Need Help Building Confidence

[PedsRNBSN]

I am the charge nurse in an ambulatory surgery center, and we just hired a nurse for the pre-op area (she is NOT a new grad). She came from ER and ICU and I thought she would be fabulous. Her skills are okay, but she REALLY lacks confidence. She is timid and if one patient raises their voice to her she gets really bothered....I just don't get it as she worked ER and ICU...oh well. She has trouble even deciding on her own where a bed should go....arghh. Pre-op is a fairly easy area for what we do and I was wondering if anyone had any confidence building exercises that we could use to help her out. She has a great attitude and works well with everyone, so I would love to try everything we can to make this work. Any ideas??? Thanks!!

[Jolie, BSN]

Thank you for taking the time and effort to work thru this, rather than just cutting this nurse loose, as many managers would!

I don't know of any exercises or drills to suggest, but would definitely recommend talking to her about this. If she is this timid, surely she is aware of it, and perhaps can discuss what enabled her to successfully practice in other settings. As a new employee, she probably has an interim evaluation coming up, and that would be a good opportunity to discuss your concerns.