New Grad Nurse Might Lose Job Struggling In Orientation

[Scrubba Dub]

I work on an oncology med/surg floor as a new grad nurse. I have been wanting to be a bedside nurse and I love working with my patients. But I am apparently not flourishing enough to be ready to come off orientation. I have trouble with time management but have been working diligently on it and have been improving bit by bit every day. But some days it’s so hard to finish on time when I am still learning a lot of new things and can’t always retain it all at once. I am also still struggling with understanding computer stuff and following all of the rules there are in everything I do. I am also a bit anxious and according to the nurses I work with on the floor, it shows.

I’ve cried already 3 times at work because of the way the nurses criticize me. They say they are trying to help but when they would talk to me, they would say things like, “you don’t know this yet?,” “you should know this by now.” And everything that they teach me, they make sure to tell my manager the things I didn’t know how to do and the mistakes I made (that I learned from and corrected).

They would also keep telling me to stop being so anxious and crying all the time and it just made me feel even worse and I would not be able to focus on my work and would make more mistakes.

My manager isn’t really nice when it comes to giving me feedback. She never had anything positive to say. It was always just about the preceptors complaining about me doing things wrong. She thinks I am genuinely failing at this job and told me that if I don’t improve enough in my last week of orientation, that my employment will be terminated.

I’ve been on orientation for about 11 weeks and I feel like I should be flourishing more than this and honestly, I am not happy here. I feel like I should be learning much faster than this. I know I am really new and it’s going to take a long time to get good, but I am not getting good enough after 3 months and that worries me that I am not cut out for this

I’m really really going to fight for my job but at the same time, is it worth all of this toxic behavior from my preceptors and manager? What do I do?!

[Scrubba Dub]

10 hours ago, DTWriter said:

OP,

New grad RN orientations (at a hospital setting) are usually 12 weeks at most (except for some specialty areas like OR).

Based on your first post -

If you only have a week left, you are better off resigning at this point and reapplying elsewhere.

As others mentioned, if you get terminated, you have to explain it when asked on future job applications.

On the other hand, if they terminate you, you may quality for unemployment checks (though, this option may not be worth it in the long run).

Is there a particular reason why you do not want to resign from this job just yet (i.e. have children, moving expense, upcoming rent, etc.)? Spending 11 weeks seem excessive for an environment with several red flags.

So the thing is I am staying because I worked really hard just to get to the position I am at now and I want to really try to make this work before I decide to quit. The main reason why my preceptors are toxic is because I keep messing up and if I improve they leave me alone and I have actually been doing better so theyre less rude so it’s bearable and all of the pm nurses are okay with me and I actually like them. It was mostly day shift nurses that were mean. I trained for most of my orientation on day shift. But I was hired for pm shift so things are crazy but not as crazy on as days (granted, the last 3 weeks of me on pm shift orientation have been pure chaos)

[Scrubba Dub]

14 minutes ago, jtran21 said:

I work at a teaching hospital and I'm having that issue. I think it really comes down to how devoted your unit is to teaching new grads. For my case, I feel like they're implicitly comparing me to a few of the other girls whove had their practicums in the neuro icu. Stay strong sweetie!

It’s funny that my manager did not even suggest transferring me to another unit and went straight to saying she was going to terminate my employment completely.

[Scrubba Dub]

Update: Day 3 of my 5-day chunk of work is finished. I finished on time I only had 4 patients instead of 5 and discharged 1 of them before evening med pass. I am also feeling more comfortable now with knowing what to do. Only thing is, I don’t know how well I’m going to do if I get a busy day between now and Wednesday...I’ll be making updates...

[jb_mmmm, BSN, RN]

That's crazy. I would definitely look into employee services to see if they have someone who helps new grads.

[Scrubba Dub]

On 4/12/2019 at 2:33 PM, beekee said:

Offer to resign in lieu of being fired. It might not prevent you from landing on the “do not hire” list, but it’ll save you a lot of grief in future job hunting when asked if you have even been terminated.

Best wishes.

Would I actually be put on a “do not hire list” if I am a new grad without any experience and just was not thriving at her job? Not a rhetorical question. I’m actually asking.

[LilPeanut, MSN, RN, NP]

9 minutes ago, Scrubba Dub said:

Would I actually be put on a “do not hire list” if I am a new grad without any experience and just was not thriving at her job? Not a rhetorical question. I’m actually asking.

That depends on how petty the manager is, honestly.

[noyesno, MSN, APRN, NP]

So sorry you're going through this.

I've been there and its horrible. Anxiety to the max.

They extended my orientation to 20 weeks when I was a new grad because I struggled with time management. I went on to work 8 years at the bedside, often as a charge nurse, and now I'm almost done with my FNP program.

Doesn't sound like a very supportive work environment and, as a new grad, the need for support extends beyond the orientation period.

My only advise: You might be better off somewhere else. This is not ideal as you just started this job. So, put in your time and then get out. Don't take their criticism too personally. It can destroy your spirit. Try to learn from it. The delivery might suck but the feedback might be good.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

11 hours ago, Scrubba Dub said:

The main reason why my preceptors are toxic is because I keep messing up and if I improve they leave me alone and I have actually been doing better so theyre less rude so it’s bearable and all of the pm nurses are okay with me and I actually like them. It was mostly day shift nurses that were mean.

If you don't like the interaction you have with your preceptors when you screw up, it's quite probable that your preceptors are not actually toxic, but that you have not learned the necessary skill of taking negative feedback well. Your preceptors might actually be well-meaning and thoughtful preceptors who just haven't mastered the skill of giving negative feedback in a manner that makes you happy to hear it.

For all of those posters who are jumping on the preceptors for being mean or toxic: If they are "rude" to you because you keep messing up, it is probably not mean or toxic preceptors. It's preceptors who are understandably frustrated with an orient who keeps messing up.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

11 hours ago, LilPeanut said:

That depends on how petty the manager is, honestly.

It also depends upon the magnitude, frequency and sheer number of screw-ups the OP has perpetrated as well.

[LilPeanut, MSN, RN, NP]

10 hours ago, Ruby Vee said:

It also depends upon the magnitude, frequency and sheer number of screw-ups the OP has perpetrated as well.

That wasn't her question, though. It was "Would I actually be put on a “do not hire list” if I am a new grad without any experience and just was not thriving at her job?", which is what I was answering.

[Workitinurfava, BSN, RN]

10 hours ago, Ruby Vee said:

If you don't like the interaction you have with your preceptors when you screw up, it's quite probable that your preceptors are not actually toxic, but that you have not learned the necessary skill of taking negative feedback well. Your preceptors might actually be well-meaning and thoughtful preceptors who just haven't mastered the skill of giving negative feedback in a manner that makes you happy to hear it.

For all of those posters who are jumping on the preceptors for being mean or toxic: If they are "rude" to you because you keep messing up, it is probably not mean or toxic preceptors. It's preceptors who are understandably frustrated with an orient who keeps messing up.

Maybe it is going both ways. Maybe the preceptor's don't have what it takes to train her and she doesn't know how to deal with it properly. For as much as this occur's you would think, there would be a moc training in nursing school. Angry/fustrated preceptor vs New Grad that can't handle it properly, to be held in Room 202.

[Ali413]

To be honest, if you feel uncomfortable at a work setting, you have every right to speak up about it or fine a better place to work. Nobody is forced to stay somewhere they don’t like. It’s not a matter of “if they receive criticism well, or they haven’t mastered a skill yet...bla bla bla...” obviously it’s a concern and a clear indicator that someone cares deeply when they seek advice on a forum. I don’t see the preceptor in this case, asking for help on how not to be rude, mean, power-tripping to new nurses! Rather, I see new nurses who expect a lot from themselves asking other nurses for advice and that is an indicator of strength and success! When you realize you want to improve and need help in certain areas, it only shows how much you care about your work.