Partial vent, partial seeking advice.

[AndyB]

I changed my employer and job a few months ago. I am fairly new in nursing (2 years this August) but I have worked in EMS for over 21 years, 6 as an EMT and 15+ years as a paramedic. Prior to switching to a major E/R, I worked in med/surg in a small hospital with frequent floating to the unit and floating to the E/R once in a blue moon. Things have been sailing pretty smooth for me until I changed my job and employer.

I left my previous employer due to some underhanded dealings. During nights, the far majority of the nursing staff are LPNs. While an experienced LPN is worth their weight in gold, the LPNs during nights were primarily new grads. After just under a year as a nurse I was pulling charge about 50% of the time. They are due an unannounced JACHO visit and management instructed the staff to say that the LPNs operated under the direct supervision of the charge at all times. Kind of hard when you are carrying a full patient load usually. They also instructed us to to say that the LPNs were not assessing the patients, that they were gathering data instead. I wanted no part of this so I bailed out.

Critical care has always been my love so I found a job in the E/R which is the busiest E/R in the state where I live. I figured a couple of years in that environment would bring me up to par to step into a CCU job in the near future. I have a very good academic record (Valedictorian in my paramedic class and Magna Cum Laude with a 3.81 GPA for my ASN) and lots of patient care hours without any problems. My first preceptor was moving to the ARU so I only worked with her for a few weeks. She had 16 years experience and things went smoothly. No major problems but I had to adjust to paper charting after working in computerized charting. I was used to charting by exception and I also had to adjust to just writing care notes for the sake of charting.

My next preceptor was a fairly new nurse (less then 2 years) and things did not go very smooth. Lots of conflict and write-ups which were very embellished. One included my butt crack showing when my scrubs bottoms drifted downward after running non-stop for a few hours...

I met with management and education to review the multiple write-ups she had written about me in the 3 weeks we worked together. I had requested a new preceptor just prior to this and that was also part of the meeting. I received a very stern warning but I did get a new preceptor. A preceptor who has been a nurse for a good 15 years +. I have a good rapport with this preceptor and I respect this nurse very much. I check regularly to make sure that my progress is satisfactory and I have not received any major negative input.

However, my problems are with the fact that I am alienated from some of the nursing staff due to problems I had with my previous preceptor. I have no doubt that this will create some problems in the near future. While I hate to have a very short term of employment on my job record it may be in my best interest to get another job. I have recently started to fill out some apps.

Please let me know what you think.

Andy

[jmgrn65, RN]

have you tried talking to the preceptor that you had problems with, to see why she has a problem with you. I would not quit just yet, try to make friends with others and not make any negative comments about the preceptor. Give it some time and see if things will get better. Sometimes you just dont mesh with the unit. Good luck