new grad leaving er

gdelrosa · Apr 8, 2006

That's awful. I'm so sorry to hear that. I'm going to be graduating in August and my ultimate dream was to work in the ER. Where did you work??? I want to make sure I steer clear of them.

jillyk*rn · Apr 8, 2006

Hi,

I'm sorry that you had that terrible experience.

Hugs to you!!:icon_hug:

Trauma Columnist · Apr 8, 2006

I too am so sorry for your experience. I work in a level one and our orientation is 16 weeks for new grads. We have lots of new grads and most stay at least for a year. Please let the manager of that ER know why you are leaving: ie the expectations that you would perform at the level of a veteran nurse, set up to fail, co-workers comments. This will hopefully prevent this from happening again.

paphgrl · Apr 8, 2006

I too am so sorry for your experience. I work in a level one and our orientation is 16 weeks for new grads. We have lots of new grads and most stay at least for a year. Please let the manager of that ER know why you are leaving: ie the expectations that you would perform at the level of a veteran nurse, set up to fail, co-workers comments. This will hopefully prevent this from happening again.

I have discussed this with my manager. Many nurses in the dept. are against hiring new grads, and so don't support them. I worked shifts with nurses who watched and waited for me to make mistakes. I had no support. I was hearing criticism through the rumor mill. No one ever gave constructive criticism. Do I sound angry? I am.

Now I am in the don't hire new grads club.

Barb2000 · Apr 8, 2006

I have been a RN for 12 years, and these stories really upset me. I wish those nurses had been much more supportive to you. I have worked in places that had student nurses and new grads. I will say most of my co-workers were supportive to these nurses, but I still saw a select few experienced nurses continually put down the efforts of those new people who just wanted to learn. It's too bad that those type nurses have forgotten what it is like to be a new grad. We all know there is a nursing shortage, and the last thing we need to be doing is driving out our up-and-coming nurses. I hope you have an opportunity to get back to ER nursing if that is what you want. I am sure you will be one of those compassionate nurses that help someone new to the profession excel.

Pitbullgirl · Apr 8, 2006

I am really sorry you had such a bad experience, and right out of school. That is EXACTLY why I chose to go to the OR instead of our ED when I graduated this past December. I had worked for 2.5 years as a tech in our Level 1 ED, and I saw how a few of the nurses were almost gleeful when new grads didn't succeed. They set them up for failure by their attitude and poor behavior. And you know what? They're only shooting themselves in the foot.

Our ED has a 5 month internship, which is very solid, but after hearing some of the nurses complain about new grads and swap stories on how they ran new grads out of our ED, I chose to start out in the OR.

Good luck to you, and remember you can always go to another ED later on after you have some experience under your belt.

mydesygn · Apr 8, 2006

I have discussed this with my manager. Many nurses in the dept. are against hiring new grads, and so don't support them. I worked shifts with nurses who watched and waited for me to make mistakes. I had no support. I was hearing criticism through the rumor mill. No one ever gave constructive criticism. Do I sound angry? I am.
Now I am in the don't hire new grads club.

I feel so bad for you. I know what it means to "eat your young". Trust me, I have worked in areas where they "eat the old" too. I have 15 years of peds floor nursing experience and began working on a pediatric medicine floor. The floor was new to me but I was very famialiar with the patient population. What I needed from the orientation was policies, guidelines etc.. Basically, the not "how you do this " but "how is it done here" type orientation. Within 3 mos, I received incdent reports for charting - items that any nurse could have come to me and said "we chart it this way, not the way you did it". But unfortunately that did not happen and I left within 6 mos.

As much as I blame the nursing staff for the lack of support and encouragement and basic respect and courtesy. I blame the manager far more for allowing the situation to exist and allowing qualified, competent staff to leave. Your manager did not have the guts or common sense to stop that behaivior and she should have. When the complainig and nit-picking walked into her office, she should have taken a stand and refused to allow any nurse to complain. I think as nurses and managers, we fill obligated to honor every complaint. Some aren't valid and lack merit and your manager should have had the guts to say so. I have said to one nurse -- "I value our new staff and like every nurse she deserves the oppourtunity to learn how to care for patients in this area. I acknowledge that she performed this incorrectly and I will be happy to let her know and I will also tell her to come to you for an explanation for how to prevent this in the future since you pointed it out. However, I would suggest that you talk to her first if their is any performance issues and I will be happy to set up a meeting with both of you to discuss it if you don't feel comfortable" I recognize that some nurses will say that it discourages reporting of problems, IT DOES NOT. It discourages petty complaints and demonstrates to the staff that you value and respect all your staff. Legitimate concerns will be brought in because good nurses report real problems.

I currently manage a pediatric floor and fortunately our staff are wonderful preceptors and mentors to any new staff. A few are complainers but they don't have power because they staff and myself discourage it. I am fortunate that this institution supports preceptors (we have assigned preceptors who are paid a bonus for precepting staff). We have an involved educator who meets with orientees to discuss their needs. And I try to ensure that any new staff is supported by the management because I am a representative of this floor and this hospital and I don't want to lose good staff behind bad nurses.

Your experieince may have been a blessing in disguise. Leaving that unit where the nursing staff and were so awful lead me to a position where I am respected and valued. I appreciate this position even more because of what I went through. I hope you find a unit where the staff will support your growth and I know you will make an excellent preceptor and mentor because you know what means not to have that support. One day you will make a difference for a new nurse because you won't forget what it means to be where they are.

Hope that helps for what it's worth.

JMBM · Apr 8, 2006

I agree with the last poster. I've certainly seen some nurses snicker and put down new nurses, but in those cases, they also attack new travelers, transfers, etc. We have a particular night shift crew at our ED that is so bad most of the rotating staff works not to get scheduled with them, whereas the night shift at the other end of the week is as welcoming and supportive as can be. The thing is that there will always be jerks in this world. Therefore, I also agree with the earlier writer that this is a failure of leadership. Undercutting fellow nurses (or any staff) is essentially allowing certain people to satisfy immature emotional urges at the expense of good patient care. Charges who don't recognize that and do something about it shouldn't be charges. As for phaphgrl's experience, I hope you don't categorize ER nurses (or any nurses) by the childish actions of a few. I was a new grad in an ER once and the group there could not have been more supportive and helpful. Get back on the horse, find a good spot and do what you want to do.

Zachary2011 · Apr 8, 2006

I am so sorry you are discouraged and the support you needed was lacking. But......... I work in a very busy busy ER, and many times we work short...... Do I think a new Grad should start their career there... No I dont, By being as busy as we already are its near impossible to give a new nurse the time and attention they deserve.... I hate that its that way but it is. Now I also worked at other ERs in Texas not near as demanding, and in that case a new Grad would probably learn and have the support they needed. It just depends on so many factors, pt. rollover, managers, staffing, acuity, etc. I honestly think a new nurse should gain exp. at least for one year in another dept. other then ER, ER is fast paced, so the nurses themselves need to be fast. Hang in there, give yourself 1 year on a medical or tele, then go back down to the ER and I bet you will own that ED within 6 months. Take Care

paphgrl · Apr 8, 2006

Thank you all for the kind words and advice. I look forward to starting with a clean slate. This will make me a better nurse.

snowfreeze, BSN, RN · Apr 8, 2006

I never understood territorial nurses. New nurses can and do start in all departments and most do well. Finding a unit or department that is happy to teach a new nurse is another story. A brand new nurse with no medical background (EMS, nurse aid, unit secretary) really needs 2 years to become an independant nurse able to give direction to other nurses. Many nurses really don't know how to teach and when they are usually working understaffed, having someone to orient is just a burden on top of the job. Facilities with career ladders and mentor incentive programs do well teaching new grads in critical care areas. Teaching facilities are very good also as that is part of their goal so proper teaching is worked into all departments.