AR5995

I had both good and bad experiences as a new nurse 5 years ago. The first preceptor/mentor was burned out and the director let her keep working on the unit. She was mean and passive aggressive to the extreme (this was a good day). I remember my fellow new grad getting treated just as bad and hysterically crying in the break room. I sat down and looked at her telling her, it is okay to have a melt down, but not infront of "them". She collected herself and got back out there and they stopped biting both her and myself. I did end up going to the director and explaining that I refused to be paired with that particulair mentor and if she could not get me someone else I was more compatible with then I would leave that facility (Thank God I paid my own way through school with scholarships and cash I had to beg and borrow from the family). The director paired me with someone else. Mind you I did not start out on M/S. I strated out in critical care and PCU. I had six preceptors in 8 weeks. I asked for more time b/c I still felt a little unready to fly on my own but they felt I should fly. You could say my first day on my own was "baptism by fire". However I was supported and I was treated decent in the end. I just needed to anti up and bluff my way the hard stares and nasty snickers and pretend none of it bothered me. I worked in NY and NJ my first two years as a nurse. I now work in FL at a level 1 trauma center in SICU, while working for my MSN and testing for my CCRN next week. Much different atmosphere, I have noticed a difference in "culture" the way the nurses treat new nurses and each other from FL and NY/NJ. I really think that being treated in a decent manner depends on where you are (both the unit you will work and the geographical area) and what your personality is. I would interview possibly mentors as canidates before I pair them with one of my students if I were an instructor. You would want both a match in personality and values as well as a match for the unit. I recently precepted a brand new GN out of school. She did not know how to spike the feeding tubing or IVF. This was an MICU intership. I thought to myself "how did they let you get an RN if you can't physically preform a task, were'nt there labs in your school you had to perform for the instructor to show you had basic knowledge of some sort of skill, weren't there clinicals where the instructor supervised you and the tasks you said you have accomplished?". Then I stepped back and showed her how to do these things. I then told her that same moment as I took everything down that I showed her..."your not leaving this room until you get this right. I closed the door and stayed with her allowing her the oppurtunity to think it through and screw it up without the other nurses noticing on the unit". Her baseline knowledge was superior to mine on her BKAT. But her putting the pieces together was far from even started. I would not let her take a blood sugar without me there and her being able to explain what she was doing and why she was doing and all the rationales for doing it. What I do now is remind nurses I work with "we all started somewhere". If you want the new grad to sink she/he will. But if you want that person to be successful your need to set yourself back and pace yourself to thier needs. My second thing about the nurse that yelled at your student: maybe she did not know she was coming into to "precept or mentor" a student and she was on the 5th shift in a row and she had 8 patients that were the worst on the unit cause she had "help" that day. I have seen that happen at work often. Well now I am off my sound box. Sorry for such a long winded msg. I hope I could be of some help to you.