How to deal with preceptor

[aloha16]

I'm a new nurse. i am currently doing my training and on my week 3 of preceptorship. In 3 weeks I had like 4 preceptor. My preceptor today has been a nurse for almost 30 yrs. she wants me to learn her way and would make me hurry up when I am pulling meds. As a new nurse I want to be careful when pulling meds but her constant nagging to hurry up is making me make a mistakes on pulling meds. If I forgot to get something she will poke my sides. I feel like getting bullied but I felt that if I say something I might get fired before I even started. I know I need to hurrry up and become fast, but as a new nurse I have a lot of things to learn. Is there any way I can do to deal with type of personality. I ma a career changer and it's not like I'm stupid but this nurse just made me feel like it.

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

Tell her NOT to touch you! If she continues, report her. And take the time you need to do it safely. You can tell her that speed comes with confidence, and constantly hearing "hurry up!" just stops your train of thought, and makes the whole process slower. Maybe she'd like to sit elsewhere, with her coffee, while you pull meds

[pixierose, BSN, RN]

Yeah, she needs to lay off with the touching. That's a no no.

i started over a month ago and have 2 preceptors. They both have their own ways of doing things, which they recognize, and they realize I'll probably come up with my own way once I'm on my own as well. I do things their way when I'm with them.

However, they certainly don't yell at me to hurry up at the Pyxis, and they sure as hell don't poke me either.

[nutella, MSN, RN]

To be honest - she should not poke you and you should probably just ask her not to do that - but otherwise it might be in your best interests to just follow her lead. During the orientation/preceptor ship you typically follow somebody elses advice - which is probably based on her 30 years of experience of surviving as a nurse.

So a good thing to ask yourself is this - is she respected and a "good" nurse? If yes - there is something she is doing right. While it might be not "your" way of doing things, she is giving you the opportunity to learn from her concept and what she has figured out that works. The reality is that you want to be careful and follow the right steps in what you do but you also have to manage your assignment. Every preceptor will teach you something else important. Typically, new nurses do not start with a full assignment and have less patients but work their way up to a full load. My recommendation is to ask if there is some kind of orientation self-evaluation guide that tells you which skills and knowledge you should master by week 4/8/12 so you can keep track. Work on your attitude - most likely your first career does not matter. You do not know anything about nursing practice - which is why you are a new nurse. Once you are off orientation, you will find your own way of working but orientation is really more a time when you "suck it up" and get through the process.

You can help by memorizing medications and have a medication guide (a book - not an app) handy for easy reference.