NewGrad613

At this point I'm starting to resent the hospital and most of my coworkers. I come home and feel like a failure because I know my patients did not get the best of me. I'm being pulled in 10 different directions and I honestly don't know what is best for the patients at times. It takes me a long time to get help doing things that I dont know how to do when the other nurses are busy. Armed with the information provided from the awesome people here, I agree that my best course of action at this time is to do some research and try to find a good facility with a program that is specifically designed for new grads. I don't think this facility is equipped train new nurses. I also don't want to just learn to get by, I want to learn the proper way to do things. I know I can be an amazing nurse, I just need to find a place that is willing to invest in me and teach me what I need to know. Its been an eye opener to have other nurses confirm that it's not just me and what's happening isn't the norm. As crazy as it sounds... I think I just needed some confirmation that this situation isn't right. I needed to know that the expectation wasn't for me to come out of nursing school and be able to flawlessly transition into the RN role without any additional training or support. I've been made to feel as if I'm not doing enough or pulling my weight as a team member. I'm just relieved to have support and have other people in my same profession tell me to do what my gut instinct has been telling me this whole time.

I guess it is possible.. I'm not scheduled with the same person every shift if that's the case there is more than one person that is ignoring their obligations. Which again is entirely possible.

Just as an update for everyone I have made an appointment to speak to my manager before my next shift. I will give another update pertaining to the resolution of my issue. I have also started applying for other positions as well. Thank you to everyone for the support and advice.

I think because I teched for a little while before I got my license and I was independently doing that maybe the staff got use to me being on my own. When I passed the NCLEX the staff congratulated me and I still kept being on my own but I was only assigned one patient at a time that I was fully responsible for and I still more or less teched for the other nurses. They assigned me patients that weren't critical so I felt okay when it was just one or two patients at a time, if I needed help I would find some one and ask. As time has passed it just started to be more and more. Now I'm carrying a full patient load and I'm basically drowning. I think they feel like it's okay because they give me patients who they deem not "critical". If a trauma or critical comes in there is a team present and I'm usually gathering items and handing them stuff which is a relief to me at this point but at the same time I know there is going to come a day when I'm in a situation and I am expected to be the "grown-up nurse" and I'm not going to know what to do. My current situation didn't start all at once... it started out slow and has just escalated to the place where I am now.

I am currently in NM. I have considered quitting and applying somewhere else. It feels unprofessional to do so and I'm afraid that it will look like bad work ethic on my resume... But I'm starting to realize that if I lose my license it won't matter what my resume looks like.

As far as know there is not a designated educator. I had hospital orientation and there were some topics discussed that were related specifically to nursing but individuals from different departments came and "taught" their portion of the classes. Other than the 4 days of initial education and orientation I have not had any other educational classes that have been provided by the hospital. I had educational computer based learning assessments that I had to complete independently and this wasn't provided by an educator it was part of my new hire orientation. It included things like protocol for specific events.

My manager is in and out and sees me working. She's very close with the rest of the nurses on the unit and I guess I'm just afraid to actually talk to her about it because I'm an outsidser at this point and I don't want to be labeled as the complainer. I'm just some how feeling like I'm doing something wrong.

I recently graduated in May of 2019. I started my job in June working in the ED, which has been my dream job for as long as I've wanted to be a nurse. I was told in my interview that I would have a preceptor and would be on orientation for at least 13 weeks once I was licensed. I worked as a tech for 2 weeks until I got my license and have been working as an RN for 4 weeks now. During this time I have never had a preceptor. I have to find someone to help me every time I need assistance or have a quick question. No one has followed me or watched me do anything unless I've asked them to. I am currently taking a full patient load and am feeling very overwhelmed. The other nurses have an expectation that I should be doing things faster and get frustrated with me when I'm not carrying the load with the speed that they do. There is one nurse in particular that is extremely ugly to me to the point that if I know I'm going to have to work a shift with her I can't sleep the night before. I'm just curious as to what other people's experience with being a new grad and having a preceptor was like. Maybe my understanding of what having a preceptor/mentor isn't clear. I'm not sure if this is the normal new grad experience or if I didn't retain enough knowledge in school. I'm just really stressed and struggling. Any advice or comments would be helpful.. Thanks in advance!