Orientee Horror Stories?

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We always hear from student or new hires who had hellish experiences with the preceptors...I was curious to hear from preceptors who had awful students or orientees? What did you do about it?

I had a wonderful orientation. Been on my own for 2 months now and I think I am doing ok( 1 of the LPNs I work with said to me the other night that she thinks I am doing good). I work on a medical floor where our typical load is 4-5 although I have had 6 patient a few times. The nurse that oriented me was awesome though and we have become good friends.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

I'll never forget this orientee:

Orientee (brandishing a filled syringe): "We don't have any long-acting insulin. Can I give him 80 of Humalog instead?"

Me: "No, I like to keep my patients alive."

Orientee (genuinely surprised): "Oh."

The sad part was that she had been a LVN for FOUR years before becoming an RN.

Sadder still, if it wasn't for our facility's policy of double-checking insulin before administration...yeah.

She eventually turned out OK in the end.

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I always hate the "They suck at ICU so we sent them to the floor." Because yeah, giving them 3-10 more patients will make them get a brain.

I've seen some scary stuff, but what always concerns me most is the complete inability to talk to their patients. I can fix a lot of things. But I can't fix a total lack of people skills. I've tried encouraging it. I've tried modeling it. I've tried flat out telling them what to say. But one would think you'd realize you can't talk to people before you sign up to go to school for a job where you'll have to talk to people.

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Specializes in Medsurg/ICU, Mental Health, Home Health.

We had a dude who started diverting narcs while still on orientation. Holy cow, man, wait until you're on your own for that nonsense! ;)

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Even though it may "seem" like some schools just let anyone into the nursing program...it's not really scary, because those people still have to have skills check offs, pass all nursing classes with a C or higher, and pass the NCLEX.

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I oriented a new grad a few years ago I can thankfully say she actually turned out to be a pretty good nurse, but boy did she scare me! She couldn't keep her patients straight and she couldn't prioritize properly. One night we had a patient going downhill fast, but she was caught up on who knows what task. The charge nurse and I went in to insert an NG tube on the patient and we ended up having to call an code on the patient and she didn't even hear the code being called overhead on HER patient. I had to go hunt her down after the code team arrived and I had given history and background.

Then, another night when she was almost off of orientation, I was not following her super close because that's how I do things near the end. Better way to gauge how ready they are to be independent is to let them be independent. However, she was super behind, so I went to check blood sugars for her and I found one of our patients unresponsive. His vitals were 100% normal as was his blood sugar and tele rhythm. We had gotten in report that he was really lethargic, but responsive. I called her in the room to ask her if this was a change in condition and she told me "We got in report that he was lethargic." OMG! Lethargic and unresponsive are two totally different things. Got the MD in to assess the patient and even though vitals, EKG , etc were stable, I convinced him to send the pt to ICU and he coded 4 hours later. Dodged that bullet. Needless to say, her orientation was extended for awhile.

It's encouraging to hear that she turned out to be a good nurse. I'm new myself, and it's good to know there are places and preceptors who are willing to work with us newbies on our weak areas and that it IS possible to get better if we know when to ask for help. It can many times feel like I won't grow into an experienced nurse, but then I have to remember what we were told in nursing school. That it takes about a year to really begin to feel competent.

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Exactly! I hear all the time about these horrible preceptors that sound like Hannibal Lecter meets Charles Manson. But I have never witnessed any preceptor be really mean to a new hire. Some are definitely tougher than others, but a lot of the new grads or orientees are just obnoxious! And the ones who are tough are usually that way because they are trying to point out that if you do this without me here to catch you, you can really injure a patient. I was nervous as hell during my orientation, but I was respectful and deferred to my preceptor. I can't stand new nurses who walk in and feel like they are just as knowledgeable as senior nurses. They just aren't. The nurses who ask questions, are friendly and respectful will get all of my assistance (even if they don't know something that they probably should). A lot of it is about attitude.

I have heard so many times on this site that there are new grads that act cocky and like know-it-alls. I'm a new grad, and this baffles me beyond belief. I am so grateful for each nurse who has trained me, and I soak up every ounce of knowledge and advice they give. I am so in disbelief of this attitude in fact, that I believe in at least some cases, these new grads do not really feel or think that they know better at ALL, but are trying desperately to impress their preceptor by showing off what little knowledge they do have in an unbecoming manner. That behavior is still scary, though, because we new grads HAVE to suck it up, get rid of that pride, be humble and ask, ask, ask. And for goodness sakes, when we are told something for the first time, jot it down in a notebook so we don't have to be annoying by later asking again.

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Specializes in Surgical, quality,management.

A lot of things can be taught but people skills is not really one of them. I had a grad (i'm the charge)who came to me one day saying the pt wanted to speak to me. I went in and he basically said I don't know who this lady is who did my blood pressure and where is my nurse? Who is it? As we do primary care that meant that she had not introduced herself to her pts and 4 hours into her shift had not done morning meds.

When I fed this back to her all I got was "yeah yeah I'm going to get him his meds but I need to pg the doc cause his BP is up". Uhh give him his BP meds then. She had no idea how to prioritize and no interpersonal skills. After she was fired she emailed me looking for a reference!

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If any new grads are reading this thread, please understand this is one of those times to "vent". It's totally reasonable that you are not aware of things that seem basic to us. You're not expected to know them, just learn as you go along. It's only frustrating to the experienced nurse because it's sometimes surprising how much 'duh' material you actually have to go over.

My bad orientee had a very lax attitude about things which I just couldn't understand. Don't they turn out a bunch of pants-wetting bundles of anxiety from nursing school? Maybe eventually you can get jaded or just more comfortable with your work but I expect you should be hyperaware of your business when you're starting out. That whole concept of "someone else's life/your responsibility" just wasn't making much of an impression on her. Example: protocol is to keep cardiac monitor on the patient for 24h post-op. The monitor came off 4h prematurely. This was brought to her attention. Hour later, addressed again assuming she got tied up. Half-hour later, addressed again at which point she expressed that she's not too concerned about it. I think she said something like, "it's fine." What do you MEAN it's fine?

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Specializes in Orthopedics, and Home care.

I am a new hire at my job, and I can honestly say my preceptors, have been wonderful.. I am a new nurse and feel so overwhelmed , and learning how to stay stay organized, and not so whelmed .. I was lucky enough to have 3 different preceptorship and have taken a little bit of their experience and use them toy advantage .. They are always open if I need anything or have any questions.. When I feel Llosa and not sure of what I'm suppose to do next, they are nice enough to tell me their experience as a new nurse , which is nice bc I don't feel like I'm the only one who feels or felt this way..

Thank you to all the preceptorship who take the time to take a new nurse under their wings ..you all rock

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Specializes in Emergency.
We had a dude who started diverting narcs while still on orientation. Holy cow, man, wait until you're on your own for that nonsense! ;)

We had the same thing happen. He was experienced too. I'm guessing we can't play "name that nurse".......

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Specializes in Surgical, quality,management.
I am a new hire at my job, and I can honestly say my preceptors, have been wonderful.. I am a new nurse and feel so overwhelmed , and learning how to stay stay organized, and not so whelmed .. I was lucky enough to have 3 different preceptorship and have taken a little bit of their experience and use them toy advantage .. They are always open if I need anything or have any questions.. When I feel Llosa and not sure of what I'm suppose to do next, they are nice enough to tell me their experience as a new nurse , which is nice bc I don't feel like I'm the only one who feels or felt this way..

Thank you to all the preceptorship who take the time to take a new nurse under their wings ..you all rock

Most of the new grads are good. It's not them we are whining about. As you continue your nursing career it will happen to you just as you remember the crazy patients or the crazy family members or the one who did the nude run down the ward and the 100's and 1000's of run of the mill patients melt into the back you memory.

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