How are the other RN's treating you?

[Tug]

Hi First year graduates,

I'm a Fourth semester ADN nursing instructor who loves her students and wants to make things better for them. I know the first year out is very hard. I also know that sometimes the experienced nurses make it harder for you. I'm doing my master's project on developing a class that can help RN's learn to use more mentoring behaviors towards students and new graduates. I need your stories about things the nurses did that really helped and things that made your life as a new nurse harder. Any stories from while you were in school would be helpful too.

I know that I had a student come out of a room last semester crying because the nurse screamed at her about hanging some albumin, saying "I can't believe a fourth semester student doesn't know how to do this. I just need to be away from you!" This was in front of patients, visitors, etc. I could've choked her. That student was excellent and did not deserve that type of treatment. She is now in her first year and is doing very well.

What does a mentor act like in your eyes? What characteristics do they have? Are they patient..., etc?

Help me make a difference.

Tug

[richardjboro1]

Thanks for this thread. It sounds like a great research topic. I as a former and hopefully future educator would like to help if needed. I've had discussions on this as well, but have yet to see it firsthand. Perhaps my being male and all, I tend to stand up for myself. PM or email me if you have other questions OP.

Richard

[bigmona]

I'm not a first year new grad anymore, but new enough. I'm starting a new job in a different kind of unit and currently in orientation again. My preceptor is brilliant, knows policy and procedure extremely well, and very good at explaining things. However, she's made it explicitly clear that she does NOT want to be precepting anyone, and told me directly that she did everything possible to get out of precepting me. Something a preceptor should NOT do. Her hostility toward our manager inevitibly gets transferred somewhat toward me, whether she intends it or not.

I think another good quality a preceptor/mentor should have is being a team player with other RNs on the unit. Don't gossip/backstab/eyeroll your fellow coworkers in front of a new person. It just undermines the dynamics and trust of the people you work with and makes YOU look bad. Of course there are going to be conflicting personalities at work- but a preceptor can set an example of how to rise above that and still have good communication and team effort.

[elizabells, BSN, RN]

However, she's made it explicitly clear that she does NOT want to be precepting anyone, and told me directly that she did everything possible to get out of precepting me.

Mine did this too! WTH??? Of course, then she also told me that the only reason she agreed was that everyone hated me so much when I was a student there (for my senior practicum) that no one else would do it. Which leads me to wonder why I got hired, but whatevs.

[AR5995]

I had both good and bad experiences as a new nurse 5 years ago. The first preceptor/mentor was burned out and the director let her keep working on the unit. She was mean and passive aggressive to the extreme (this was a good day). I remember my fellow new grad getting treated just as bad and hysterically crying in the break room. I sat down and looked at her telling her, it is okay to have a melt down, but not infront of "them". She collected herself and got back out there and they stopped biting both her and myself. I did end up going to the director and explaining that I refused to be paired with that particulair mentor and if she could not get me someone else I was more compatible with then I would leave that facility (Thank God I paid my own way through school with scholarships and cash I had to beg and borrow from the family). The director paired me with someone else. Mind you I did not start out on M/S. I strated out in critical care and PCU. I had six preceptors in 8 weeks. I asked for more time b/c I still felt a little unready to fly on my own but they felt I should fly. You could say my first day on my own was "baptism by fire". However I was supported and I was treated decent in the end. I just needed to anti up and bluff my way the hard stares and nasty snickers and pretend none of it bothered me. I worked in NY and NJ my first two years as a nurse. I now work in FL at a level 1 trauma center in SICU, while working for my MSN and testing for my CCRN next week. Much different atmosphere, I have noticed a difference in "culture" the way the nurses treat new nurses and each other from FL and NY/NJ. I really think that being treated in a decent manner depends on where you are (both the unit you will work and the geographical area) and what your personality is. I would interview possibly mentors as canidates before I pair them with one of my students if I were an instructor. You would want both a match in personality and values as well as a match for the unit. I recently precepted a brand new GN out of school. She did not know how to spike the feeding tubing or IVF. This was an MICU intership. I thought to myself "how did they let you get an RN if you can't physically preform a task, were'nt there labs in your school you had to perform for the instructor to show you had basic knowledge of some sort of skill, weren't there clinicals where the instructor supervised you and the tasks you said you have accomplished?". Then I stepped back and showed her how to do these things. I then told her that same moment as I took everything down that I showed her..."your not leaving this room until you get this right. I closed the door and stayed with her allowing her the oppurtunity to think it through and screw it up without the other nurses noticing on the unit". Her baseline knowledge was superior to mine on her BKAT. But her putting the pieces together was far from even started. I would not let her take a blood sugar without me there and her being able to explain what she was doing and why she was doing and all the rationales for doing it.

What I do now is remind nurses I work with "we all started somewhere". If you want the new grad to sink she/he will. But if you want that person to be successful your need to set yourself back and pace yourself to thier needs.

My second thing about the nurse that yelled at your student: maybe she did not know she was coming into to "precept or mentor" a student and she was on the 5th shift in a row and she had 8 patients that were the worst on the unit cause she had "help" that day. I have seen that happen at work often. Well now I am off my sound box. Sorry for such a long winded msg. I hope I could be of some help to you.

[elizabells, BSN, RN]

I thought to myself "how did they let you get an RN if you can't physically preform a task, were'nt there labs in your school you had to perform for the instructor to show you had basic knowledge of some sort of skill, weren't there clinicals where the instructor supervised you and the tasks you said you have accomplished?".

You'd be surprised. If she did an accelerated or combined degree program, it's shocking what they skip. Until I got into the real world, I had never: started an NG, actually run an IV on a pt (in lab only), given an injection, given a bed bath, done a full head-to-toe on a pt (lab only), done a Foley outside the lab, you get the picture.

[Dualli]

Hi,I am also a new graduate just starting my fifth week as an "official hospital working" RN. I am extremely lucky because my preceptor is incredible. She explains everything to me and never gets impatient when I ask the same questions over and over. It takes more than doing a skill one time to get the concept of it and she understands that. She has never made me feel stupid even though I've made a few dumb mistakes in last 5 weeks. Nothing detrimental to the patients, but I think mistakes are inevitable while learning so many new things at once. This nurse was not my original preceptor. My first two weeks were spent with a nurse who graduated about two years ago. She is also a good nurse, but talks about every other nurse on the unit behind their back. It was driving me crazy. After two weeks, I asked my manager if I could change my shedule during orientation. I gave some lame excuse about child care. She said it wasn't a problem and put me on with the nurse I'm with now. An angel must have been looking out for me. I look forward to going to my new job each day. I know I'm going to continuing learning so much from this great person. She is an awesome mentor and at the same time, totally dedicated to her patients. I wish I could clone her and send her to all new nurses!!!

Good luck to you,

April

[Tug]

How awful for you, elizabells.

Tug

[Tug]

I closed the door and stayed with her allowing her the oppurtunity to think it through and screw it up without the other nurses noticing on the unit".

What I do now is remind nurses I work with "we all started somewhere". If you want the new grad to sink she/he will. But if you want that person to be successful your need to set yourself back and pace yourself to thier needs.

Good for you. Thanks.

[CrazyPremed, MSN, RN, NP]

I guess I've mostly had good experiences. I expect to be treated poorly, and am happy when I am not. I know i won't always be new..and just deal with it. I havne't had a horrible experience yet..and when I do..I plan to just tell them it's unacceptable...and that I'll find someone more willing to help the next time around.

Easier said than done!

CrazyPremed

[CrazyPremed, MSN, RN, NP]

You'd be surprised. If she did an accelerated or combined degree program, it's shocking what they skip. Until I got into the real world, I had never: started an NG, actually run an IV on a pt (in lab only), given an injection, given a bed bath, done a full head-to-toe on a pt (lab only), done a Foley outside the lab, you get the picture.

Seriously true!!!

CrazyPremed

[elizabells, BSN, RN]

And in re my earlier post about accelerated programs: So there we end up, on the floor, with shoddy clinical skills, and find out just how many nurses are really biased towards these programs. Which, I know many posters here tried to warn me about that, but I truly assumed, hey, it's an Ivy, I'll get a great education! So you find yourself needing extra help, and a very good possibility that the people you need it from look down on you for how you got your RN. Not a great combo.

And for the record: all y'all who tried to warn me, I'm sorry I sassed you. You were totally right.

[Bonnie Nurse]

There are more passive aggressives in the nursing profession than any other. I have learned that the old saying "You teach people how to treat you " is oh so so so true!