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.
We had a new grad similar to Sal. We tried and tried and tried to help her.
She just didn't see anything wrong with what she did.
1. She called in sick at 23:45 for a shift that started at 23:30 and didn't understand why the person who stayed for a double was upset.
2. She told a family that she was the only nurse who really knew how to care for the pt - and didn't understand why the other nurses were upset.
3. She left the floor for over an hour and didn't tell anyone that she was even leaving - and didn't understand why the other nurses were upset.
4. She decided that she didn't like trachs - esp all the secretions they produce so didn't want any trach pts. She then suggested that we "tie plastic bags over the trach to catch the secretions". She didn't see anything wrong with this idea. fortunately, she never tried it!
5. She repeated told us that she was really "too smart" for nursing and was going back to school soon to be a pediatrician.
Luckily for us - she left us for an "easier" job. I don't know what happened to her but I pray she either "got it" or left nursing.
Now Pepper you know the REAL reason the nurses were upset with her was because she was so beautiful and had a great body. Those smelly, old, fat nurses just couldn't stand having her around making them look even uglier. :icon_roll
Now Pepper you know the REAL reason the nurses were upset with her was because she was so beautiful and had a great body. Those smelly, old, fat nurses just couldn't stand having her around making them look even uglier. :icon_roll
Don't forget - she was sooo much smarter than us too. We were just jealous!
But she did not use the tools, instead, went and administered the medication, and nearly killed someone in her quest to put a checkmark next to her list of mindless tasks to accomplish during her day as a nurse.
Yup. This is what drives some of these clueless folks. The almighty checkmark next to the med in the MAR. Everything else be damned! They just need to mark another task off the list.
I'm guessing that these are the same people who don't reasses after med administration either. Once the med is given, it's out of sight, out of mind.
For the women who think it's because we hate them because they are 'pretty"...Well, they are just used to using thier looks to hide their inadequacies. And in nursing, inadequacies kill. So, giggling and tilting you head when you get caught making a big error doesn't make us forget that you almost killed someone.
Nope, instead of a "thank you" for preventing harm to your patient, we get a "you hate me because I'm younger and prettier than you"
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.
some co workers and family members offer me advice that changes me forever.
they point things out to me that i didn't know about. their advice to me is
completely fair.
some others give invalid advice and go deaf when i try to reason with them.
some of them will put you in unfair and dangerous situations.
there are people working whose minds are still back in high school. i have seen good charge nurses who quit
because they were sick of the attitudes of everyone on their shift.
there was one day when i found that i had taken out my co workers treatment of me on a new staff member
This thread kinda scares me. I feel like my critical thinking skills are sorely lacking. I've been on my own for four months and have been a RN for almost six months..I work on a tele unit and feel like I have a very formulaic type of nursing. New onset chest pain=nitro, EKG and call to Dr., INR 9=hold coumadin, potassium 5.5=hold K, things along that line. But I live in mortal fear one of my pts will go bad and I won't know what to do. Any advice???
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
if you're worried that one of your patients will go bad, that's a very good first step. the majority of the problems i see are nurses who just aren't paying attention to their patients. if you pay attention you'll catch the changes. no one expects you to know what to do about everything when you're new. if you catch the change in your patient and don't know what to do about it, ask! i'd be happy to help you!
this thread kinda scares me. i feel like my critical thinking skills are sorely lacking. i've been on my own for four months and have been a rn for almost six months..i work on a tele unit and feel like i have a very formulaic type of nursing. new onset chest pain=nitro, ekg and call to dr., inr 9=hold coumadin, potassium 5.5=hold k, things along that line. but i live in mortal fear one of my pts will go bad and i won't know what to do. any advice???
if you're worried that one of your patients will go bad, that's a very good first step. the majority of the problems i see are nurses who just aren't paying attention to their patients. if you pay attention you'll catch the changes. no one expects you to know what to do about everything when you're new. if you catch the change in your patient and don't know what to do about it, ask! i'd be happy to help you!
guislander, you sound very conscientous.
ruby gave you good advice.
half the battle is even acknowledging/anticipating change in your pt.
and when you do ask for guidance, make sure it's with someone you trust.
Just a question? Dont you need to have two nurses sign for Warfarin? We do at my hospital. Also, Orientation here (NSW Australia) means a nurse is on her first few weeks training. Definately giving warfarin would not be done without supervision. Also, on our med charts the warfarin is written up daily by the doctor only once he knows the INR result and has signed for the next dose to be given? Either way, drug errors happen because of a fault in the system. We are then encouraged to report errors - not for humiliation or punishment- but so that the entire unit can see where and why errors happen and can be fixed. I reckon everyone will make an error in their lifetime of nursing- even ommitting a drug is an error.
This thread kinda scares me. I feel like my critical thinking skills are sorely lacking. I've been on my own for four months and have been a RN for almost six months..I work on a tele unit and feel like I have a very formulaic type of nursing. New onset chest pain=nitro, EKG and call to Dr., INR 9=hold coumadin, potassium 5.5=hold K, things along that line. But I live in mortal fear one of my pts will go bad and I won't know what to do. Any advice???
Ask for help! As a seasoned (and apparently fat and ugly ) nurse I have a great deal more respect for those younger nurses who care for their patients by not overestimating their abilities but instead take the sometimes humbling route of saying "I don't know". In fact being willing to take instruction/education beyond orientation goes a long way in mitigating the stigma surrounding any mistakes you might make in the future. By that I mean people will talk less about you and be more likely to have a forgiving attitude.
) nurse I have a great deal more respect for those younger nurses who care for their patients by not overestimating their abilities but instead take the sometimes humbling route of saying "I don't know". In fact being willing to take instruction/education beyond orientation goes a long way in mitigating the stigma surrounding any mistakes you might make in the future. By that I mean people will talk less about you and be more likely to have a forgiving attitude.
CrunchRN, ADN, RN
4,556 Posts
"I'll give my manager a big wet kiss when I see her in the morning if it makes you feel better.:kiss"
Erik - you are making me giggle again. LOL!