Do you let them sink? And while they are sinking, step in to save them and the patient. Make them learn from their mistakes because they would not listen?
I need your help! How do you teach a new nurse humility and respect along with the fact that they do not know it all? I love sharing knowledge. Being a nurse is a profession that I take seriously and have enjoyed...I particularly like to share what I have learned along the way. I have never been one of the types of the nurses "who eat their young". I have been an Emergency Department Nurse for 13 years. I have been a preceptor for a while, and I am having a bit of a difficult time with a new grad RN. And to be quite honest, I am beginning to get hungry and this new RN is close to being dinner, if you catch my drift.
This RN was previously employed in our department as a tech, and while the RN has learned a lot about the department, they did so in a non-nursing role. The RN has a tremendous amount of potential, but lacks the critical thinking, knowledge and skills that comes from on-the job training and doing in the RN role. While this RN lacks the critical thinking, knowledge, skills and prioritizing (just to name a few), what this RN does not lack is a tremendous sense of self and an overwhelming cockiness that is not well-received on the unit. This RN has already reported several senior nurses for what the RN deemed were "breeches in protocol" when, in fact, the senior nurses were 100% correct for the way they cared for their patients, this RN was just not aware of different techniques used by nurses for many years.
This new RN has already made very unprofessional comments and has degraded the techs and some new nurses in the department in numerous ways.
This nurse may possess some good theoretical knowledge learned in school and may have some good clinical skills, but I fear that the attitude of "I don't need to see this or that because I've already been there or done that as a tech" is going to be to the detriment of the patient.
Does anyone have any advice on how to help a new RN tone down the attitude and learn how to be a good nurse without alienating staff. I feel it is my duty to teach the RN how the Emergency department works, but it is an even bigger duty to the profession of nursing to make sure we help to develop well trained and well rounded nurses who know their limits and are team players. I was taught by one of the greatest nurses I have ever worked with, a nurse with over 40 years of experience and is still working, that the moment a nurse feels like they know it all, that is the time they should retire. I think that is solid advice.
