Is this new grad a nut or what? Opinions please !

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Sep 27, 2005

Kinda reminds me of a girl at my job, who mysteriously didn't have a southern accent, until one of the doctors kidded around with another nurse about her accent. A couple of people asked where she got her accent in only 3 months.

Sounds like this person needs to be brought up to the director. The British accent is weird, but turning off the pager to chart, and ignoring requests from pts. is negligence.

Roy Fokker, BSN, RN · Sep 27, 2005

Don't really care 'bout the accent --- but what's with turning off pagers to chart?

Does she only have two patients on her list?! Uhhh, I'm just a know-nothing student but I'm supposed to be able to (and I do) handle two patients while a nurse comes by whenever she has time to check up on what I've been doing (ofcourse, I check off meds with my preceptor before giving it and I ask preceptor for doubts and if I notice something odd/wrong with my pts., I grab my nurse).

llg, PhD, RN · Sep 27, 2005

I find the accent thing interesting. Some people unconsciously pick up accents very easily. My sister is that way. She can immitate accents easiy ... and will unconsciously pick up a little of whatever accent she is around. I also do that a little without noticing it. We are a very verbal family and I suspect it has something to do with the way our brains are wired for auditory processing.

It would be interesting to know if she were conscious of it.

llg

Liddle Noodnik · Sep 27, 2005

I find the accent thing interesting. Some people unconsciously pick up accents very easily. My sister is that way. She can immitate accents easiy ... and will unconsciously pick up a little of whatever accent she is around. I also do that a little without noticing it. We are a very verbal family and I suspect it has something to do with the way our brains are wired for auditory processing.
It would be interesting to know if she were conscious of it.
llg

My older bro went to Florida for 6 months, came back with a Southern accent that never died in the 20 years since he left there.

Thunderwolf, MSN, RN · Sep 27, 2005

She has been on orientation for a month and this week they have started letting her take her own patients (just 2 easy pts)and everything she does is being overseen by one of us.

Wow, that's not orientation...she's on a holiday!...2 patients!!!...a month IN orientation...Jeeze! Wow, and where does she have such a need to turn off her beeper?...What for??!! I agree with Marie LPN, I would see it as neglect, like taking away the call light out of the hand of the patient. Her orientation may need juiced up or sped up. Give her benchmarks, discuss expectations as to where she needs to be in her orientation. Keep it objective. A new grad should be much further than this...IMHO. Regarding the accent...give it time...she or others will tire of it soon enough.

DusktilDawn · Sep 27, 2005

I find the accent thing interesting. Some people unconsciously pick up accents very easily. My sister is that way. She can immitate accents easiy ... and will unconsciously pick up a little of whatever accent she is around. I also do that a little without noticing it. We are a very verbal family and I suspect it has something to do with the way our brains are wired for auditory processing.
It would be interesting to know if she were conscious of it.
llg

I actually have this problem. The thing is, this only will happen when I am talking to someone with an accent. I try to make a conscious effort when speaking to people with an accent to not inflect it when I speak to them, because it may come across as mocking. This does not happen when I speak to others who do not have an accent.

However Dutchgirl, I'm getting the impression from your post that this is more an immaturity issue. Since her preceptor has asked her to cease this, I would also view this as a respect issue also. She may realize eventually how bad this behavior makes her look.

Turning the pager off :nono: :madface: No two ways about it, that is unprofessional and could be considered dangerous in regards to her patient (patient abandonment/negligence).

Wow, that's not orientation...she's on a holiday!...2 patients!!!...a month IN orientation...Jeeze! Wow, and where does she have such a need to turn off her beeper?...What for??!!

:yeahthat: Exactly.

She says she knows how to do everything but you check on her and she's got the PB plugged in under the pump. I can take alot, I've been a preceptor for years and with some real challenges who have turned out to be very good nurses.

Do you find that she has issues with being instructed by her preceptor?

**RosesrReder, BSN, MSN, RN** · Sep 27, 2005

I find the accent thing interesting. Some people unconsciously pick up accents very easily. My sister is that way. She can immitate accents easiy ... and will unconsciously pick up a little of whatever accent she is around. I also do that a little without noticing it. We are a very verbal family and I suspect it has something to do with the way our brains are wired for auditory processing.
It would be interesting to know if she were conscious of it.
llg

I agree about the accent. I would not be so quick as to assume she is mocking or acting her Brit accent. I too have been blessed with the ability to "unconsciously" picking up any accent and talking that way in either language I speak. I don't notice it but people do and tell me about it.

About turning off her pager that sounds very negligent and unprofessional. I say give her a few more weeks and she should "break in" and get with the program or get-out and pursue her dream elsewhere. (Sounds terrible, but more than likely reality :chuckle )

Jess

imenid37 · Sep 27, 2005

I think someone in authority-manager or whatever, needs to say to her ...Look you have a problem here that you must fix. If she doesn't then she gets disciplined. Are they afraid to reprimand her because mommy and daddy are docs at this hospital? Sounds like a little princess!

GingerSue · Sep 27, 2005

why would she think it to be okay to turn off the pager or ignore her patients?

that has to be addressed

as for the accent - perhaps this has occurred as her adaptive response (unconscious) in order to communicate with her preceptor

dekatn · Sep 27, 2005

Could be she was pushed into profession by parents and this is her way of screwing up in order to get kicked out rather than quitting. Or, maybe through the years the parents (physicians) have talked about nurses, not being nurses themselves, have passed along some unsavory ideas of what a nurse really does.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Sep 27, 2005

A good preceptor would nip the turning off of the pager in the budd, or report it to management if he/she couldn't handle it. Nothing else you've said is your business but for the patients not being tended to, so you should first talk to the preceptor and ask what she's doing about it, because your concerned for the patients and follow the chain of command.

Let the preceptor and management handle her slowness. Our new grads get 12 weeks of orientation and all of them are slow by our standards when they start out.

A lot of Americans love a British accent. I understand picking up the accents of the locals. When I'm around the deep south my southern accent becomes more prominent. The locals where this person is are not British. Especially when she's been told her fake accent is insulting, it's more than likely a childish deliberate thing, rather than just absorbing the accent of someone around her. I wonder what she says when people/patients ask her where's she's from?