MillennialNurse

Oh, honey! I'm so sorry you've had a rough go of it. I went directly into an ED as a new grad too. Granted, it was a small, critical access ED, but still. I understand the stress and the "Oh my God, what if I can't do this?" feeling. As awful as many of these assignments are, you'll be laughing and cringing at the memory in a few years, perhaps while sharing it with a new nurse who's in tears over the catastrophe that was her first day. One of my friends was punched in the head by one of her patients on her very first day off orientation, and the rest of her shift was kind of a nightmare too. We laugh about it now. You'll get your sea-legs. For now, just try to enjoy the ride and focus on learning something new every day.

Hi All! I work at a large ER with a pretty big culture problem. Bullying and hazing runs rampant. (E.g.: Giving heavy, over-the-top assignments to nurses who aren't in the "in crowd," drawing resources away or flat out denying them to "drowning" nurses, snide comments, eye rolling, etc.) The average newly hired nurse leaves by the 6-month mark, and I've heard from many of these nurses that the culture is a major reason why they're leaving. Others leave because they are not afforded the same opportunities as others, because they're not "in the clique." A nurse can be cross-trained into other areas (triage, trauma, fast-track, etc.), "after working there for a year" (per preceptors/managers). However, a well-respected, good nurse with 2 years in this department and a whole alphabet soup after her name (TNCC, CCRN, CEN, CFRN) was passed over for a new grad with 3 months of experience. But, this new grad had friends in the "in crowd." It's been very frustrating for many of my friends and coworkers, and I've watched several really great nurses leave as a result. My questions are these: Is it possible to change this kind of culture? What does it take? How would you go about doing it? Have you seen it work in your ER? Or is this all "Pie in the sky" thinking on my part? Thanks in advance!

Forgot to mention: enrolling in a professional organization allows you to network. Go to meetings, classes, conferences, and workshops. You never know who you're going to run into, or who's going to say, "Hey, I think there's a position opening up here in a month..."

I hear you, OP. I'm a new nurse with almost 2 years of experience. I live in the Northeast, where the job market is pretty heavily saturated, and there are a lot of BSN nurses to compete with. I seriously must have put out over 100 applications over the course of the summer after graduation from my associates program. I only got 2 interviews...this was with 4 years of EMS experience, graduating valedictorian from my EMS programs and top 25% of my nursing school class, along with some other things. Heck, I even had connections in some facilities! I *finally* got a job as a nurse in a community ER. I've since moved on to a level 1 trauma center. My recommendation is to start networking. Find a professional organization in the specialty you'd like up be in. (The ENA, for example, if ER was your game.) Try taking ACLS/PALS, and other courses like that. I'm guessing that if it was down to you and one other candidate with similar resumes, except you had ACLS etc, they'd pick you, simply because now they don't have to pay for you to take the class. As far as weaknesses go, this was my version: Obviously, my lack of experience was my weakness. But, I have a drive for knowledge. As a result, I have no problem asking for help when needed, and turning the moment into a learning opportunity. I graduated towards the top of my class, and I'm currently taking courses for my BSN. What I lack in experience, I make up for with passion, drive, and the ability to look at tricky situations with fresh eyes. Hey, it obviously worked--at least one time! Good luck out there!

@Buyer Beware, I'm afraid that disclosing my city would reveal my identity, and if any coworkers saw this, I'm afraid of the repercussions. Suffice it to say that I work at a large New England city. If you want to know more, feel free to PM me. í ½í¸Š Thanks everyone! It helps to know that I'm not alone. I'm trying to just ignore the comments, accept that I'm there to gain experience and not to make friends. It's hard when you don't know anyone in the area, so you literally have no social life or support network. All I do is work and go home. That kind of stinks. I'm trying to be nice to the new residents, the techs, and any new nurses. Hopefully someone will be open to a friendship.

Hi there! A little background about me to start--I'm a new nurse (2 years of experience), and I've been in EMS for 6 years. My first job as a nurse was at a smaller community ER, and I was so lucky to have nothing but wonderful, supportive, loving coworkers. They truly became a second family to me. Recently, I uprooted my whole life, moved out of state, and started working in a Level I Trauma Center. I like the work that I do. I love emergency medicine, and taking care of people during their worst days. It's so satisfying to be able to do something to make somebody feel better. I like meeting people from all walks of life. I'm just not too crazy about the people I'm doing this with. Considering how wonderful my first experience was, this is kind of jarring. Some things are petty: like nurses inviting everybody around me to go out after work, except for me, and then talking about what a great time it is. If someone is showing a funny picture or meme to the coworkers next to me, and I lean in to see it, someone says, "No, this isn't really for you." Some things are more upsetting. The other day, when I was crouched in the hallway, attempting to start an IV on a patient in a hallway bed, a coworker leaned over my shoulder, literally breathed down my neck and said, "Oh my God, really? You can't hit that?" A short while later, when I was giving report to the nurse taking over my assignment, that coworker stood in front of me and stared. I asked if I could help him, and he said, "No, I'm just still trying to figure out how you couldn't hit that vein." There were a few nurses who have walked up to me out of the clear blue sky and said, "What? Do you have something to say?" It was getting to the point that I asked my preceptor if I had made somebody angry or something. He said he hadn't heard anything. What really scares me is that this travel nurse that many of the "in-crowd" disliked had a hallway patient start to really decline, and the patient needed to be moved into a room for more aggressive interventions. People helped her physically move the stretcher into a room, and then they left her to perform/facilitate these interventions by herself. They just went back to the nurses' station. I'm terrified that the other nurses don't like me--and as a result, I won't get help when I need it. Just reaching out to see if other new nurses have had similar experiences, and what they've done about it. Thanks!