hmsnurse

Hey guys ?? OP here! I saw someone asking about how it went so I thought I could give an update! So a good samaritan on the unit actually anonymously went to our unit educator and told her about what was going on, so they put me with a new preceptor on a different shift for the rest of my orientation and everything went really well. I'm still on the same unit to this day, actually work side by side with my original preceptor with no issues and am actually precepting my own new hires now :) thank you all for your advice, three-years-ago me really appreciated it!! :)

Hi there! So I'm a new grad nurse in an ER (no, I don't want to hear anything about how new grads don't belong in the ER-- I can handle my patients just fine). I get along with everyone in my unit, with an exception of one-- my preceptor. She is super nice to most people on the unit, but she can get very stressed out with high acuity patients and it seems like she takes out all of her stress on me. As someone with less experience than her, I feel like she's supposed to teach me, rather than yell at me when I am unsure of something. She gets very degrading and it makes me second guess myself, when I know I don't need to. It makes me scared to ask questions, which I know is not good. On top of this, when we have some down time, it seems like all she does is complain about the other staff on the unit, concerning how "terrible" they are at their jobs (that is, when she is between smoke breaks.......). She can even be unnecessarily rude to the patients. During one shift, I had a mental breakdown and cried my eyes out in the break room. When she later brought it up, she told me she treats me like that because that's how her preceptor treated her- so nothing has changed. I just don't know how to deal with all of this negativity. Is this something that is just a norm? Do I just develop thicker skin with time? Or maybe did I just draw the short straw and pick the wrong ER or unit to work in and need to find somewhere else with a more positive environment? When I have a few days off, then think about having to go back, I just get a pit in my stomach that says I don't want to, and I know it's because of her. I have about a month left on orientation, should I stick it out and see if it gets better after I'm not with her 24/7? I just would like to hear some opinions from maybe some people who have been in similar situations or possibly someone from a management standpoint? Thanks!