I am completing my preceotorship in a very famous Christian Hospital in Southern California. She is a young 30+ blond with not more than 4 years experience. I am atleast 6-7 years older to her. She yells at me, demoralizes me infront of other nurses and uses me most of the time like CNA even though I am in graduate RN program. I am 100% sure that this preceptor will give me bad evaluation.
She always breaks basic rules when she is in hurry and when I confront her, she would get back at me that I am incompetent and she knows better.
What one should do in such situation ? She gave a very bad evaluation about me to my instructor verbally and she would give in writing too. My instructor understands my point of view too but how should I present my feelings to my instructor.
Should I make a list of her unprofessional behaviour and hand it to my instructor ?
Please somebody has similar experience than mine because I think most of the time nurses do not want students and they have been forcibly given by hospital management to precept and they take it out on students and try to destroy our future.
My preceptor experience was similar but kind of covert. I had no idea how much this person had it in for me until I got a call from my instructor during a hospital day saying "We've got to get you out of there!" I had no idea there was a problem. Turns out this two-faced witch of a preceptor was telling me I was doing fine but basically stalking my instructor and program director with trumped up accusations about my work. Fortunately for me they were both able to see what was going on and I was able to change preceptor and finish my program.
Specializes in Critical care, neuroscience, telemetry,.
I have been a nurse for 17 years; the last 12 have been in management, DON, Consultant, etc. I remember when I was completing my med-surg and experienced a similar experience with an RN, who was younger than me and had been a nurse for about two years. Two things that I want you to remember; 1- If an individual is acting in this manner, they are very insecure about themselves; Never take a short-cut; do it the right way. If this individual is taking cuts, this needs to be reported and it is also good to have a witness. 2- What comes around, goes around; A few years later I had the displeasure of meeting up with my so called preceptor from med-surg training and guess what, I was the DON; she was caught taking short cuts and I happen to be the one who caught her. Never let anyone intimidate you and always do the right thing. Good Luck; you will be great!
I agree with this poster. The insecurity among some nurses is HUGE, and sometimes intimidation of the newbie is their only defense.
I also agree that what goes 'round, comes round. My philosophy on new staff? Be nice to them. I never know who might be my future boss.
Follow policy and don't take shortcuts. Everyone else may be doing it, but that won't help you one iota if you get singled out.
Find a mentor - someone whose nursing style you'd like to emulate, who has the respect of other staff, and who will help guide you as you're beginning your career. It might even be someone from a different area of the hospital. It helps to have someone who will act as a sounding board and advisor at work.
:twocents:I am glad that you all are speaking out on bad preceptors. I had two bad preceptors in my nursing education ( I also had four good preceptors) One preceptor was a male. He didn't want to have students working with hime and he made life hell for me. He swore at me, treated me like I was an idiot, made rude comments about me in front of patients and expressed his disgust by throwing things.
The other preceptor that I didn't care for was female. She was twenty years my junior (yes I am a older adult learner) From the very beginning I sensed she didn't want a student. She didn't know what to do with me. I was so excited about the rotation, all I wanted to do was learn and experience. Teaching was not what she wanted to do. She spent great deal of time talking about her upcoming wedding, her boyfriend, the trouble she was having with selling her house and of course her search for a wedding dress. She spent alot of time chit chatting with her friends. She taught me about nursing by showing me where the reference books were and suggesting that I look the things up a didn't know. When I made a mistake, she expected me to be gushingly repentant to her and when I didn't gush sufficent for her liking, she would let me near another patient. I felt - "ok, I made a mistake. I am sorry. I knew when I did it it was wrong ( I didn't hurt anybody) Lets' get on with it". It was a very long rotation. I spent most of days leaning against a wall and doing CNA stuff. I received a extremely bad eval from her. I discussed with my instructor and she agreed that I was not the person described by my preceptor. My instructor and school stood up for me. She will not serve as preceptor again for my school.
I strongy believe that nurse should not be preceptor unless they are good teachers. Hospitals that are magnet hospitals require their staff to teach nursing students. At the hospital that I was at working the students is part of their contract. They must work with students to geta good eval.
From my experience I have come upwith some ideas that I think should be shared with any nurse who is going to work with students.
1) Respect students as people - We all come from different backgrounds and each is unique. Treat us with same respect as any other person.
2) Student doesn't equal stupid - Must nursing students are pretty smart or we wouldn't be going it nursing.
3) Practice what you preach - having student do things that you feel is not worthy tells the student they too are not worthy. If you what the student to soemthing, make sure it is something that you yourself are willing to do.
4) The good ole "boys" club needs to go. - We all hear stories about(and some have experienced) being ate. Our country is in a nursing shortage (not including our current bad economy). Our government is looking at easing restrictions on foreign trained nurses to ease the shortage. Why not focusing on training new US born nurses, not making us "pay our dues" or "jump through hoops" to become nurses. Nurse need to get with the times.
:yeah:At the beginning, I said I was glad that others were talking about bad preceptors. My instrcutor told me to discuss my experiences with no one. No one wants to hear what happened and it will look bad if future employers hear about it.
Just remember all the bad things that happen and use then for reference when working with students in the future.
Specializes in PACU-Med Surg-Aphresis- Peds LTC PDN.
I'm discouraged to here of your villain preceptor, unfortunately this situation is more common then we want to think. I feel this is a growing problem in nursing, I just don't get it!!! Why can't nurses support each other? In this situation it seems this nurse is probably insecure in her own knowledge and somehow embarrassing you or being rude, in some sick way,makes her feel better! There are nurses who have no empathy and should leave the profession, I've met a few. Even though I've been a R.N. for decades I still want to believe that coworkers are honest, trustworthy, know the meaning of team work, and want to be supportive. But........... I have worked with "super nurse" - knows all, can do all, shares nothing, I've worked with some very manipulative and mean spirited nurses - and I JUST DON'T GET IT!! I should stop myself here. In my last job I was told not to trust anyone, can you imagine!! I quit eight months later, what a toxic enviroment. At this time I haven't decided what direction my career will take. I do love nursing but we need to support each other and stick together. Why do you think nurses are working with inadequate staff as the norm while we're expected to do more faster. If we spoke with one voice to management stating, that our work enviroment is unsafe, patients aren't getting the care they need, needless errors are occuring due to overload, we're sick of getting dumped on, and we're not going to work under these conditions any more! Maybe something would change, but there are a lot of nurses who don't want to speak up, and prefer to complain (I really mean *****) and put coworkers down and act helpless when it comes to working together to try and make changes toward a safer work enviroment for everyone. Wow, I guess I really needed to vent my frustrations. After all that, you sound like the kind of nurse I would like to work with. I would not let this preceptor situation continue - we all must insist on being treated with respect and common decency. This is what adults do, genuine adults that is. Don't feel because you're the new nurse that you deserve any less. Don't give anyone permission to treat you this way. Good luck . Thank you all
Thanks ! I never have let people get to me. I believe also that nurses should watch each others back and supprt each other. My father was professional firefighter and my boyfriend is military. These professions know about support ing each other. They talk about the "profession" of nursing. There will be no profession until we support each other.
Nursing is supposed to be a sister-hood, but unfortunately alot of the experienced tend to "eat their young"
I always emphasize this when I give lectures to nursing staff and remind them how it was for them, when they were in training. I always hope that if I cannot reach them all, that I reach a few. I agree that we should stand together in our plight, but unfortunately there are some that stand alone and are not afraid to let others be aware of it. I commend anyone, who has the desire to pursue the nursing profession today and they ahould be proud!
I haven't had a preceptor (long story...promise made by the school, but yet another one broken). Anyway, I have noticed that on certain units that I have rotated through, there is a definite toxic environment amongst the nurses. There is laughing and joking behind some of the nurses's backs (usually the ones who are working ten times as hard as anyone else), rude comments about everyone and everything, and in general, just an environment of gossip and hostility. But, on other units, like the one I am on now, there are a few men, and the women just seem in general more "over it" and too busy with their high-acuity patients for all the BS. They have all been great instructors and have allowed us each week to work with a patient(s) and shadow them, helping out wherever we can. With the majority of these nurses on this floor (MICU, SICU and NICU) they are busy but enjoy to teach.
On the peds floor, however, it was an entirely different experience. Rudeness towards each other, gossipping behind each other's back, rude comments made in front of each other, ignoring each other--I felt like I was back at Jr. High. I was actually offered a position in that dept---If I get desparate, maybe, but otherwise, I don't know how I'd put up with it! To me, nursing is teamwork, and you keep your drama to yourself. However, I am new, and naive, and have a lot to learn and experience, so this may be an idealistic view.
The other day in the ICU, however, there was one nurse who was being "difficult" which was unusual (from my perspective; I've only seen her twice). The other nurses were talking amongst themselves saying "it takes twice as much effort to be nasty; why not just work together, be decent, and get through the shift for the sake of our patients with a civil attitude? Is it really that hard?" Overhearing this made my day, and because both nurses were female, I started to feel like I might fit in the nursing world after all, even though I'm a girl.
What do you all think? How can we keep the drama down to a minimum, the backstabbing from happening? I can't do anything about other's insecurities, and neither can anyone else, but why is it even an issue? If you are insecure, get educated about what's bugging you. Is it that hard? Maybe I just don't get it, maybe I'm naive, etc. I just can't fathom treating another person, especially a student who is trying to learn and wanting to learn, in a belittling fashion. In my former career I never would have done this, as a mother I would never do this, and as a human being, I would never do this (please don't let these be famous last words.....)
Any insight into how we can change this? Is this something that has to happen from the ground up, or does it come from the top down? Or, does it simply depend on the particular unit and the particular hospital, the particular leadership, etc.
Thanks for reading my ramblings...just want to make nursing a field where we work together for the benefit of our patients, not spend our time acting like highschoolers! Would love your opinions.
I had a similar experience with a preceptor. She told my instructor that I made a patient make up their own bed. Now that was a crock of crap. Why would I make any patient make up their own bed? Anyway, I started documenting on her, because I felt that I need to protect myself. Part of the problem was, she felt threaten by a student. I refused to take short cuts, I would take time to help the patients and I would go the extra mile to help anyone in need and she felt that I was trying to show her up. Sooo, what I started doing was keeping documentation on her and guest what we found? A medication errors and upon further investigation my instructor found out that she lied about giving a narcotic and she didn't. I am not sure of what happened to her, however, my instructor did report her and since I am the one who found the discrepancy, my documentation came in real handy. I am not telling you to report her, I think you have to do what is best for you. BUT, I would keep good documentation on her. If her report will cause a problem for you then, you can back yourself up. Good luck and hang in their. Not all preceptors are bad and you can still learn something from her whether it's good or bad. The 1 thing you can learn from her is, when you become a RN and a preceptor you will no how to treat other students
I would suggest that you make a copy of the "corrections" that you preceptor made on your notes when she reviewed them and keep the original and shred the copy.
I agree with all of the other posters chilly2008, speak with your instructor and let her know what is going on. Also, keep a written account of everything that has occured: date, time, location, what was said, and who was present in a little notebook. I have one of these and when there is an issue that I need to address with mangement/administration I ALWAYS bring my little notebook and I can go to the page(s) with the issue(s) and can read what I put down...makes it soooooo much harder for the person to deny what occurred if it is written down in black and white. Good luck with your preceptorship, and I sincerely hope that your instructor will have the common sense to remove you from this situation and give you a new preceptor. Where I work if the preceptor gets a bad review they are not allowed to precept again for a long time.
Please know that this really should not be any nursing students experience. I am the Student Coordinator for my facility and I always let the students know right from the beginning that I am the safe contact person for any difficulties that they have at our facility. I also present them with a letter stating this fact with my business card attached. They are informed that I am the one that can make a difference when it is needed.
Please see if the facility has a Student Coordinator in the Nursing Education department or the HR department for you to confidentialy speak with
I am so glad to have read this thread. I am a recent grad waiting to take my NCLEX. I was so disappointed with my preceptorship that I wondered if I wasted two years of my life in school. It seemed that no matter what I did, especially if I was doing what I was taught, my preceptor would criticize me. There are too many complaints to relive here, but I had many of the same experiences that you all have mentioned. This was the most discouraging experience and I really have had my confidence shaken. I expected that I would not be perfect in the beginning. I know that I need to grow and gain experience. I left everyday wondering if she remembered being a new grad! This experience has made me very resistant to looking for a job, which is a dire necessity for me at this time. I am truly fearful of finding out that I stink at nursing, even though I am and have been a good student. Thanks for all your comments. It has helped me to see I am just going to have to develop a thicker skin. I may not be the perfect nurse today or any day ever, but I love people and I love what I do and I am willing to continue to learn and grow in my carreer.
please don't let your time with that preceptor tarnish your self esteem or your idea of what nursing is all about to the point that you are reluctant to look for a nursing job. I am sorry that you and others have had this experience, it shouldn't be that way. I have told nurses to remember what it was like when they were in school and just starting out, then remember the person that took them under their wing and helped them to learn and become competent nurses. I remember when I was starting out and swore to myself that the preceptor I had would not ever be me when the time came for me to precept. yes, I had the preceptor from h*ll:banghead:, then I went on the night shift and my preceptor was a retired Army nurse who was absolutely fantastic...she is the one that I try to emulate when I precept. I also had an absolutely fantastic instructor in my BSN that I try to emulate when I teach. :bowingpur:thankya:
Good Luck in advance with NCLEX. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and all that are getting ready to take or have just finished taking NCLEX.
I am completing my preceotorship in a very famous Christian Hospital in Southern California. She is a young 30+ blond with not more than 4 years experience. I am atleast 6-7 years older to her. She yells at me, demoralizes me infront of other nurses and uses me most of the time like CNA even though I am in graduate RN program. I am 100% sure that this preceptor will give me bad evaluation. 
Would love your opinions.
Where I work if the preceptor gets a bad review they are not allowed to precept again for a long time.
Queakous
26 Posts
My preceptor experience was similar but kind of covert. I had no idea how much this person had it in for me until I got a call from my instructor during a hospital day saying "We've got to get you out of there!" I had no idea there was a problem. Turns out this two-faced witch of a preceptor was telling me I was doing fine but basically stalking my instructor and program director with trumped up accusations about my work. Fortunately for me they were both able to see what was going on and I was able to change preceptor and finish my program.