nursing926222

That is really good advice. I am trying to determine if I should try and stick this out or not. I definitely would only consider doing so if I was offered a new preceptor and did not have any negative repercussion from it. Thank you for the advice. Highly appreciative.

Thank you. These girls are all very young and the most senior nurse in my ER has 6 years of experience (charge nurse). The rest are 1-3 years. I feel like its a high school click, by asking for a new preceptor I think these girls will let me sink and will be reluctant to help me and as a new nurse, that is not a situation I plan on being in. I was afraid that by resigning, no one would look to hire me and I did not want to "bash" my previous employer, but you have an excellent point. I think the hiring manager, they would respect me for leaving and recognizing it isn't a safe environment.

Thank you for your response. I am so appreciative of you taking the time to do so. Yes , they do. I asked my manager about the ED education he told me it is a waste of time and they have determined that people backtrack. 2-3 days a week of classroom/sims and 1 day every other week in the actual ER. So, his answer to me was this is the most effective training (hands on in ER). This ER is very "clicky" and I think it would do me more harm to stay with another preceptor (staff will let me sink for "complaining" about their friend), than quit? I think the ER in general is too Lax. I have talked with a couple other nurses I met during orientation (one an experienced CVICU nurse and another new nurse on step down) and they are all thinking of resigning. The entire hospital is understaffed. I think they don't want me to do the ED training because they just need a body to take more patients, sooner than later.

Hello fellow nurses. I need help. I graduated with my BSN, November 2015. I passed my NCLEX 4 weeks later and obtained an ER position in a adult/pediatric ER and started in the ER 3 weeks ago. I received no formal "emergency" orientation/training prior to starting, except a couple days of learning hospital policy/procedures. I have had a total of 8 shifts in the emergency room and I want to resign. The orientation is a total of 3 months long, and I am 3 weeks in. My preceptor does very little to no training and I have little to no supervision. I had a patient in A Fib and the doctor ordered a Cardizem bolus/drip. My preceptor told me to administer the medication alone. I told her absolutely not. I made her get up and help me. I have been in a few codes, one of which was a completely disorganized disaster. I had a patient last shift who required between 12-15 medications to be administered and I asked my preceptor to observe me to ensure I didn't make a mistake (some IV push, some required pumps, some po and a couple injections). As a BRAND NEW NURSE, I was asking things such as, do you have any tips as to which order the IV meds should be administered, should I wait in between certain medications before administering meds, etc. My preceptor told me that this is my 8th shift and I will be on my own in 2 months and need to "figure it out." So, I did what anyone with common sense and good clinical judgement would do, I called pharmacy and in addition... I went to my charge nurse and told him my preceptor was unavailable and to please assist/observe me. My preceptor does not observe me 80% of the time, but I attest that I have never done anything or administered anything I wasn't confident or comfortable doing... meaning, I wasn't sure of the contraindications, expected outcomes, side effects, labs to check, vitals to check, etc. I feel that this is a very unsafe environment for me to be in and I do not want to put my patients and my license in jeopardy. I think that asking for a new preceptor will only make things worse for me. I have spoken with my preceptor and get a very casual attitude as to "its ok to make mistakes, that is how you learn." I understand we are all human, but the goal in any type of patient care is to take EVERY precaution necessary to avoid making a potential mistake. I basically do all of the patient care/medication administration/discharges for all of the patients. She helps me get IVs and blood draws and that is it (if I am too busy to do it alone). Is it me? I don't need someone holding my hand, but I do need someone who is watching what I am doing and teaching me along the way. Not sitting at the nurses station. This is an emergency room!!!! My thought process was to contact my ER manager/director and approach it with a "me" thing, in an effort not to burn any bridges. More or less, just say that my understanding and expectations of my training and orientation were x and I do not feel that my training has reflected that. Give a couple scenarios and wait for their response. If they say this is how they do it, part ways? I do not want this to ruin my future job opportunities, but I also do not feel safe working here. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. These are just a few things, there have been plenty of other situations that I have shared with other nursing friends from other facilities and they are shocked. I really don't know what to do. I have been receiving compliments from coworkers and charge nurse that I am doing really well and told me they are usually pulling new grads in the office by now to tell them what they are doing wrong and trying to determine if they are a good fit, and I have not had that happen yet. I know it can be overwhelming starting as a new grad in an ER with zero medical experience besides nursing school, but need advice. Thank you.