How can I ensure a job with good preceptors? Quit Job Due To Hostile Preceptors

[Nurse Beth, MSN]

Dear Playing Roulette,

That's a great question.

There's no way to really know what the quality of your orientation experience will be beforehand. That's because you really can't know the inner workings of a facility or a unit as an outsider.

The hiring manager during your interview is not going to tell you about the mean bullies on the unit or that you can expect to have a different preceptor every other shift.

While there are questions you can (and should) ask during your interview, no nurse manager is going to say "Yes, that's really a serious problem here". 

You have to intuit the situation the best you can.

Orientation Experiences Vary By Unit

Precepting experiences vary greatly between units and even between shifts on the same unit. Night shift on Tele might be a supportive environment while day shift on Tele is known for being hostile towards new nurse employees. I call these mini-cultures.

I have seen excellent preceptors, poor preceptors, minimally-qualified or under-qualified preceptors, and burned-out preceptors all in the same facility, and not infrequently, all on the same unit.

The Preceptor Problem

Some facilities struggle to scrape together enough preceptors at all, meaning they take what they can get. In most organizations, being a preceptor is more of a volunteer position than an adequately-reimbursed or even sufficiently appreciated position. I've always said that being a preceptor is equivalent to taking on another patient. Should the preceptor's workload be reduced so they can focus on your learning? Yes. But it's not.

Between chronic short-staffing and little to no preceptor training, it's no wonder the orientation experience is far from ideal and varies widely.

What You Can Do

• Generally the reputation of an organization is an indicator of the new employee experience. Organizations with poor reputations are unlikely to provide a stellar onboarding experience. The best way to get insider intel is to try and connect with an employee via your network. There is a facebook page, the Travel Nurse Network, that offers critiques by travel nurses, albeit mostly for acute care facilities. They tell you which hospitals to stay away from
• You can also try Glass Door for anonymous employee ratings of the facility
• Listen for clues during the interview.  If the manager says having a dedicated preceptor is "challenging", that's code for "it's a problem".
• If a facility is chronically short-staffed, it's probably an indicator that preceptor coverage is problematic. Ask about turnover. Hospitals/organizations with high turnover (sometimes evidenced by unusually high sign-on bonuses) are less likely to provide quality onboarding experiences.
• Be upfront during your interview. "In my previous job I was promised a 5 month orientation with 2-3 preceptors, tops, and that turned out not to be the reality".

A tip- In the future, don't leave a job until you have your next one lined up. Once you see the writing on the wall, start job searching. It is easier to land a job when you are employed than when you are unemployed.

[Silver_Rik, ASN, BSN, RN]

It may help to confront the difficult preceptor directly. Of course be diplomatic and don’t do anything that can be seen as retaliatory against them for doing their job.

During orientation in my current job I was dealing with a hostile preceptor. One day I just went up and said something like “clearly we’re not seeing eye to eye, what’s going on?”  She said “I try to help you and you don’t listen to me.” She had a point, I was trying to prove I could do it all on my own and I couldn’t.

I promised to listen better and pay attention to the lessons she was trying to teach. Now I’m there 2 years, and that preceptor no so long ago went out of her way to complement my work and knows I’m someone she can count on when she needs a hand.

One more thing, if the worst thing is you might need to look for another job, don’t be afraid to play politics. Find the experienced coworkers who support you and line them up to speak for you to management. Talk to management and find out if the hostile coworkers have any teeth. I’ve seen several times where  if you listened to the gossip buzz around the department a fellow employee was on the verge of being fired but I’m pretty sure nobody shared that opinion with management because they are still employed.  Talk to your unit manager and you’ll know whether they support your success or it’s time to look for another employer.

[Googlenurse, ASN, BSN, RN]

Yes his has helped me so much. I recently interviewed for an acute care med surg position and the nurse manager was very frank. He stated that I will have different preceptors because they are very short staffed. In addition, he also stated that the unit was a mix of tele and med surg and that due to staffing it’s 1 nurse with 6 patients. Is a small community hospital in a big city, which means no IV team. 
Reviews on Indeed said it’s unorganized and that there is usually not enough supplies 

[Emergent, RN]

That was an excellent and comprehensive answer, @Nurse Beth

[Nurse Beth, MSN]

Just now, Emergent said:

That was an excellent and comprehensive answer, @Nurse Beth

Thank you kindly, @Emergent,RN !