My new GPN job after 3 days.

[AliciaMarieGPN]

Where do I begin.... ?

Where I work, is a Long Term Care facility. It is one hospital floor. There are 2 sides of it. One side is just a regular nursing home. The other side is half nursing home, half med-surg/rehab for elderly people. The side that I have been orienting on has been the half medsurg/rehab side. This side is 1 nurse for 15 pts with A LOT of medicines, finger sticks, and neb tx.. I could tell that all the nurses I worked with were wiped by the end of each day. However, I can't pass meds until I take the hospital med test.. and I can't be in a room alone with any pt. until my fingerprints come back...

My 1st day was this past Wednesday, Sept. 27th. I worked 2-10. I was being trained by a nurse who was only 19.. I'm only 18.. and she had went through the same high school LPN program that I had went through. Anyhow, I loved the fact that she was my age, but I don't think she was doing things correctly. Instead of looking through the drawers and pulling out each med seperately.. or at least just the ones she needed, she would pull out EVERY MED for that pt. and then sort through them. I didn't like this, or the fact that she didn't talk to me much about starting neb. treatments or anything else besides punching meds, but overall she was alright.

The next night, Thursday, I was with another nurse. She was 33, worked as a CNA for I think... 7 years , went to take LPN classes, and since has been a nurse for 3-4 years. She was very helpful, did things what I thought was the right way. She told me that the previous girl I worked with, hadn't signed for half the meds she gave. I enjoyed my 2-10 shift.

Then today came along. As a new nurse with only AIDE clinical work under my belt, besides a 2 hr med pass, I am a little nervous. I walked up to the floor and I seen the nurse that I was with. I overheard her saying NOT FOR NOTHING! BUT I DON'T HAVE TIME TO DEAL WITH THIS!! I DONT WANT TO ORIENTATE HER. I get upset easily. For the 1st hour she was going through new orders and looking through the MARS. She showed me one sheet in the new order book and gave a bitchy attitude the rest of that hour. The RN supervisor saw this, she took me under her wing and we went to go do fingersticks because it was such a heavy load... and after that I was walking around with a CNA. I don't mind doing aide work, but I would like to learn how to do NURSING procedures.. not just filling up water pitchers and transfering residents.

Overall, I'm really not too happy. The only positive is that it's been the easiest 11.79 per hour I have ever made.

I just don't know what to do.

[barbyann]

You have learned many important lessons in your 3 days. You need to observe the good, the bad and the ugly. This will let you decide what kind of nurse you want to be at the end of your orientation. Try to observe all you can, ask questions when appropriate, and figure out what each employee has to offer you in regards to learning. Don't forget to read the hospital protocols, lots of valuable info there.

Keep in mind that one of the benefits of being a nurse is that you learn something new everyday, no matter how long you have been at it.

Don't let the emotional/political side of nursing offend you. There will be strong words thrown about as you advance through your career. Know what kind of nurse you want to be and stick to it. Welcome.....your gonna love it!

[one2one]

Welcome to the world of nursing! Don't be discouraged. I have to say that most of the time when a preceptor is being as unhelpful as yours, it's because they lack confidence in their own skills and abilities. Sometimes a nurse feels threatened by a new hire. They think "will she be a better nurse than I am" or "will she know that I really don't know what I'm doing?" Often nurses aren't preceptor because they want to be but rather because they have no choice. Not everyone is able to be a teach, but should still be a good role model. My only advice is, just try to understand her perspective and be her friend. Don't criticize her either to her face or to anyone else. You should be able to voice your concerns to HER supervisor if they ask you how things are going. But be sure to only do it in a private setting. Good luck and don't give up!

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Only $11.79 hourly for LTC? That's another story.....

I'm an LTC nurse with about 8 months of experience. You will find that a large proportion of LTC nurses do not do things "by the book" for varied reasons, including time management. Good luck!