Other Side of Coin---Less than Humble New Grads

Nurses General Nursing

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We hear a lot about 'eating our young', something which I personally experienced myself, btw, but what about the other side of the coin? How do we handle 'know it all' new grads who overstep their bounds? I've also run into this.

What about the new grad who is so full of her/him self, and who shows a lack of understanding and/or respect for the established members of the unit? Any thoughts???

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It won't take long for them to fall flat on their faces. As long as it doesn't compromise pt care, I'd let them do it. Hopefully they'll learn quickly enough that they really don't know as much as they think.

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Specializes in Utilization Management.

Eeek. This is the preceptor's nightmare.

They're overconfident. It can be a harrowing experience to precept this type of individual because they truly cannot conceive that they can make an error and they have no insight as to the cost it can exact in terms of the patient's life or the morale of the unit.

Usually, I'll have to take them down a peg by pointing out their need to respect their coworkers and be a team player. I'll remind them that all of us have different learning curves and education gaps, so while I might know a whole lot about "X," I might not know doodly about "Y." At some point, if they have half a brain, they'll realize that their attitude is important to the unity and the morale of the unit.

Some people are just born with a superiority complex. It's worse if they're technically good at nursing. In addition to their lack of insight about how easily they can burn themselves out being the Be-All and End-All to Nursing, it's annoying to work with these people. The disrespect for their coworkers is evident with the eye-rolling, the snickers, the head-shaking, the condescending tone when they're asked a question.

So I just don't help them as much. I have my ducks in a row, and I won't let them bully me by asking questions designed to "prove" my stupidity and show off their knowledge.

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Specializes in Telemetry, ICU, Resource Pool, Dialysis.

I wonder if part of the problem sometimes is the "by the book" attitude that you get crammed down your throat in school. Clinical experience can be so limited, especially with instructors breathing down everybody's neck, that some new grads don't really have a clue how some things are REALLY taken care of.

I know part of it is an attitude problem to begin with, but there seems to be this period of adjustment where we have to give up the idealistic notions taught in school and realize that things can't always be "by the book"

I've been lucky enough not to have too many experiences with these kinds of people. I have one funny story: Its really gross, though...

Had a patient with almost continuous watery diarrhea. Finally, we just took the suction tubing and left it in the bed to keep the worst of the mess from overflowing onto the floor in between changing her every 10 minutes or so. Our new grad was appalled at this. "it's humiliating to the client!!" (she was unresponsive) "What about skin integrity??" Almost to the point of writing up an incident report. This is the same guy who was taking care of a patient (as a tech) in ER who was in with chest pain. She had to go to the bathroom. So he is seen wheeling her, in the bed, down the hall to the bathroom. "What are you doing????" "Taking her to the bathroom" "Why in the bed???" "She's on bedrest, she has chest pain" I'm not kidding. He had to move the commode out of the way to get the bed out of the room. Nobody asked him what he planned to do once he got her to the bathroom.

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I don't know which is worse, the eye-rolling or the bored sigh. Heaven forfend you try to point something out to them, because they are the first ones to scream, "Nurses eat their young!"

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Specializes in Utilization Management.
This is the same guy who was taking care of a patient (as a tech) in ER who was in with chest pain. She had to go to the bathroom. So he is seen wheeling her, in the bed, down the hall to the bathroom. "What are you doing????" "Taking her to the bathroom" "Why in the bed???" "She's on bedrest, she has chest pain"

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho.

Given enough rope!!! They usually take care of themselves fairly soon. About the first time they get a new one from a doctor their tune changes. I agree, monitor patient safety and let them hang themselves.

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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

Hee hee - I love the one with the guy pushing the whole bed to the bathroom. That is very funny!

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Specializes in Neuro, Critical Care.

Im a nursing student and just want to say...no know it all here! Im scared to death for my first clincals.....coming up in 3 weeks! I am so afraid I will come off looking like an idiot...Im very book smart, but I have never been to clinicals and I hope that im hands on smart too...things seem to go well in skills lab but, dummies really can't give you feedback...sigh...flipping back to the other side of the coin, I really hope that my clincal instructor doesnt "eat me"...there is only 1 hospital in the area in which I live that I know that prob would happen...with my luck i'll get assigned to that hospital...

just a q. for you guys..if you were in the hospital would you let a student nurse in clinicals take you on as a pt or would you refuse?

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Specializes in ER.
would you let a student nurse in clinicals take you on as a pt?

Sure, the students with bad attitude are a minority. Most provide great care and are not in a hurry like regular staff.

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Specializes in OB.

I'm an LVN and sometimes it's tough having these young know it all new grad RNs run around with their pompous attitudes and act like they know more than I do even though I'm more experienced and older. I can just imagine what it's like for our veteran RNs. I'm with cyberkat and meownsmile... I just let them sink or swim... of course, without compromising the patient's health and care. A lot of the times, if they are willing to listen, I'll teach them a better way of doing things or remind them of things they may have forgotten, in a subtle way so that they don't take offense. Such as saying, "How about doing it this way to save time?" or "There's the doctor, don't forget to check your orders." Eventually, these new grads start to realize they don't know everything and start respecting the experience nurses who have saved their butts!

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Specializes in Telemetry, ICU, Resource Pool, Dialysis.
Im a nursing student and just want to say...no know it all here! Im scared to death for my first clincals.....coming up in 3 weeks! I am so afraid I will come off looking like an idiot...Im very book smart, but I have never been to clinicals and I hope that im hands on smart too...things seem to go well in skills lab but, dummies really can't give you feedback...sigh...flipping back to the other side of the coin, I really hope that my clincal instructor doesnt "eat me"...there is only 1 hospital in the area in which I live that I know that prob would happen...with my luck i'll get assigned to that hospital...

just a q. for you guys..if you were in the hospital would you let a student nurse in clinicals take you on as a pt or would you refuse?

It's the grads (and students) who come into it knowing they don't know everything and are willing to learn that we love to have around. You'll do fine!:)

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