Hard time with preceptor

Editorial Team / Admin · Jul 19, 2019

You need to speak up to your manager and educator. One bad preceptor doesn't ruin a job- you need to get yourself paired up with someone else. Not all nurses are cut out to precept- and it sounds like this one isn't. However, the issue with the language is concerning. Just because one can speak English doesn't mean one is fluent in medicalese. If the patient preferred Spanish, it should have been used.

Seeing Myself Out · Aug 6, 2019

Hope things work out for you. If you ride it out I doubt your preceptor will be working on the same unit and on the same shifts all the time, and having different patient loads would keep you out of each other's hair most of the time unless she is often the charge nurse or resource/break nurse. But once again, it's important to document everything and take note of who is in the vicinity when more "incidents" occur, so you can have solid defense if she is the one that goes to HR/management first. If they are violating safety/professional standards, you will definitely be the one in the right.

Kooky Korky, BSN, RN · Aug 12, 2019

Do you really want to give up because of this person?

How long have you known her? Been linked with her?

What's her trip?

Personal troubles? Change of life? Doesn't really want to precept?

How about you just ask her, nicely and privately, what is going on, what you can do to make it less hard for her? Tell her you feel like you are a burden to her or some other nice, self-deprecating opening remark and go from there.

SWS · Aug 14, 2019

WOW. Often a preceptor is just someone assigned to you...it does not necessarily mean they are skilled to precept. There are also times when a preceptor is experiencing preceptor burn-out as having serial orientees can burn someone out. Please speak to management about your concerns. In nursing you will have to have a strong backbone and be able to voice your issues to your preceptor as well. Yes, it is extremely difficult, but there will times in your career when you will need to have developed that strength to advocate for your patient as well as yourself.

NEVER give someone the power over the choices you want for yourself. If you truly feel the OR is your niche, don't let this preceptor destroy your professional plan. As a new grad the OR is an intense learning experience. Not only are you learning the OR but the culture of nursing and hospitals as well as the language of doctors and patients. I hope you are engaged in PeriOp 101.

All the best to you. I am an OR nurse for 8 years now...and have precepted 9 other nurses of whom 4 were new grads. 100% of my preceptees have become certified and remain employed with us. I can attest to precepting being challenging...but I can also attest to the fact that not all nurses should precept.

knurse4life · Nov 28, 2021

Hi,

I know this is an old story, but I wanted to leave you (or any RN new to the OR) with a little encouragement. I started as a new grad in the OR and I must say it was one of the most challenging experiences of my life. I had a particularly harsh preceptor who suggested I was not a good nurse…that broke my heart as this was my dream job since I’ve been very young.

I later found out that this preceptor struggled while on orientation and I have seen her treat other new nurses the same way. I have seen new nurses quit because of the treatment. I have found that nurses eat their young which is disheartening. The problem with the OR is that everything moves so fast and there is a lot of trouble shooting that needs to be done on unfamiliar equipment. Coupled with an intimidating surgeon, this won’t be a pleasant experience.

I spoke with her privately and discussed my issues with the educator. Nothing changed. What I ended up doing was reporting her and this severely backfired on me as other nurses began what I call “herd hatred”. They all started to have a poor opinion of me. However, I identified an ally who I am still friends with. I told my manager to place me with her for 2 weeks, have her write my eval, and then reevaluate me in 2 weeks. I did improve and was able to pass, but the experience was traumatizing.

I still work there, but I am in NP school now and I don’t plan to stay in that department. I have nothing bad to say about my manager as she is amazing, the care is high quality, and the nurses are good. The environment can be toxic as there’s always a lot of gossip. I've never been so close to quitting a job. I hope you were able to hang in there, it truly is a great experience with communication and dealing with strong personalities.