Preceptor Nurse Help!

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I have been working as a preceptor nurse for 5 months, I have been humiliated, I'm not being supported, I rarely work with my mentor and she has had only two meetings with me since I started. No one despite constant reminders is signing things off in my preceptor document and I have been told I must meet a certain standard in two weeks or my contract will be terminated.

Despite this I am still getting no support, I love working on the ward and the clients are very supportive of the work I do, but staff wise I am simply not getting any support.

I don't who to turn too because the ward manager I feel will not take support me and my mentor is stressed out to the point she announces when she is going to be sick, I don't know where to turn and I know of this goes wrong my career is over before it even began.

What can I do?

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Im sorry to hear of this. Im guessing you are a band 5 nurse, how long have you been in your job role? Is this booklet your having to complete part of a mentor and assessor course that you must be signed off on to become a mentor.

In that case you cant exactly sign yourself off. Do you not have a team leader or a matron?

You need to be supported with anything that involves competencies as its not fair on you. Only meeting your mentor twice is crap. You cant make any progress.

Speak to your ward manager again. Tell her you need more time to get everything sorted. I dont understand why your job is being threatened if your good at what you do and its simply just getting signed off to be a mentor

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May I ask what standard you have to meet so we can help you further. Do you feel this standard is attainable in the time frame? Have you got anything signed off?

And why is your mentor stressed? That's not good at all. If she is stressed then she wont be able to look after herself, let alone look after you.

Request a new mentor pronto and do it quickly. You must speak again to the ward manager or matron if you have one. Maybe call HR and your union if you are part of one.

Best of Luck and keep us informed

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Specializes in Critical care.

Do you have some sort of education team that you are under whilst undertaking your preceptorship? You should have one, it'd be a good idea taking your concerns to them first of all if you don't think your ward will support you. As has already been suggested it would also be an idea to speak with your union and get support from them now.

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Specializes in Advanced Practice, surgery.

Are you a member of the RCN or Unison, if so then make contact and talk to them about your situation. if you work in the NHS it would be really difficult to terminate your contract without some form if formal process.

Have you been spoken to before, maybe under a capability process, if not then you should be asking under what formal process is your contract at risk. Have you spoken to anyone about how difficult you've found getting your objectives signed off, and that you've not been able to work with your mentor.

If your ward manager is stressed speak to your matron or her line manager, they would be involved in any termination of contract anyway.

But, Your first port of call should be your RCN or UNISON representative.

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I agree with the above. So they are going to fire you because you haven't managed to get completely signed off on things. Thats pretty disgraceful especially if you dont feel supported. Definately seek some help. Who is saying your job is on the line?

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You should have a practice education facilitator at your trust who can help you? Definitely go to your ward sister, completing your training is their responsibility too. I have faced very difficult staff in the past and you need to fight to get signed off otherwise it's your pin on the line.

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You should have a practice education facilitator at your trust who can help you? Definitely go to your ward sister, completing your training is their responsibility too. I have faced very difficult staff in the past and you need to fight to get signed off otherwise it's your pin on the line.

Thank you to you all for your reply, I work 12 hours shifts so its been difficult and if I'm honest I forgot aout this post. I have joined RCN and got some advice, basically I am a Band 5 newly qualified, I am making mistakes but they are not risky to clients they are mainly paperwork and because its a private company and I have been trained in the NHS I am unfamiliar with the paper files. A good example of how difficult things are for me is my mentor was working today, despite being really busy and showing my list of work/jobs she insisted I complete two care plans, my mentor said, you have had these files how long.

I really felt like saying to her this is all outstanding because you wont support me! and other staff are not doing there bit.

Other staff are really stressed because the CQC are due abd it become every man for themselves, the associate nurses are not completing there 1-1's leaving me in some weeks only work 3 days in a week having to do 1-1's almost daily to catch up with the standard, sometimes I find myself doing a 1-1 with the same person two day running. That's just a small part of the stress I am under, I love being a nurse and I am improving, but the manager has stated I have deadlines I'm not sure I can meet because the mentor is not supporting me and the associate nurses are despite being asked to complete parts of the care plans are simply not helping.

I have been advised to write an email to the ward manager stating I don't feel supported "due to ward constraints!!!!" and flag the point I am not receiving meetings with my mentor.

Sorry for ranting, I feel very vulnerable in this post a and I feel if I fail here my career is over.

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Specializes in Critical care.
Thank you to you all for your reply, I work 12 hours shifts so its been difficult and if I'm honest I forgot aout this post. I have joined RCN and got some advice, basically I am a Band 5 newly qualified, I am making mistakes but they are not risky to clients they are mainly paperwork and because its a private company and I have been trained in the NHS I am unfamiliar with the paper files. A good example of how difficult things are for me is my mentor was working today, despite being really busy and showing my list of work/jobs she insisted I complete two care plans, my mentor said, you have had these files how long.

I really felt like saying to her this is all outstanding because you wont support me! and other staff are not doing there bit.

Other staff are really stressed because the CQC are due abd it become every man for themselves, the associate nurses are not completing there 1-1's leaving me in some weeks only work 3 days in a week having to do 1-1's almost daily to catch up with the standard, sometimes I find myself doing a 1-1 with the same person two day running. That's just a small part of the stress I am under, I love being a nurse and I am improving, but the manager has stated I have deadlines I'm not sure I can meet because the mentor is not supporting me and the associate nurses are despite being asked to complete parts of the care plans are simply not helping.

I have been advised to write an email to the ward manager stating I don't feel supported "due to ward constraints!!!!" and flag the point I am not receiving meetings with my mentor.

Sorry for ranting, I feel very vulnerable in this post a and I feel if I fail here my career is over.

You need to do a number of things, it's good that you've joined the RCN, they should be able to give you much more tailored support from trained stewards and professional officers. They'll know the employment laws and things like that that you can use against your employer should you need to. Sometimes with the private sector it can be difficult to involve the union directly if they don't recognise them, but they should still be able to give you guidance.

You need to document when you've ended up doing all this extra work where others have not been bothering, are these associate nurses the same as HCAs/NAs? If they're not doing their jobs then you need to bring this to the attention of your ward manager and have them dealt with. If you're getting into trouble and they're not when you're snowed under trying to do their job make sure they end up getting some of the heat. Document every time you've asked for support with your development and education and it's been refused or hasn't happened. Use all this as evidence for discussion with your manager/matron.

Also, look for work elsewhere, you don't have to accept jobs, but there's no harm in applying for jobs. I see you're in the private sector at the moment, I'd strongly suggest you try and find a job in the NHS, there's much more support and rules for how nurses are supported within that organisation compared to the private sector.

I hope it all goes well for you.

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Specializes in Advanced Practice, surgery.

I agree with space monkey.

I would also add, if your making mistakes, even documentation mistakes you need to acknowledge and reflect on them in particular the impact to your patients.

As a newly qualified your better off looking for a job in the NHS, it's hard but at least you have employment policies on your side.

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