Hi everyone, I am in my last semester of nursing school currently doing my preceptorship the emergency room which I was REALLY excited about starting. My first couple days with my preceptor have been really disappointing and I am trying to make the best of the situation but could use some advice. I am a fast learner and a hard worker and am passionate and positive about nursing. My preceptor has been working in the ED for about 15 years and while she is very knowledgeable and a great technical nurse she is less than enthusiastic about her patients or teaching me. The first day she had something negative to say about each and every patient we cared for and instead of taking the time to talk to me about what she was doing she said just to watch her and ignored me most of the day. Now I am not a very sensitive person and I thought that maybe this was not to overwhelm me, but the second day got worse. She doesn't communicate with me at all, she disappeared for an hour and half first thing in the morning and I finally tracked her down in another area. She had taken over for another nurse and stayed there while her collegues were left to care for her patients and I had no idea where she was. She ignores direct questions I ask her about tasks necessary for care of our patients, and instead of taking the time to explain procedures to me she does them. I have asked her multiple times if I can do any one of the many tasks we have and she brushes me off. I understand that working in a busy ED that we need to move fast but she has not even taken the time to explain their charting system and it is my first time in this hospital. She gossips constantly about the patients and her co-workers and is out drinking many nights of the week (a fact which she is proud of). I am getting more guidance and experience with other nurses than with her and I have the sneaking suspicion that she is only doing this because it gives her extra money. I am really sad about this because I LOVE nursing and I want to keep a positive attitude about my profession and about our patients. I don't expect her to give me 100% of her time and attention, but 10% would be nice. I would love some advice on how to change this rocky start because I want to learn!!