New Nurse, what did I get myself into...

[ColorfulStethoscope]

Hello all,

I am a new grad RN who landed my first job in a small hospital. I really wanted to work at this hospital because it is small and it is also a teaching hospital, so I figured I was going to get some great life experiences... well life experiences is what I have gotten to say the least.

This week was my first week on the floor with my preceptor... she is a fantastic nurse, knows everything there is to know about the floor and the pts, when she does her work I am in awe of her... but, she isn't the best teacher for a new grad RN... The first day she let me follow her around doing a few things, like passing some meds, turning pts, and anything else she wanted to show me. The second day she told me to take on one pt soley and do everything for that pt from 7am - 730pm, now this is my first hospital job ever and I have never used their computer charting, IV pumps, or any of their equipment ever... So its like teaching a 5 year old how to do things. She would show me things one time and expect me to know it from then on, well that didn't happen because the way she teaches and the way I learn are two completely different styles. The third and final day of my first week on the floor (I had to work three twelves in a row), she told me to take one pt on again and do everything for them. Well I tried my best, and that wasn't good enough, the entire day she was making comments towards me that I needed to suck it up and be better. She also made the comment of "just because you made it through school, doesn't mean you're going to be a good nurse", which is entirely true, it doesn't mean you're going to be a good nurse at all. I don't really think nursing school taught me anything, besides some medical terminology. Clinicals and actual floor nursing are completely different in all ways.

I guess I just feel like she was setting me up for failure all week and expecting me to know how to be a seasoned nurse when I am absolutely clueless about how to be a floor nurse. Everything I did, was incorrect in her eyes and so she tried to correct me in the best way she knew how but it was more like she was attacking me and breaking me down, instead of building me up and shaping me into a great new RN. I know some people just can't be preceptors no matter how amazing of a nurse they are. I have heard when she was a preceptor for another new grad, she made them feel so bad, they ended up quitting and finding employment somewhere else.

Sorry this is so long, but all week she belittled and attacked me, making me feel like I am incompetent and probably shouldn't have become a nurse in the first place. I guess a few floor nurses picked up on this and went to our boss telling her we just weren't a good match for each other and now my boss has switched my preceptor to someone else. I feel like this has bad karma written all over it, even though I am not the one who asked for a new preceptor.

I just don't know what to do at this point, I don't know what to study in order to make this transition from student nurse to floor nurse more successful, if I should look for a new job else where, if I should stick orientation out and hope my new preceptor is a better teacher...

Any advice for a brand new RN who is greener than green would be appreciated. =)

I am so nervous to go back to work I can't even think straight... its really bothering me

[scaredsilly, BSN, RN]

I love that seasoned nurses (who have precepted) are responding to this. I love getting their perspective.

I am a new grad nurse. I am one of the fortunate ones who got hired into a specialty unit "dream job" instead of the obligatory year on med surg. I am one of the REALLY lucky ones who got an awesome preceptor. I honestly think I owe her my first born! (as long as she promises not to eat him!) hehe

In my nursing school/clinicals we were pretty much given the work that we wanted/could handle. Some of my classmates were Ms. timid and got to follow a preceptor around all day watching, while others like myself walked in telling a new preceptor we wanted to learn everything possible in the 4 weeks we were there. Those of us who did that got very well educated. I started 20 or 30 IVs in nursing school, passed meds and ran the pumps, set up PCA, pulled foleys, gave insulin, etc (all under the watchful eye of whatever preceptor I had at the time) and as a result I did know how to do a few things when I started in the real world. Even with the great clinical experiences though, I found out real quick that I knew pretty much nothing. It was a shocking realization and really quite depressing until I realized that I was in the perfect environment to learn. So I told my preceptor on my first day on the job that I was anxious to learn everything I could and that I would learn best if she did any procedure once while telling me exactly what she was doing while I watched and then the next time it needed to be done, let me do it and correct me if I did anything wrong. I asked a lot of questions, worked hard to remember the answers and not ask the same thing twice, and I really really am learning!

That first night after my shift I went home and told my husband it's as if I had never gone to school. Our dog could be a better nurse. He said "I bet all new nurses feel that way, it probably isn't just you", so I jumped on AN and wow! He was right! Got to work early the next day and visited a floor where one of my classmates had just started working, and arranged with her to meet up as an informal support group. Our group has now grown to 7! Every single thing I am going through--so are they! It is so awesome to be able to talk to these other new nurses and find out that it really is NOT just me! We meet when we can, call and text when we need to, and are becoming close friends. Best thing I have done so far!

Bottom line is that nursing education is pretty much (like everything else worth having in life) what you make it. If you really want to learn, let the people with the tools to teach you know what you need, and you WILL learn. If you are just hanging out waiting to graduate and get a job so you can get paid-well you make that choice, so you need to deal with it.

[designer-mommy, BSN, RN]

I didn't get that chance in nursing school. They knew that we wanted to learn--we were vocal about it--but they didn't want to be bothered with teaching. I definitely didn't just want to hang out until I graduated. The ones who speak up and get heard are lucky.

[VANurse2010]

I think it's a huge credit to the unit and your nurse manager that you were given a different preceptor. Most units are crap and would sooner let you go than work with you on that.

[bing limpin]

nice knowing those comments and advices, i learned a lot. im not a nurse nor a nursing student but I finished my Cert IV in disability and planning to take the same course. Really dont know which one Div 1 or Div 2? Cant decide yet, please advise. Thanks.

[mermom46]

I feel so sad when I read your comments! I have a daughter who is a new grad & I pray she has a preceptor like the ones I had in 1977 as a new grad. I went straight into an ICU in New Orleans after training in a rural community in Northern California in a 4-year BS program (the 4-year RNs have "NO clinical expertise" as all the 2-year year RNs like to say). I had an amazing ICU director who welcomed me with open arms & whom I will visit next month after 34 years! I was PATHETIC for the whole first year-- never feeling competent or useful. Then one day it clicked and I felt a surge of joy & hope. My preceptor was a "nurse Goddess" -----(as they always SEEM to be) -pleasant, patient, supportive, teaching, role-modeling. I don't believe ANY fragile, learning, scared, eager, young, inexperienced new employee of any kind does better with belittling, intimidation, or impatience. These young nurses will be YOUR nurse when you are in need of care! If for no other reason than "self-interest"--- gently teach them how to become the kind of nurse you want caring for You. Hang in there little fledglings-- if you made it through nursing school, you can do anything else you set your minds to. You have a gift all your own that is searching for the right recipient. You will "toughen up" as the months pass- things will get better with each passing phase. All your nursing career you will be learning new things. Some environments will be a good fit, & some won't. Keep searching for the right fit. You will survive, and you will thrive. Bless you all with wonderful, caring, competent, teachers in your years to come.

[learner1108]

I haven't read all the comments, but the first few. Okay everyone, she wasn't whining about the work. She was saying that her preceptor was criticizing everything she did. She is trying. In case you all don't remember what the orientation was like, a new nurse is under so much stress... first job of her chosen career, wants to do good, 3 12 hour days in a row, worried about patient, worried about preceptor's opinion and evaluation of her... enough stress there (especially if she is really conscientious and wants to do everything perfectly) to put her in a category of extreme stress. One can't think clearly and quickly when they are in extreme stress. Now add to the stressors she already has a preceptor who probably only tells her about her mistakes and makes snarky, unnecessary remarks about her i.e. "just because you made it through nursing school doesn't mean you are going to be a good nurse".

Let me ask experienced and new nurses both. Whatever specialty you are working in now, suppose you were to have to change to a new unit in which you had no prior experience - say change to Psychiatry from Med Surg- and you had a preceptor who told you one time what to do and then complained if you didn't do it right the first time to the extent that other nurses noticed, would your thick skin help you feel good? I think only if you already had success as a nurse.

I experienced that, had a preceptor changed. I learned lots from the new preceptor, but she wasn't very welcoming. Nurses, we new grads don't have the advantages of the same kind of clinical experiences that you might have. In my school, I never got responsibility for a patient with an overlooking nurse. I also was more a CNA. I think preceptors of new grads need training for helping new grads. It is not the new grads' fault that she did not get more experience in clinical procedures in nursing school. Give her some slack, for pete's sake.

[BodyInMotion, BSN, RN]

My preceptor said that she never once had the opportunity to start an IV in nursing school. So many skills to be learned but the opportunities are seriously lacking in school. It's unrealistic to ask 'didn't you learn this or that in school or clinicals?' I had several clinical days in which there were not enough patients for 8 students, lessening our chances to learn/practice skills. I've always heard nurses eat their young but I'm lucky in that I work some amazing (team players) men and women. Don't beat yourself up, EVERYONE that I graduated with, myself included, feels just like you do. It gets a better, a little easier with each passing month. Yes, MONTH, it's a process.

[pablov00]

mermom46 I agree with you a 100 percent!!!