ht07401

Some of you had some very tough things to say, but I thank you all for being honest. I think part of my failure in orientation was my lack of experience. I was afraid to admit that the thoughts that maybe I should have waited for a med-surg job offer had been creeping into my mind. Regardless, I am taking all the advice to heart and am concentrating my resumes to med-surg, and I am trying to enroll to finish my bsn (with hopes of refreshing my nursing skills).

All of you advice is much appreciated! AND has made me feel a lot better! I never realized that what I thought was a eagerness to learn and make sure I was doing things right could have come across as needy or incompetent. I will definitely make sure that the next job I do get I will have a different approach. I will work on my confidence and assertiveness.

I had this problem and never spoke up and it did cost me my job. Say something!!! I strongly encourage you to speak to your educator and/or manager and ask for a new preceptor.

I am feeling great distress over my current situation. I received a job offer to work full time in a birthing center. This was what I thought was my dream job and was incredibly excited and was counting my blessings for such a wonderful job. As I got into the unit and the orientation, I felt I was struggling a little bit, but was assured by many a nurse this was normal because I was a new grad. I switched from L&D orientation to mom/baby. The expectation was 3-5 days of orientation then I would do a couple more weeks in L&D. I felt the expectation of being completely oriented to mom/baby in 3-5 days was a little unrealistic, but felt I could do it. I did my absolute best. I struggled with organization a little, but overall felt I was doing well. During this entire process I constantly sought out feedback about how I was doing. I was told I was doing well. Then came a meeting with the two nurses who were orienting me and our unit's educator to check up on my progress. I received some harsh feedback and was told I was doing things wrong, and what not. I was incredibly confused because this was the first I was hearing of this. I was told by one of the nurses I was not where I should be according to how far along I was in my orientation. Then I was told that I was asking way too many questions. I left work that evening pretty upset, because I felt attacked, not constructively criticized. I had a long weekend, but ultimately decided I was going to work extra hard and make sure I addressed every area that was discussed with me. I pumped myself up and was feeling confident I was going to overcome this little road bump. THEN... my next day back at work I was pulled into another meeting. Only this time it was my educator and my manager. To keep it simple, more was said to my manager by my orienting nurses and my manager felt I did not meet their expectations and they fired me. I was in shock. I was not allowed an opportunity to fix any problems, etc. I have several issues with what happened, but regardless I am jobless now and must find a new job. So I decided to move on and not be bitter. I added the two months of experience to my resume, because I feel it counts as nursing experience. I received the feedback that I should just let people know that the job was just not a good fit. I had my first job interview yesterday since my firing. I told the manager that the job was not a good fit. The manager asked me "What do you mean it wasn't a good fit?" (With quite the attitude I might mention). I said "The manager felt as though I needed more nursing experience to be successful in a high acuity, specialty unit" (my exact words). This manager sneered at me and said "OH!" I was incredibly offended. To say the least the rest of the interview was quite rocky. I got the impression I was wasting her time and she was not nice at all. I left the interview feeling very beat down. So, here are my questions for you all (preferably management): Is what happened to me with my first job going to negatively effect me the way it did in this interview? I am afraid I will have an incredibly hard time getting a job now. Also, my confidence has been stomped on twice now. I am afraid that if I am offered another job that this will effect my performance and I will constantly doubt myself to the point of performing poorly. Any suggestions??

I am exploring finishing my BSN because I am not getting very far finding a job with my current ASN. I have looked into the University of Pheonix's program. I spoke at length with an adviser on the phone and so far am impressed with the program. I have a couple of questions I would like to bounce off the nurses here to see if any one has some good advice. First off, has any one heard about the program and if so, what? Also, are the degrees offered there respected (like will an employer look at where I got my degree and say they won't hire me due to the university I got it at)? I have a follow up call where I will ask this of the adviser, but does any one know if University of Pheonix is accredited? And lastly, I was told that I am required to do a nursing project focused around nursing practice, but they do not have you complete clinical hours in a hospital. That sounds a little weird to me. It was my understanding that board of nursing required a certain number of clinical hours for certain degrees (I may be wrong). But I was wondering how do they get away with not requiring clinical hours, if that is the case?? Would love to hear from those of you about this university so I feel a little more comfortable making my decision!! THANKS!

I too had this happen to me. I was about seven weeks into my orientation. I was working in a birth center. We were required to cross train from c-section OR to gyns. I was doing pretty decent in L&D when I was switched to mother/baby to orient. I was with a total of three different nurses in 5 days. I was struggling a bit with what I was supposed to be accomplishing during my shift. I felt it was just me becoming familiar with everything. I was called into a meeting to check up on my progress. The nurse I had been with for 3 days said I was way behind. Long story short I came back to work the next day I was scheduled and was let go and told I needed to obtain experience. I was not offered the chance to fix anything and was not told by a single nurse that I was doing anything wrong. I made it a habit to ask how I was doing and if there was anything I needed to work on and the feedback from that each time was no, you are doing great. Come to find out my orienting nurse had told my manager that I was didn't like my job and that I wasn't interested in learning anything new. To say the least I felt like I had completely been thrown under the bus. Nothing I said allowed me to keep my job. My main beef with this was I think it was highly unrealistic for them to expect a brand new grad to be completely independent in a unit (mother/baby) after 5 days. But anyway, I am starting the job searching all over again, which to say the least has been frustrating and has lead to tears on numerous occasions. BUT I put the experience on my resume because it is RN experience none the less and if I am asked I will simply state that I was told I should gain some basic med-surg experience first. So I am trying to take the advice to heart. It is hard to not be bitter, but my advice is to learn from your mistakes and you know what you need to fix next time. Try to study up on things you feel rusty on.

I am a brand new nurse that was just recently hired into a birth center. We are trained to do L&D, mother/baby, and gyns. I am about one month into my orientation. I feel like I am struggling a lot with learning everything I need to do. I have been in L&D for most of my orientation. I feel more comfortable with recovering mom and baby and with the labor process. BUT when it comes time for a delivery I feel as though I do not really know what my role is supposed to be. Any advice or suggestions from labor nurses about what I can do to feel more comfortable in my role? What are important things for me to remember during the delivery? One more thing. I am very hard on myself and when I do not do something right or I forget something I tend to agonize over it. I find myself having anxiety the night before my next day of work, fearing that I will do something wrong again. Any advice for overcoming my anxiety and/ or perfectionism?