we often see threads with the title "fired for no reason," or "new grad harassed and fired" or something to that effect. and i always feel at least a little sympathy for the individual involved, if only because i can clearly see by reading between the lines of their self-justifying post that there was a reason for their termination, even if they just don't get it. (there are always a few posts every year from a new grad who is convinced that the reason she's not getting along with her co-workers is that she's just so beautiful they're all jealous, that crowds of mean people are following her around, that she's so wonderful she's going to rock the er or icu or nicu or or and no one sees her wonderfulness clearly, or that some mean, tired, old nurse who ought to retire and get out of the way is targeting her for no good reason.)
i worked with a new grad who was recently terminated for, as she puts it, totally bogus reasons. evidently seeing mine as a sympathetic ear, she went on and on and on about how unfair it was that management expected her to get her act together and actually understand what was going on with her patients. "i've got the time management thing down pat," she said. "i don't know what else they want. they're just picking on me for no good reason." i liked sal, i really did. she was interesting and entertaining and really, really nice. she was also smart, hard-working (when she was at work) and well-educated. but she didn't study outside of work, and really didn't understand what was going on with her patients. i participated in several meetings with her in which it was pointed out that it's not enough to do the tasks, you have to understand why you're doing them. it's not enough to draw the labs. you have to understand what the results mean and then address them. for instance, if the inr is 9, it might explain the nosebleed, the cherry red urine and the fact that the hemoglobin is now 6. giving the coumadin at 6pm as scheduled is not a good thing, even if you gave it right on time and were able to explain to the patient that "it's a blood thinner." i could go on and on.
i got a call from sal today, complaining that she knows she's blackballed for no good reason because she just can't get another job. she wanted me to give her a reference. did she just not get it?
all you new grads out there who are convinced that you're being picked on for no reason, that your more experienced colleagues are just out to get you, and that you're being unfairly targeting, harassed, or picked on, hear this: it may be something you're doing (or not doing) and all those "mean people" are trying to explain it to you so you catch on, learn your job and succeed. we all tried over and over with sal, and she still doesn't get it. are you guilty of the same thing? if your preceptor says you lack critical thinking skills, do you take it to heart, think about it and learn from it? or are you convinced that the entire issue is that she's jealous of your extreme good looks? if your charge nurse charges you with a deficit in your time management skills do you spend time figuring out where you could speed things up a bit? or do you dismiss her as a tired old dog who can't learn a new trick and ought to retire anyway? are you taking to heart and benefitting from any negative feedback you're getting, however poorly given it is? or are you obsessing about how "mean" that nurse was to you and totally overlooking the message?
i wish sal would have "gotten it." she would have been delightful to work with if she had. but right now she's focused on badmouthing her preceptors and the charge nurse, and she still doesn't understand what she did wrong. don't make the same mistakes.
It's funny how most of you seem to be missing the point here. It's about nurses eating their young which is what I've heard from day one and what most of you seem to be proving as we speak. A pt. doesn't get an INR of 9 overnight. They probably came into the hospital with that INR from a lack of knowledge in taking it. If that's the case, the MD should have D/C'd it upon admission. Secondly, the preceptor should have noticed this in the beginning so, they are the real one's to blame-the one's with "experience." I made the mistake, as a new grad, of giving Lovenox, the morning of surgery which was an honest mistake. I haven't done that again but you have to look at the big picture-a lot depends on the type of surgery and the EBL-there was no harm to the pt. and we did the surgery anyway. Of course, I'm sure none of the rest of you would admit to mistakes because, after all, it is a power thing and an ego thing. I really wish I had a photographic memory, like a lot of you, and could remember everything back to nursing 101-Get real! A new nurse nurse sees only the task in front of them-you didn't learn the scale leading up to competency, in nursing 101?
As far as being full of myself and my attitude, I had a really good attitude when I started and still do at work, even under really bad conditions. I could write a book on the number of satisfied patients out there with my care-I know my stuff and have a great bedside manner. The male nurse who commented about having a good experience-more power to you! I wasn't that lucky. I started in the OR at a big hospital in Atlanta and was flogged so bad, I'd come out of the hosp. literally shaking. It got so bad, I started having doctor's and sales's reps taking up for me because they could literally see what was going on. One day, we failed to put something on the sterile field, which was as much of the preceptor's fault as mine and she singled me out and made a scene in the middle of surgery-the doctor took up for me! When you're new, you want to put a good foot forward and you take a lot of sh@@ until you learn what you're doing. I'd hear things like, I didn't know what I was doing, I was dangerous, I was too slow. Some of the other students of a certain color and gender were "doing so well" even though they were standing around watching me work my orifice off and talking to their "home girl" preceptor." There is a lot of prejudice things going on in this field. People just want to find a scapegoat and not take responsibility for their own actions!!!!! It's funny that I was such a bad nurse back then but I have lost count of the lives I've saved since then and the complexity of my cases in the CVICU. It's like Toby Keith said, "How do you like me now!" I have more knowledge and experience than all my preceptor's put together:bugeyes: I think about those early days and try to be constructive versus destructive with a new nurse.
The thing is managers don't make five or six times what a floor nurse makes- sometimes they make less.
I've had a few managers whom I know made less than me. My best friend worked in payroll and showed me. I know that wasn't too kosher, but I kept it to myself.
Also, when I have been offered mgmt positions in the past, it would have been a pay cut to take any of the offers. I have never accepted a mgmt offer- I just don't want to go over to the dark side.
Well gee, thats news to me. pfffft. Why does everyone want to be a manager then? I always thought it was the pay. Seemed to me the people who became managers were they types that were money driven.
:oAgain, I have to retool how I see some people.
:DI love managers.
I picked the car salesman smile for a reason. Its the best I can do right now.
While I can empathize that you had a bad start in nursing. I do not understand your holding onto that anger. It is past.
You are now in a position to be role model not only to the new nurse but also to other seasoned nurses. None of us that I am aware of knew you back then, but your post today. Wow, your anger scares me.
It's funny how most of you seem to be missing the point here. It's about nurses eating their young which is what I've heard from day one and what most of you seem to be proving as we speak. A pt. doesn't get an INR of 9 overnight. They probably came into the hospital with that INR from a lack of knowledge in taking it. If that's the case, the MD should have D/C'd it upon admission. Secondly, the preceptor should have noticed this in the beginning so, they are the real one's to blame-the one's with "experience." I made the mistake, as a new grad, of giving Lovenox, the morning of surgery which was an honest mistake. I haven't done that again but you have to look at the big picture-a lot depends on the type of surgery and the EBL-there was no harm to the pt. and we did the surgery anyway. Of course, I'm sure none of the rest of you would admit to mistakes because, after all, it is a power thing and an ego thing. I really wish I had a photographic memory, like a lot of you, and could remember everything back to nursing 101-Get real! A new nurse nurse sees only the task in front of them-you didn't learn the scale leading up to competency, in nursing 101?
As far as being full of myself and my attitude, I had a really good attitude when I started and still do at work, even under really bad conditions. I could write a book on the number of satisfied patients out there with my care-I know my stuff and have a great bedside manner. The male nurse who commented about having a good experience-more power to you! I wasn't that lucky. I started in the OR at a big hospital in Atlanta and was flogged so bad, I'd come out of the hosp. literally shaking. It got so bad, I started having doctor's and sales's reps taking up for me because they could literally see what was going on. One day, we failed to put something on the sterile field, which was as much of the preceptor's fault as mine and she singled me out and made a scene in the middle of surgery-the doctor took up for me! When you're new, you want to put a good foot forward and you take a lot of sh@@ until you learn what you're doing. I'd hear things like, I didn't know what I was doing, I was dangerous, I was too slow. Some of the other students of a certain color and gender were "doing so well" even though they were standing around watching me work my orifice off and talking to their "home girl" preceptor." There is a lot of prejudice things going on in this field. People just want to find a scapegoat and not take responsibility for their own actions!!!!! It's funny that I was such a bad nurse back then but I have lost count of the lives I've saved since then and the complexity of my cases in the CVICU. It's like Toby Keith said, "How do you like me now!" I have more knowledge and experience than all my preceptor's put together:bugeyes: I think about those early days and try to be constructive versus destructive with a new nurse.
This thread is not about you-
No one is attacking you, so why are you so ardently defending yourself?
I am astonished at how people are defending to the nth degree a nurse whom they have never laid eyes on.
The OP knows her, worked with her, and is an experienced nurse. I think we can trust her assessment when she says this nurse didn't "get it."
This is not about nurses eating their young. It's about new nurses whose confidence overshadows their skill and practice and who do not take the constructive criticism they are given to modify their practice. Overconfidence is scary. Sal wasn't fired because she was a new nurse and the older nurses were "eating their young". She was fired because her practice as a nurse was dangerous despite being educated about her mistakes. And instead of taking constructive criticism like a mature adult she succumbed to the childish whine "Those nurses are mean".
Let me tell you something, I spent 6 long years in college to get my BSN and to have preceptor's push me back out the door-you'd be mad to!!!! You obviously didn't go through what I did so I don't expect any of you to understand. Why do you think I got out of nursing for 4 years. I said that I'd never go back but I had to because my wife lost her job and we had our first child. I decided that if I were going to be in nursing, I needed to get some thick skin and surround myself with knowledge and not take any sh@@ off of other nurses. That's what I did-I am the easiest person in the world to get along with but I don't let co-worker's step on me. I put them in their place. Do you ever wonder why there's a nursing shortage or why new grads hang it up after the first year in nursing? Think about it. As I mentioned before, why didn't the preceptor or MD see the INR climbing and D/C it? Doesn't sound like a good preceptor to me!!! Just because you're good at the game doesn't mean you're preceptor material. Nuff said!!
Let me tell you something, I spent 6 long years in college to get my BSN and to have preceptor's push me back out the door-you'd be mad to!!!! You obviously didn't go through what I did so I don't expect any of you to understand. Why do you think I got out of nursing for 4 years. I said that I'd never go back but I had to because my wife lost her job and we had our first child. I decided that if I were going to be in nursing, I needed to get some thick skin and surround myself with knowledge and not take any sh@@ off of other nurses. That's what I did-I am the easiest person in the world to get along with but I don't let co-worker's step on me. I put them in their place. Do you ever wonder why there's a nursing shortage or why new grads hang it up after the first year in nursing? Think about it. As I mentioned before, why didn't the preceptor or MD see the INR climbing and D/C it? Doesn't sound like a good preceptor to me!!! Just because you're good at the game doesn't mean you're preceptor material. Nuff said!!
I believe the preceptor didn't see the INR climbing because Sal was OFF orientation
Edit: Ok, she wasn't off orientation but in Ruby's post, it was made clear to Sal that she needs to check the INR level prior to administering the coumadin. Apparently, she did not do this before giving the med. Really, it's nursing 101.
It's also the nurse's job to bring it to the doc's attention that the INR is elevated. It's also the nurse's job to know what the patient's INR is before giving coumadin.
.thumb.jpg.755b83f43c9f3860c778e2fcb2022ecb.jpg){kind=small}
johnnybravo8802
95 Posts
It's funny how most of you seem to be missing the point here. It's about nurses eating their young which is what I've heard from day one and what most of you seem to be proving as we speak. A pt. doesn't get an INR of 9 overnight. They probably came into the hospital with that INR from a lack of knowledge in taking it. If that's the case, the MD should have D/C'd it upon admission. Secondly, the preceptor should have noticed this in the beginning so, they are the real one's to blame-the one's with "experience." I made the mistake, as a new grad, of giving Lovenox, the morning of surgery which was an honest mistake. I haven't done that again but you have to look at the big picture-a lot depends on the type of surgery and the EBL-there was no harm to the pt. and we did the surgery anyway. Of course, I'm sure none of the rest of you would admit to mistakes because, after all, it is a power thing and an ego thing. I really wish I had a photographic memory, like a lot of you, and could remember everything back to nursing 101-Get real! A new nurse nurse sees only the task in front of them-you didn't learn the scale leading up to competency, in nursing 101?
As far as being full of myself and my attitude, I had a really good attitude when I started and still do at work, even under really bad conditions. I could write a book on the number of satisfied patients out there with my care-I know my stuff and have a great bedside manner. The male nurse who commented about having a good experience-more power to you! I wasn't that lucky. I started in the OR at a big hospital in Atlanta and was flogged so bad, I'd come out of the hosp. literally shaking. It got so bad, I started having doctor's and sales's reps taking up for me because they could literally see what was going on. One day, we failed to put something on the sterile field, which was as much of the preceptor's fault as mine and she singled me out and made a scene in the middle of surgery-the doctor took up for me! When you're new, you want to put a good foot forward and you take a lot of sh@@ until you learn what you're doing. I'd hear things like, I didn't know what I was doing, I was dangerous, I was too slow. Some of the other students of a certain color and gender were "doing so well" even though they were standing around watching me work my orifice off and talking to their "home girl" preceptor." There is a lot of prejudice things going on in this field. People just want to find a scapegoat and not take responsibility for their own actions!!!!! It's funny that I was such a bad nurse back then but I have lost count of the lives I've saved since then and the complexity of my cases in the CVICU. It's like Toby Keith said, "How do you like me now!" I have more knowledge and experience than all my preceptor's put together:bugeyes: I think about those early days and try to be constructive versus destructive with a new nurse.