Please I need advice!

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Today was my second day with my preceptor. Let me begin to say that my preceptor is not happy to train me. I heard my preceptor tell the nurse manager in the unit that she likes to work alone. I dont think she knows that I over heard her. Even worse, the nurse manager doesn't like me either, whenever my preceptor is not around I ask for her help, she tells me ask your preceptor. But, when I ask my preceptor she rolls her eyes and gets mad. Later on in my shift the nurse manager went up stairs to check on my schedule. She told my preceptor "yes she is coming tomorrow" my preceptor said "nooo, please don't put her with me" and the nurse manager started laughing at her. They thought i wasn't around. Therefore, I can't go up to the nurse manager to request a new preceptor because they are such good friends. I'm afraid that the nurse manager will tell my preceptor about my request and give me more hard time. I really don't know what to do or who to talk to. I'm feel so sad because I feel not wanted there, and it makes me feel bad. I really dont want to quit because it took me 2 years to get this job. On the other hand I feel that I'm not getting the proper training, and in 5 weeks i will be alone. Have you ever experienced something similar. Sorry for being such baby, but I really need advice. Thank you for reading my depressing story.

Specializes in Telemetry, Med-Surg, Peds.

@NightOwl

You are my new hero!! :)

Your statement makes me less apprehensive about becoming a Nurse and going through orientation.

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I'd argue that a nurse preceptor refusing to train a new nurse properly is neglecting their duty as a nurse, I see precepting as a skill like drug administration, wound care, etc. being a good patient advocate includes ensuring that the new generation of nurses are prepared for the job at hand. Imagine if I had an attitude about medication administration and decided to do it improperly, it's the same as not precepting appropriately. :)

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you need to find a new preceptor. escalate the situation, if needed. you don't need to be at the bedside half-ass nursing and making mistakes that could cost you your license. worse case scenario... you get fired. jobs are a dime a dozen.

FYI, i know a handful of nurses (including myself) who are going or went through a similar situation. what you're experiencing is fairly common. it's additional work for a preceptor to teach and few nurses want the extra headache/workload.

i consulted with my education department and a friend (DON / ER at another facility). they both told me to FIND A NEW PRECEPTOR.

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I am a traveling nurse and had 2 days of orientation at my newest contracted facility. The second orientation day the nurse who was to orient me was told (in front of me) that she would be orienting me. Also in front of me, she said, "Oh no," and rolled her eyes. I said to her, "Don't say that. It will be fine. I do not need you to teach me how to be a nurse. I AM ALREADY a nurse, I just might need your help with some of the documentation things." She felt really bad about it after realizing what it must have sounded like to me. It is a crazy busy med-surg-tele unit and nurses there have total care patients and often do not get breaks.

Do not feel bad. Nurses can be overwhelmed with their workload and then get the surprise of the additional responsibilities of precepting someone new. It is likely less about you than her own level of stress, not a reflection on you as a person. While you and I might never consider reacting that way to such news, some people do not handle things as well as we might. I hope that helps.

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You absolutely can go to the manager and request a new preceptor, and some will advise you to do so. Most of those giving that advice will be relatively new themselves. It's bad advice. My manager treats those requests as a failure on the part of the new hire to get along with her established staff. One black mark against the newbie. Learn to get along with the preceptor you're given.

Having been in management, I disagree. I would rather have a new employee succeed than go through the process of advertising, screening applications, conducting interviews, choosing a replacement nurse, and having to wait for them to go through the on-boarding process all over again. It is costly and time-consuming. If that is your manager, I am sorry for you.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Even if you don't like precepting, if a shadow is assigned to you by a supervisor, guess what...it's your job! So if anyone should be sucking it up, it should be the preceptor. Having a nasty attitude about it because it isn't your cup of tea, like I said, accomplishes nothing except for create a more hostile work environment.

Ain't nobody got time fo' dat!

The only time I think it isn't appropriate for someone to precept is if they themselves are a brand new nurse with insufficient knowledge/experience to adequately train a new hire.

If you read my first post, you saw that I'd be telling the preceptor to suck it up and deal, also. Precepting is a part of the job. However, the OP isn't the preceptor and the preceptor probably isn't on this thread.

Sometimes, preceptors get burned out on precepting. Sometimes, they have other things going on in their lives that mean they have just enough energy to give to their patients and not enough left over to precept. If you're doing it right, precepting triples or quadruples the work. The nurse whose husband is down the hall in the CCU in cardiogenic shock . . . again . . . probably has barely enough energy to take care of her patients so she can keep her job now that her 13 weeks of FMLA is used up and keep the health insurance going. The nurse who just spent six months with the new grad who knows everything (NOT!) may be burned out on precepting. I realize that this is probably an impossible notion, but sometimes we ought to honor someone's genuine request not to precept for a while.

Since there usually aren't enough great (or even decent) preceptors to go around, the newbie may have to adjust her attitude and approach. That's valuable advice for a newbie who probably hasn't had the wherewithall to think of things from the preceptor's side of it.

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Specializes in PACU, pre/postoperative, ortho.

Would be nice if OP returned to let us know how the 3rd day went.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Sorry - gotta weigh in here on team Ruby. My organization has always adhered to a philosophy of 'volunteers only' for precepting, but we are finding it more difficult to recruit them. A normal workload is daunting and most simply do not want the extra work and associated stress of being a preceptor.

We've engaged staff nurses to develop some solutions. One of the most popular thus far is to keep careful track of preceptor assignments and regularly block out a few weeks for some guaranteed 'respite' time without a preceptor assignment in order to prevent burnout. We are also exploring some additional perks for Preceptors such as additional development opportunities & recognition. On a longer term basis, we're very interested in creating Dedicated Education Units - this appears to be the ideal solution for new grads.

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Specializes in Management.

I am a Lead preceptor at my current job. Being a preceptor is a high honor that should be treated at such. I am hard on my preceptees but also fair. One of the things I always keep in mind is Provision #5 in nursing ethics. http://nursingworld.org/DocumentVault/Ethics_1/Code/Code-Provision-5.pdf I would rather help a person grow into an amazing nurse than end up on the insert of some nursing paper where they had a license revoked. You will learn each and every day. Tomorrow will be better than today. In my opinion, if you are not learning from one day to the next, it might be time to change professions. In nursing you will always learn something new.

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Sorry you're going through this. I've been there. I personally didn't like my first preceptor in nursing school. I was later assigned to a much nicer preceptor later in school. Unfortunately, I think this stuff goes on a lot during nursing school. Can you talk to someone at your college/nursing program and see if you could possibly be moved & let them know what's going on??

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Specializes in PACU, pre/postoperative, ortho.
Sorry you're going through this. I've been there. I personally didn't like my first preceptor in nursing school. I was later assigned to a much nicer preceptor later in school. Unfortunately, I think this stuff goes on a lot during nursing school. Can you talk to someone at your college/nursing program and see if you could possibly be moved & let them know what's going on??

She's not in school.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

I understood the OP to be referring to new-hire orientation rather than a school based practicum, andreasmom02.

Precepting new staff is a lot of work and a huge responsibility. There are people for whom teaching and mentoring someone else is very difficult and uncomfortable. There are others whose personalities are such that they don't mesh well with other people. They may be exemplary nurses but cannot impart their knowledge and skills to others. They should not be forced into a situation where they know it isn't going to go well. I don't agree that any preceptor is better than no preceptor, if you know what I mean. My unit has begun assigning new staff preceptors who have only just completed their own orientations in the last few months. The rationale is that they've only just "been there" so they're better suited for it than the ones who have been working on the unit for years. I disagree with this position as well and so do many of the new hires who brought experience from other units with them. I buddied with one of our new RNs this winter who said to me, "It scares me that I already know more about this job than this person who is supposed to be teaching me." She didn't stay.

The best preceptors are those who know their jobs well, who enjoy sharing their knowledge and are able to teach and guide others without making them feel stupid. Language is important, as is demeanor. Not every good nurse will make a good teacher and that needs to be recognized. Having said that, the orientee also has some responsibility for ensuring the preceptor-orientee relationship works.

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