New Grads, enough complaints about preceptors.

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You must yourself become resourceful. Obtain permission from your preceptor and necessary parties and mingle to learn.

Your preceptor may not always be the best of teachers.And mingling affords you the opportunity of meeting a better teacher and learning more, whilst gaining the respect of your preceptor.

Get to mingling- unless mandated, you're not tied to your preceptor's apron strings.

Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
If you dont like doing it, do new grads a favor and DON'T do it...please. It is scary enough being a new grad without a preceptor giving you an attitude "just because" , or talking down to you like you are a piece of garbage(which I have experienced). Everyone is a human being and should be treated with respect.

Just an observation... Most of the time the preceptor isn't given an option. We arrive on the unit for a shift and are told, "BTW, you're going to be orienting Nancy Nurse. She came to us from Such-and-Such, has X experience and today's her first day. Nancy, this is Jan... off you go." Sometimes we're lucky to even get that. There have been times when I've had someone I don't know from a hole in the ground come up to me and say, "The charge nurse told me I'm with you today." Having said that, it's not my style to treat others the way you describe and I always give positive feedback first before pointing out issues. Having an orientee is a LOT of responsibility, a LOT of extra work and in my workplace there is no reward for doing it whether we want to or not.

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Specializes in Med-Surg/ ER/ homecare.
Just an observation... Most of the time the preceptor isn't given an option. We arrive on the unit for a shift and are told, "BTW, you're going to be orienting Nancy Nurse. She came to us from Such-and-Such, has X experience and today's her first day. Nancy, this is Jan... off you go." Sometimes we're lucky to even get that. There have been times when I've had someone I don't know from a hole in the ground come up to me and say, "The charge nurse told me I'm with you today." Having said that, it's not my style to treat others the way you describe and I always give positive feedback first before pointing out issues. Having an orientee is a LOT of responsibility, a LOT of extra work and in my workplace there is no reward for doing it whether we want to or not.

I realize every place of work is different, so I am sorry for not considering that in my reply. At my place of work, people know in advance when/whom they are precepting. Just keep in mind it is not the new grad's fault you are pushed into doing it.

I was an LPN prior to becoming an RN, and I have precepted new LPN's. It is different than a hospital setting, but yes it is hard work. However, the pther poster mentioned something about having a bad day or not being in the mood. We can't take that out on our pt's, so what gives anyone the right to take it out on someone you hardly know? No one should be anyone's punching bag.

I had a great experience with my preceptor unitl the last two weeks, when she started talking down to me at times. I confronted her about how she spoke to me (in a very professional manner, as in "please dont speak to me that way. I wouldnt speak to any coworker in that manner") and got no apology, and she even got angry. Some people just dont like being called on their actions.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

Totally true... we should be leaving our home life at home and our work life at work. That's a sign of true professionalism, isn't it? My coworkers rarely know when there's something going on outside of work (and indeed, even with work related problems) by my behaviour unless I tell them.

There are definitely people who don't like to have their bad behaiours pointed out to them, no matter how obliquely. But it seems that there are some people whose bad behaviour is repeatedly rewarded... like one of our nurses who only ever wants to be in charge (works permanent nights when the workload for the charge nurse is generally fairly light because the majority of our permanent night staff is very senior and will need very little supervision or help) and is downright surly and nasty when given a patient assignment, or is assigned to be resource nurse. The patients and their families feel this nurse's displeasure, as does everyone on the unit, and there have been many complaints. Management has a little meeting with the nurse, behaviour improves for a shift or two and then guess what... the nurse is back in charge for every shift worked. So what to do?

Your situation was handled properly on your part and now you have to let it go. The nurse who talked down to you isn't going to change her behaviour at this late date. My stategy for this kind of person is to be all sweetness and light in all my interactions with them, keeps them a little off balance and confused. They tend to be a little nicer to you then!

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Specializes in NICU.
You must yourself become resourceful. Obtain permission from your preceptor and necessary parties and mingle to learn.

Your preceptor may not always be the best of teachers.And mingling affords you the opportunity of meeting a better teacher and learning more, whilst gaining the respect of your preceptor.

Get to mingling- unless mandated, you're not tied to your preceptor's apron strings.

I agree, as new grads we need to go out and find out own learning experiences! :) It is best to learn from many nurses on the unit! :)

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as a new grad it is up to you to get everything you need out of your preceptor. i am finally over my 1 year mark, so like many i was just being precepted myself. i had 2 preceptors. my first preceptor had 7 years of experience as a rn, but just 7 months experience in medsurg. my very first day with her was extremely unproductive (i had my license prior to starting) because all i did was hand out medications. being that medsurg was new for her it was difficult for her to systemically provide care. before my first day was over i sat down with her and informed her that even though i was a rn, i was 100% new to nursing and needed more from her. she seemed very receptive, but at the end of my third shift with her i still was unable to say that i was getting what i needed out of orientation, so i informed her that i was going to request another preceptor, which i did. to my surprise she was supportive and in agreement. she told me that she was very stressed because she was still trying to learn how to manage her days and did not feel like she was capable of precepting yet. my new preceptor had 8 yrs of med surg experience on my unit of 60 beds and she was awesome. she showed me everything from protocols to skills to the qualifications of becoming certified in med surg. sometimes while you are in orientation you have to speak up. it's not a crime to request a different preceptor if you do it professionally. if you are unable to get what you need from your preceptor "speak up." it's too late to complain after orientation is over, do something about your dilemma while you have the opportunity. for those who precept: please refuse to precept if you feel like you are unable to, regardless of the cause, because at the end of the day you are still stuck working with us inexperienced ones. if we are not taught you are the one's stuck helping us pick up the slack one way or the other. why not put the extra work in while orienting us rather than cleaning up after us (i.e. night shift, cn, buddies, etc.). i am extremely grateful to all those who precept

willingly or unwillingly, because without preceptor how would new grads become equipped? so thank you to all of you preceptors out there.

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Specializes in Acute Care, CM, School Nursing.

I do agree that while on orientation, nurses should seek out additional learning experiences. I recently completed an RN refresher course. Prior to that, I had not done bedside nursing in almost 7 years. So, while doing the clinical portion of my class, I spoke up about what things I'd like to observe/practice myself. It was very helpful to me. But, if you think about it, a brand new grad right out of school probably won't even know what kind of things they should focus on. I know that when I was a brand new nurse, I was so nervous and anxiety-ridden, I was just trying to keep my head above water... So, to me, management should select preceptors carefully. Preceptors should not be expected to "spoon-feed", but I think it's very important that they be sensitive to the needs of a new nurse. After all, we were all there at some point. :twocents:

However, I do agree with a previous poster, who mentioned that if a nurse does not want to be a preceptor, they really need to let management know. I had a preceptor during my refresher class that was so awful, I truly felt sorry for any brand new grad that would ever have the misfortune of precepting with her. Luckily for me, I am a little bit older and have more experience than a brand new grad. So, I didn't let her ruffle my feathers. But if I was a brand new grad, orienting for my very first RN position, I probably would have run the other way screaming. ;)

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I thought I loved my preceptor for the first 3 weeks. She taught me a lot of great info. The problem started when she started to trust me, meaning she was nowhere to be found most of the time. I was fine with it, but when I had a question or needed help, I'd be waiting forever. (She told me not to ask anyone else for help. :confused: Then she started saying I am too slow for CCU, etc.. When you are waiting around for help, you waste time and get behind, imagine that!?!?

I am halfway into my internship and start with a new preceptor next week.

The last thing I want to do is complain about a preceptor, I appreciate them so much, but sometimes it's just inevitable.

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I for one get really tired of new grads w/ an attitude. Sometimes, you walk in as a nurse and totally unknown to you, you've got a fellow following you. You may or may not be in a mood to teach that day -- maybe you're sort of feeling under the weather, or tired from the day before. Now you've got double the duty and double the worry while getting paid really next to nothing to train a person. Our management also is nasty enough to get on us as preceptors WHILE we're trying to teach, so it really isn't all that motivating.

I also dislike the new grads who are on our med surg floor, but seem to have an attitude like, "Who me? Work here? No way -- I'm going right to the ICU -- wouldndt' get caught dead working med surg." As if our job is somehow easier . ..

I think if every preceptee would just THANK their preceptors for training them basically for no extra pay - it would go a long way.

:yeah: I am an assistant on a Med-Surg unit and I watch the nursing students interact with the nurses. There are some who dont want to have anything to do with med-surg and literally turn their nose up to the patients and their care ( we have a mostly homeless population). They want to go to Peds, or L&D. I myself got lucky in getting a new grad RN job but I was so ready to take on med-surg. I love my job, the nurses and the patients. You never know what the future holds for you and you cant piegon hole yourself into one unit. Plus with that kind of attitude dont expect to get a good recommendation or a possible job offer once you go job hunting. Appreciate all your experiences.

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