New Grad out of oreintation and totally miserable!!

HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD · Oct 7, 2008

Scrittman,

I am very sorry you are having such a bad experience on your very first job. I re-read your post a couple of times to make sure that I understood the actions you have already taken - and I noticed something missing.... have you talked to your supervisor?

I would recommend that you make an appointment to talk with your supervisor and make sure she knows how you feel. Avoid finger-pointing, and just focus on your own personal goals and expectations.

In my opinion, the most important responsibility of any nurse leader is to create an environment that enables nurses to deliver the best care possible. This is a huge job with enormous stress. Don't assume that she already knows how you feel. Give her a chance - after all, she must be 'good people' since she welcomes new grads.

In the meantime, don't confuse fast-pace with superior nursing. Try to become the best Mother-Baby nurse on the unit. It's a wonderful environment for developing your interpersonal and teaching skills.

Finally, I would really encourage you to read "Crucial Conversations". It can provide you some very effective methods for handling situations like the one you describe with your awful preceptor.

NEWBEE2 · Oct 8, 2008

Scrittman,
I am very sorry you are having such a bad experience on your very first job. I re-read your post a couple of times to make sure that I understood the actions you have already taken - and I noticed something missing.... have you talked to your supervisor?
I would recommend that you make an appointment to talk with your supervisor and make sure she knows how you feel. Avoid finger-pointing, and just focus on your own personal goals and expectations.
In my opinion, the most important responsibility of any nurse leader is to create an environment that enables nurses to deliver the best care possible. This is a huge job with enormous stress. Don't assume that she already knows how you feel. Give her a chance - after all, she must be 'good people' since she welcomes new grads.
In the meantime, don't confuse fast-pace with superior nursing. Try to become the best Mother-Baby nurse on the unit. It's a wonderful environment for developing your interpersonal and teaching skills.
Finally, I would really encourage you to read "Crucial Conversations". It can provide you some very effective methods for handling situations like the one you describe with your awful preceptor.

Thanks for your suggestions. I guess in trying to keep me long story short I left out the fact that I also discussed it w/my unit manager and the unit manager of L/D (no director at the time). There advice to me was to move past it and ended up floating me around w/various preceptors for the last few weeks of my orientation. They were not very sympathetic and summed it up to the fact that personal conflicts exist in regards to the preceptor situation. THe fact that they misrepresented the hiring process into L/D is equally discouraging and is not motivation to stay. I am sticking it out for the time being but if something comes up were I feel I would gain more challenging experience and the opportunity to enhance upon existing nursing skills I'll take it in a heart bit. Did I mention I am contracted to pay of my BSN... I think the fact that all the Hospitals are seperate intities under one umbrella makes changing positions harder than applying to an outside organization.

Thanks again for your input.

Have you always done critical care?