Help! Preceptor Issue

[MQ Edna]

Hey everybody! Question about preceptors and staffing. I'm a nurse that just started orienting on an IMC unit. Today the staffing grid called for at least two nurses to go home, and somehow my preceptor was the first one to be able to go home. I got a new preceptor, but I am wondering if anyone else would be okay going home early when they had an orientee? It didn't seem right to me because I was the one who mainly took care of the patients and I felt stranded. I also couldn't talk to the charge nurse about it because she hadn't asked me about it, told me to "just be flexible" and then let my preceptor go. What do you think? Should I talk to my manager because it made me uncomfortable or should I let it go?

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

Should he/she have left? Probably not, but life happens. Floor nursing is hard and doing it with a preceptee is harder. Maybe they didn’t feel well or didn’t sleep well or had a sick kid or a hundred other valid things that make us relish an unexpected day off. You may not have been their primary concern today. Try to give them a little grace.

What do you hope to accomplish by escalating this? Meaning, what is the goal and how likely is that to be the result if you complain? What is the potential downside? I will be honest- you sound more disgruntled than concerned. Was it ideal? No. But if your new preceptor was qualified to precept then you have nothing to stand on.

I personally would let it go.

[andrea3434]

I disagree. If you are on orientation you should have a preceptor available. I could see getting someone else to precept if your original went home.

i don’t think it’s safe to leave a new Rn without a preceptor when still on orientation (isn’t that the whole point of having preceptors?) I would look up policy and go from there.

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

16 minutes ago, andrea3434 said:

I disagree. If you are on orientation you should have a preceptor available. I could see getting someone else to precept if your original went home.

i don’t think it’s safe to leave a new Rn without a preceptor when still on orientation (isn’t that the whole point of having preceptors?) I would look up policy and go from there.

I read the OP to mean that another preceptor was assigned for the shift but that OP did most of the assignment without a whole lot of support. If that's the case and it's an isolated thing, it will be more trouble than not to push the issue.

[CharleeFoxtrot, BSN, RN]

3 hours ago, glowstick said:

..... I also couldn't talk to the charge nurse about it because she hadn't asked me about it, told me to "just be flexible" and then let my preceptor go. What do you think? Should I talk to my manager because it made me uncomfortable or should I let it go?

Nope, let it go and take it as a lesson in being flexible. As you are learning, in nursing we frequently have to be both flexible and out of our comfort zones. You did have another nurse supporting you.

Now if there wasn't another nurse precepting you, that's a horse of a different color.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

1 hour ago, andrea3434 said:

I disagree. If you are on orientation you should have a preceptor available. I could see getting someone else to precept if your original went home.

i don’t think it’s safe to leave a new Rn without a preceptor when still on orientation (isn’t that the whole point of having preceptors?) I would look up policy and go from there.

She/he was assigned a different preceptor.

[CTFD_RN, BSN]

Let it go. Not worth bringing it up to your manager and it would make you seem unadaptable.

[Wuzzie]

Your issue isn’t with the nurse who got to go home. It’s with the one assigned to you that didn’t do their job. The first nurse had zero obligation to stay and if it had been me all you would have seen was the navy blur as I escaped before anyone changed their mind.

As far as escalating...really? Really? If you actually think that’s an option you are going to have a really hard time in life, not just nursing.

[pixierose, BSN, RN]

Don’t escalate. That won’t get you far.

Your preceptor needs a day off too. I just started precepting and man ... do I have a renewed sense of appreciation for my former preceptors. If given the day off, the doors would still be swinging, I’d be that fast.

Most people like that unexpected day off, you included. You had someone else precepting. You’ll be fine. Rule #1: be adaptable and flexible. Comes way before peeing...

[andrea3434]

Sorry, major reading comprehension fail. That’s what I get for reading posts in the middle of the night?

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

6 hours ago, glowstick said:

It didn't seem right to me because I was the one who mainly took care of the patients and I felt stranded.

3 hours ago, Jedrnurse said:

I read the OP to mean that another preceptor was assigned for the shift but that OP did most of the assignment without a whole lot of support.

I read the OP meaning that why would her original preceptor want to go home when OP was doing all the work.

[RNNPICU, BSN, RN]

Let it go. Once you are done with orientation, and someone comes and says do you want off? Almost everyone will take it and run and not even look behind.

I agreee with what the Charge RN said, just be flexible. It was just for a shift. Things happen. As for you taking a full assignment, that is good, most preceptors, even ones just assigned for a day would not leave you if you were not at that point in orientation. If you felt stranded, why didn't you just ask the preceptor or even just at the start talk about what they expect out of you. I knew someone once that had a different preceptor every day for four weeks!!