Problems with Preceptor

Published

  1. Should I leave or stay

    • 0
      Yes
    • 0
      No
    • 3
      Stick with it, you will get through
    • 0
      You are the one causing the problem
    • 2
      Your preceptor was out of line

5 members have participated

Specializes in All.

Hello everyone, Sorry, but this is a long story......

I am new to HD, and I work in Acutes for one of the big 2. Next week I will have been in this position for 2 months. It is very intensive training, including workbooks and computer training with a preceptor. I was told which preceptor I was with when I got hired and the FA said "He can be a difficult one." I told her that was fine, I get along with anybody. Well we got along great until last week. He is OCD, which I am as well. (I think all nurses are to a point). But he also has been very condescending too me. I felt like he wasn't showing me enough so I asked to be assigned to one task in the acute room for a day or two so I could get it down pat. (He and I primarily did bedsides). Well when I went back to bedsides with him, I asked him if he was upset that I did that. He said "no why do you ask we aren't back in high school, you don't ask things like that." Ok I thought. Then at the end of the day he told me "Well you still aren't going fast enough, I thought you were going to be a good dialysis nurse but you aren't." I couldn't take it. I prayed and prayed about it, so then I woke up last Monday and thought I would vomit if I had to do one more day with him. So I told my FA. She said ok, we will just put you in the acutes room. So now I am without a preceptor, I have to go take a test to finish my orientation, and he didn't fill out anything he was suppose to. Above all this, I feel my FA is getting fed up with me. We are 5 nurses down, doing 16 hour days and training 5 nurses. Should I just leave? I love this job, first one I have loved in a very long time. I don't care about the hours, but I wasn't going to be talked down to like a dog, like my preceptor did. Questions, comments, responses needed as to what to do and what you guys think, good or bad please.................

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Doing acutes when new in HD is tough. Acute HD nurses can be tougher! Have you thought about working in a chronic outpatient unit where you can solidify your skills with more support with other staff. Sounds like your preceptor may be a big part of the staffing issue, especially with his behavior. Not to impressed that he didn't do his documentation for your training either.

The fastest trainee, is not always the best. One of the best techs in our area was pushed out of his 1st facility because he was so slow. I took him because we were so short & somebody was better than nobody. We gave him extra time, mentored him & he blossomed. That being said, generally I look for an employee to gradually improve, & make few mistakes, & have a positive attitude.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Tele, Dialysis, Hospice.

If you really do love this job, then don't let this rude preceptor drive you out, because you will look back and have regrets and think, "I wish I would have ignored him and stuck it out, I loved that job!" Jobs that you can truly say that you love don't come along everyday.

I worked acutes three years ago for one of the big 2 and there was one acute nurse who was a nasty, crusty, old guy just putting in his time until he could retire who was rude to everyone and tried to push as much work as possible onto the rest of us. I was brand new to dialysis and trying very hard. One day we were at the same hospital running three hour bedside treatments in separate patient rooms. I had gotten there before him and started my patient half an hour earlier. He didn't bother to find out what time I put her on, just assumed that I was cutting her treatment time because I was cleaning up while he was still running his treatment. He walked into the room and said, right in front of the patient and her husband, "Come on, treatments like that don't help anybody! You can't cut someone's treatment time just because you want to get done sooner," and walked out. I was so upset, and I had to explain to the patient and her husband that I did not cut her treatment time and even showed her my paperwork to prove it.

I look back on this episode now and wonder why I let that nasty old goat get to me, especially since he was the laziest nurse we had in our acutes program. Rude people are just rude..."haters gonna hate" or whatever.

Please take what this preceptor says with a grain of salt, because when people are that rude (telling someone who has been trained in dialysis for just eight weeks that they aren't going to be a good dialysis nurse??? Really???) it's about them, not you. If you love the job otherwise, don't give up, because every job I've ever had has always gotten easier as I gained experience, but you can't gain experience if you let stupid people drive you away.

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Specializes in Dialysis.

Always remember accuracy is more important than speed. Speed only helps the company make more money. It doesn't provide the patient with safe passage through dangerous waters which is what a for profit dialysis center is. The real question is why the FA tolerating this preceptors behaviour?

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Specializes in All.

Well, I askeda question of My FA today how we were gonna get my orientation checklist done, and she got mad. I mean she screamed at me, said everyone loved my preceptor (because I said he didn't complete any paperwork) and FIRED ME!! I am so upset! I'm thinking of suing! She told me I was just keeping the pot stirred of gossip. I asked questions that is all. I can't believe it!

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Tele, Dialysis, Hospice.

If your FA fired you for asking for a preceptor who did not belittle you or asking her about your orientation checklist, then you are well rid of that place. Working for her would only get worse. She sounds like a real witch.

I don't think you would get anywhere suing one of the Big Two over getting fired eight weeks in. The FA would just doctor the reasons to make it appear legitimate, and Davita and FMC no doubt have some pretty top notch lawyers in their pockets, based on the fact that they are both huge, billion dollar healthcare companies.

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Well, I askeda question of My FA today how we were gonna get my orientation checklist done, and she got mad. I mean she screamed at me, said everyone loved my preceptor (because I said he didn't complete any paperwork) and FIRED ME!! I am so upset! I'm thinking of suing! She told me I was just keeping the pot stirred of gossip. I asked questions that is all. I can't believe it!

It sounds that while you liked the actual work that the environment was not that good of a fit.

I was trained several months in a large acutes room before I started bedside, which helped with the overall learning. Not everybody is a good fit for acutes. Also, I once had somebody orient me with a new job and he was very critical of how I was doing everything despite the fact that I had experience. He obsessed over the way I put the drain into the toilet (that hospital did not have proper drains in the ICU so we used the toilets). He wanted me to use his approved method that included tying the drain in some kind of fashion. Seriously - at that point I did not know if I should just laugh or cry...

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Specializes in Dialysis.

Toxic environment. Consider it a blessing you don't work there anymore. Can you imagine being a patient there? You seem to have already mastered the most difficult thing in dialysis, working long hours short staffed. I can't teach anyone how to do that.

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Specializes in All.

I am just at my wits end. I have NEVER been fired. I have been a nurse for 17 years. Is it even legal for RNs to work 19-21 hours then come back in at 9 am? I understand if they think I wasn't a good fit, but not one word, warning, etc. was said to me. Meanwhile this demeaning and condescending preceptor gets to keep on going with everyone behind him. I even went to nursing school with him. Is Fresenius any better??????

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Tele, Dialysis, Hospice.
I am just at my wits end. I have NEVER been fired. I have been a nurse for 17 years. Is it even legal for RNs to work 19-21 hours then come back in at 9 am? I understand if they think I wasn't a good fit, but not one word, warning, etc. was said to me. Meanwhile this demeaning and condescending preceptor gets to keep on going with everyone behind him. I even went to nursing school with him. Is Fresenius any better??????

This is exactly what I asked when I worked acutes for Fresenius, and no, based on my experience and from what I've heard from other dialysis nurses on this forum and elsewhere, Fresenius is not any better.

I checked into the laws governing nursing in the state where I practiced and there was nothing specific on the books about how many hours a nurse can work in a 24 hour period, which I found appalling. Truck drivers are limited to 10 hours at a stretch because it is understood that when they become exhausted they can put others' lives at risk. What is the difference between that and a nurse performing a critical medical procedure on patients when he/she is exhausted and working 15-20 hours/day? Nothing, if you ask me.

When I worked acutes for Fresenius, most of my days were running approximately 6am-10pm by the time that I finally got the heck out. When I said something to my manager, I was told to "put on my big girl pants". I have also been a nurse for a long time, and that was the straw that broke this camel's back. I will never work acutes again, even though, like you, I actually liked the work itself. It's a shame.

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Specializes in All.
This is exactly what I asked when I worked acutes for Fresenius, and no, based on my experience and from what I've heard from other dialysis nurses on this forum and elsewhere, Fresenius is not any better.

I checked into the laws governing nursing in the state where I practiced and there was nothing specific on the books about how many hours a nurse can work in a 24 hour period, which I found appalling. Truck drivers are limited to 10 hours at a stretch because it is understood that when they become exhausted they can put others' lives at risk. What is the difference between that and a nurse performing a critical medical procedure on patients when he/she is exhausted and working 15-20 hours/day? Nothing, if you ask me.

When I worked acutes for Fresenius, most of my days were running approximately 6am-10pm by the time that I finally got the heck out. When I said something to my manager, I was told to "put on my big girl pants". I have also been a nurse for a long time, and that was the straw that broke this camel's back. I will never work acutes again, even though, like you, I actually liked the work itself. It's a shame.

Do you still.work in HD chronics?

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Fresenius will at least follow a progressive counseling process.

You may try reaching out to the next supervisor in line. If no success there, reach out to HR.

Is your state a "right to work" state? If so, you don't have much recourse after that.

File for unemployment either way.

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