Positive Spin on The Nurses that Don't Eat their Young

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Specializes in Emergency Medicine, Dr. Office, Psych.

Okay ; Here you go!

We have a thread on Nurses that Eat their young! This is on Nurses that Choose to Not eat their young!

Nothing Negative here please, Only Positive experiences that you have had with Preceptors, or fellow nurses that made you feel good about being in the field!

We can all name a thousand bad situations: now lets name a million good situations!

I'll go first!

I was working in the ER after being a staff member in Maternity for over a year (we swapped when Maternity was slow), anyway, it was my first day in the ER & we got hit with a mass casuality, i didnt know where the bedpans were the IVs , anything, so the Charge nurse that day said, hey are you good w/ IV's , I said yes mam i am , she said, since you are new, why don't you just start all the IV's today & when we get a break I will help you learn where everything is, she handed me the IV team tray & i spent my day doing that!

Good job she said, nice sticks!! That was a positive way to deal w/ a bad situation & a new staff member on the unit!! :yeah:

That was 10 yrs ago & i still remember that nurses name! She was great & i charish her ability to see beyond the "new to the unit" idea & give me a job to do to help through the mass traumas that we all were facing!

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I was only off orientation a couple of weeks and my patient needed a chest tube stat. I had never seen one inserted, much less knew what all was needed or where exactly it was in the pyxis. My coworkers, whom I hadn't bonded with yet, helped get me everything I needed, helped me through the procedure and told me I did a great job with the emergency situation. They even bragged on me to the dayshifters, which surprised me because I felt like a nincompoop.

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Specializes in ER,ICU,L+D,OR.

I like keeping things positive. I truly believe there is so much more positive in relationships and behaviour at work, than there is negativity. So lets hear some more positive spin.

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Specializes in Cardiology, Psychiatry.

a few months after i was off orientation i had a hell night. it was so bad i remember the exact date 5/1/05. i had so many things go wrong. i had a pt with c-diff wanting to get up to bsc every 5 minutes. i had another confused one trying to pull out his iv and foley. i had this one guy who would scream "i'm wet" and have the call light back on before i could get back to the desk. luckily i had a nurse next to me who saved my bacon. things got really bad when i came back from lunch to hear the staff emergency light going off. my c-diff lady had fallen. tisa was in there helping her up and something was just off. vitals were good, but we just had this feeling. i had nothing to go off of. meanwhile, the guy with the foley gets up and walks to the bathroom, leaving his foley behind. he was on coumadin and was standing in a pool of blood. by this time, the entire floor knew my group was bad. another nurse came over and reinserted the foley. meanwhile, i had an admit come up from ed with o2 sats of 79%. so this was all in about a hour. so then at shift change, the monitor tech calls me to tell me the c-diff pt, whom i had spoken to the md about but he said just monitor her, was reading asystole and it looks real. i run into the room and there was stool coming out of her mouth, and it was obvious she was dead. called a code blue and everyone comes running. tisa was so wonderful that she stayed behind after her shift to help me collect my thoughts and chart everything. she helped me call the family and the organ donation people. she stayed until almost 8:30am after working a 12-hour shift and helping me throughout the entire thing.

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Specializes in CDI Supervisor; Formerly NICU.

I observed a NICU nurse 3 weeks or so ago, in my OB clinical rotation. She was very informative, welcoming, and spent the whole day explaining the processes at work in NICU.

Three weeks later, when I walked into the NICU again, she remembered my name, approached me, and invited me to work with her again. Again, she spent the entire shift teaching me the ins and outs of NICU (where I long to work, when I graduate in May).

She also remembered that I was considering moving back to my hometown, and that the hospital there was about to open the area's first NICU. She gave me advice on interviewing, on how to deal with the death of an infant patient, on dealing with nurse managers and hospital administrators.

At the end of this second day, she sent me on my way with a nice compliment on my preparation, assessment skills, and desire to learn.

And finally, she told me, "Next semester, when you get ready for your preceptorship/Capstone prior to graduation, I'd be very happy to precept you. Just let me know if you're interested, and I'll address it with the powers that be. I think you'll be a great NICU nurse."

She made my week, reaffirmed for me that a lot of nurses are fantastic people, and shot my self-confidence through the roof.

And, I thank her for it.

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Specializes in Emergency Medicine, Dr. Office, Psych.

:cry:It makes me cry with Joy to hear that there are great great nurses out there that take the time to be team players! thats what i wanted this thread to by, all about the positive!! Yah!!! Amazing nurses!!!

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Specializes in Emergency Medicine, Dr. Office, Psych.

Okay! Now i am inspired to share more Positives in my line of work!

Remembering that I work in a prison! one morning coming in at 6:30 am, as i was walking down the south hallway a Code 3 came out (medical emergency), i ran to the pod , met the 3rd shift nurses in route, we arrived to find one of our inmates that had taken a razor apart & cut himself up (blood pooled all over the cell), we rushed in, one taking high lacerations, one taking low lacerations, pressure applied, the next thing i knew the other day shift nurse was right behind me, asking what can i do , i instructed her to get the ambulance in route, we had a serious situation here a suicide attempt with multiple lacerations, bleeding time approx 15 mins, inmate was getting shocky, & lethargic, next thing i knew, the medical assistants where running in the room, they again assisted with his care, recording everything that had happened , i gave them the run down & they kept great notes for us to document, so this just shows that when people care about their jobs, and they care about the people that they work with they will pitch in to help each other!

We saved the inmate, got him 47 sutures, got him sent to the mental health unit at the state facility & got him the treatment that he needed! He was only 19.......... but he is still alive today!!!

:yeah: Team work! yeah! yeah ! yeah!

:heartbeatThose nurses are still all working with me today!!!:)

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Many, many years ago when I was an LPN working agency and got a late call to go to a nursing home to be med nurse. By the time I got there it was almost 1000 and no one had started AM meds. Within an hour I was almost in tears I was so far behind. An RN came up to me gave me a hug and said you have until 330 to get this done, don't worry about being late. Whenever I find myself getting overwhelmed at how much I have to do I remind myself of those very wise words!

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Specializes in geriatrics, med-surg, tele.

Great posts! When I was a new grad LVN I had two great RN's who helped me learn the ropes, Shirley and Toni :bow:. I'm not sure I'd have lasted the first month or two if they had not been there. I think of them often whenever I encounter other nurses (either new or experienced) and try to emulate their positive, nurturing attitudes now that I too am finally an RN.

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I have two, in particular.

Both have been nurses longer than I've been alive. My primary preceptor nurtured me when I was brand new and let me spread my wings and fly nearing the end of my preceptorship. She let me go on my own, but never let me drown. She believed in tough love, but was still kind and fair in the process.

My second preceptor was just as wonderful. She is an old ICU nurse who taught me how do handle codes. She was so funny and made light out of silly mistakes that I made.

I learned so much from these nurses. I will definitely pass on their wisdom when I'm orienting new nurses down the road. Their bedside care will be passed on through generations of nurses.

Neither were paid extra for their hard work. They did it for the love of teaching.

:redbeathe

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This is an awesome thread... I'm going to be in nursing school in a year or two, and I've just pretty much resigning myself to the fact that co-workers, instructors, and my fellow students are all going to suck.

(Ok, I mean, not really. But I've read enough on these forums to be aware that it's not all sunshine and unicorns).

However!! This thread REALLY lifts my spirits. I can't wait to go and graduate from nursing school, work in the field, and BE one of those awesome nurses who is just awesome. =D

Keep 'em coming!!!

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My preceptor was great. She was young enough to be my daughter, but appreciated that I respected her as a nurse and as a person. She showed me the ropes and always made me answer "Why do you want to do that?" so I'd know my rationales were sound.

Now that I'm off orientation I still remember her coaching about rationales in crisis situations. So far, I've strung together a lot of very good days (in step-down from medical and surgical icu), and I'll always be indebted to my preceptor.

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