I'm struggling to relate to a colleague in my unit. I'm six months off orientation in the OR - because it's OR, we have to partner closely with another nurse or OR tech in the room each day.
I have a nurse colleague who seems to be universally liked, caring, and very, very good at the work. And every time I work with her, I get immensely stressed.
On the surface, our relationship is fine. Every time we work together, however, I encounter a constant stream of corrections. Yes, I still make mistakes - of course I do. Many more than she does. But every mistake seems magnified, every task I choose to do next is the wrong prioritization.
While I was on orientation (and remember, OR orientation tends to be longer than on other units), I despaired because every partner I worked with seemed to do this to me all the time. Eventually another man on the unit took me aside and told me, You're doing fine - remember some people will have an interest in making you continue to seem incompetent to build themselves up. This was enormously helpful. Now, the combination of practice, my slightly increasing competence, an increase in confidence, and lots more practice, have got me to the point where I can function OK. I enjoy most days.
When I work with this one person, can be like the worst days of orientation all over again.
So: is this overwhelmingly respected and beloved co-worker picking on me? Is she just trying to help in a way that adds to my stress enormously? It only happens with one person. I really want to believe that she just wants to help - she has no need to "build herself up" in the unit. Everybody but everybody thinks she's terrific. But this only happens with this one coworker.
It really only just crossed my mind that perhaps this is a male/female thing. I'm still optimistic that perhaps it'll get better as I get better at doing the work - I'm still very, very new at this. Guys: do you have any experiences or perspectives that can help?
