptor returns from vacation and how much I can learn while she's away. Any suggestions would be so much appreciated.

Don't give up and learn as much as you can from your supervisor and practioner. Ask all the questions you can and see if you can get a new preceptor. It really does take a while to get the swing of things. I have been a nurse for almost four months now and i finally feel comfortable with my time management and assessment skills. I am also blessed to have a great preceptor, they can really make or break your first nursing job. If you really don't like yours make a change early. Good luck :)

[jnette, ASN, EMT-I]

Wow. I mean, wow. I don't know what to say. I am willing to let the accent thing go as odd, but in light of this new description she sounds mentally ill. I hope she finds help and health and that all the patients are kept safe.

hmmmmmmmmm... I would have to agree.

I, too, was willing to overlook the accent thing as simply over identifying with her preceptor, but this is taking on a different color now. Very odd. :confused

Would "drugs" be a possibility explaining this behavior? Dang, I hope not, but one never knows.........

[Thunderwolf, MSN, RN]

Well, if she has reached her 90 days with you....you are most probably stuck with a big problem. Orientation is both a training/adjustment period...but, it is also a weeding out process too. I think someone really dropped the ball here. My heart goes out to you.

[Mirai Kangofu]

She sounds like a closet histrionic (craves attention but doesn't want to look like an attention hog) which she expresses by being "exotic" in some way by feigning an accent. There's a line between tripping up your lingo and copying. I knew an annoying nursing student like that, but she was histrionic and proud of it. She would raise her natural voice about 2 octaves and lisp like a 4 year old (sometimes people would catch her off guard and hear her real voice) because she thought it was cute. It was annoying b/c she bragged about herself to anyone who was around. She also had a 4.0 GPA (we always tied for top grades in microbiology, so I'm not saying this out of jealousy), but I'm not sure how she'll do without a constant fan club around her. The grad also sounds like a sheltered kid who kinda expects time to freeze around her so she can concentrate.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

Wow! This saga gets more interesting every time the OP posts! Having worked with many new grads in an orientation program I kind of recognize that this young lady might be headed for trouble. She's either not going to make it, or she is going to work very, very, hard to make it as long as the hospital will give her continued chances. Telling co-workers to just answer her questions and not to do anything for her is an indicator of why she was an "A" student. It sounds like the nurse manager is being extremely generous in giving her time to improve. It is quite possible that this young lady and the nurse manager have had conversations which are confidential in nature to the rest of the staff and there are issues here that everyone else is not aware of. Please keep us informed of her progress.

[Mulan]

How so? What do you mean by that? Are you saying that someone else did her work for her while in school and that is why she was an A student?

Maybe I'm just missing the point.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

Telling co-workers to just answer her questions and not to do anything for her is an indicator of why she was an "A" student.

How so? What do you mean by that? Are you saying that someone else did her work for her while in school and that is why she was an A student?

No, I'm not saying that someone else did her work for her while she was in school. What I'm saying is that she takes initiative and wants to work out problems on her own. This indicates to me that she thinks about the problems that she's having. This is how many "A" students operate. They look at material and then attempt to apply it to situations. They'll tweak what they read until it starts to make sense to them. If she asks a question it's because she had trouble working something out on her own and needs a little hint or boost. Not wanting people to do anything for her indicates to me that she is engaging in organizing and time management and attempting to hone her skill at this. The very odd thing about this whole situation is her actual behavior. However, my experience as a manager and supervisor make me think that whatever her behavior problems are, her manager or other supervision staff are now aware of her behaviors since I'm sure a lot of people have reported it to them. There is a thing called confidentiality and some managers are very good about maintaining it and not blabbing the faults and personal problems of the people under their supervision to a worker's peers, which is as it should be.