Shoulds I Consider Transferring?

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Hi all!

To give background to the topic title question, I'm a new nurse who got their first position in a large ICU in a big city. My orientation started off well enough, but quickly devolved into my preceptor beating me down, writing terrible reviews, and general nastiness towards me, as well as talking behind my back with others the minute I wasn't within earshot (or so they thought). Things finally exploded and I was reassigned a few weeks back, but since then the gossiping and general mean girl garbage has continued. My manager is aware of the situation and is trying, from what I can tell, very hard to hold on to both parties.

While it's easy enough to avoid my previous preceptor on such a large unit (we have over 60 beds), the gossiping about me and with my confidence has hit an all-time low, I'm now wondering if it would be worth it to transfer off before I'm 'advised' to look elsewhere in hopes of keeping the more experienced, but toxic, nurse.

I'm not married to being in the ICU as my long-term goals don't really require ICU experience, but I wanted to jump right in and learn as much as I could right out of school and love the ICU experience. The commute does kinda suck though.

Being new to the field, I'm not sure what to do. Is ICU experience incredibly wanted experience no matter what I do in the future? Is it okay to just move on so soon?

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Specializes in Community Health, Med/Surg, ICU Stepdown.

What are your long-term goals?

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3 hours ago, LibraNurse27 said:

What are your long-term goals?

Eventually FNP school. Thinking I'd like to work in pediatrics.

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Specializes in NICU/Mother-Baby/Peds/Mgmt.
1 hour ago, Pulsar said:

Eventually FNP school. Thinking I'd like to work in pediatrics.

Can you transfer within that hospital to pediatrics, since that's what you think you'd like to do? Or the nursery or NICU?

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Give it time. Gossip dies down unless there is fuel to keep it going. Eventually you will no longer be new, and the trouble makers might lose interest in you. Focus on your work and developing your skills. Be pleasant to your coworkers, but ke some distance. Solid ICU skills can lead to more choices of jobs elsewhere.

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It appears that your manager is aware that your preceptor was behaving in a very unprofessional way towards you and was not giving you fair unbiased performance reviews. If they believed the terrible reviews you would have been fired.

The fact that the manager is aware this is going on and still wants to keep her experienced but toxic RN is a huge red flag. I have been in this very boat. I was actually an experienced RN being preceptored by an RN with considerably less experience than me in the very small unit we worked in. She made my work life a misery. Management knew but ignored it. Our Unit Manager knew and advised me to ignore her. My co workers saw it but didn't want to be her new target. Lucky for me she left abruptly. The whole unit dynamic changed over night but honestly I had a lot of anger that so many people were OK with the atrocious way I was being treated.

Unless you really really want this job I would suggest you request a closed door meeting with your manager and tell her that in light of the harassment and hostile work environment you request that she helps you obtain a transfer to a new unit.

Best of luck

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11 hours ago, Elaine M said:

Can you transfer within that hospital to pediatrics, since that's what you think you'd like to do? Or the nursery or NICU?

There's no pediatrics in this hospital, but I wouldn't mind ED experience and I hear that's good for FNP work.

5 hours ago, kp2016 said:

It appears that your manager is aware that your preceptor was behaving in a very unprofessional way towards you and was not giving you fair unbiased performance reviews. If they believed the terrible reviews you would have been fired.

The fact that the manager is aware this is going on and still wants to keep her experienced but toxic RN is a huge red flag. I have been in this very boat. I was actually an experienced RN being preceptored by an RN with considerably less experience than me in the very small unit we worked in. She made my work life a misery. Management knew but ignored it. Our Unit Manager knew and advised me to ignore her. My co workers saw it but didn't want to be her new target. Lucky for me she left abruptly. The whole unit dynamic changed over night but honestly I had a lot of anger that so many people were OK with the atrocious way I was being treated.

Unless you really really want this job I would suggest you request a closed door meeting with your manager and tell her that in light of the harassment and hostile work environment you request that she helps you obtain a transfer to a new unit.

Best of luck

This is kinda the boat I'm in. I want the experience this unit will offer, but I also know that the drama isn't worth it. What I'm considering is seeing how things go over the next month and determine from there, largely because it is such a massive unit with so many nurses and beds.

I know that part of the reason they keep people like my old preceptor is because they have a substantial turnover rate between nurses going back to school and burn out, but I also definitely agree that keeping those kinds of people is a detriment to the unit as a whole.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med/Surg, ICU Stepdown.

ER would be good because it’s a lot of primary care but also you will learn what to do if one of your patients comes to the clinic in unstable conditions. There are also jobs for nurses in primary care clinics where you will see what FNPs do ?

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17 hours ago, kp2016 said:

Unless you really really want this job I would suggest you request a closed door meeting with your manager and tell her that in light of the harassment and hostile work environment you request that she helps you obtain a transfer to a new unit.

As someone who was in a similar situation a few years back, I can tell you right now that the chance of this method being successful is... not likely.

OP, for you to transfer to another unit mid-orientation and then succeed there would bring shame to your current unit and its manager, and cast doubt on the manager's ability to control her unit.

Now, don't get me wrong. I am not saying to not try this method, but, be aware that if you do try this method, the manager and HR may force you to leave the hospital system rather than risk being shamed.

Well, if you do decide to try this method -

Get to know other managers and see if they would be willing to take you (Side note: This runs of the risk of your manager finding out that you are thinking of transferring. Pray and pray hard that the manger(s) you speak to can give two ***** about what your current manager thinks.)

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7 hours ago, DTWriter said:

As someone who was in a similar situation a few years back, I can tell you right now that the chance of this method being successful is... not likely.

OP, for you to transfer to another unit mid-orientation and then succeed there would bring shame to your current unit and its manager, and cast doubt on the manager's ability to control her unit.

Now, don't get me wrong. I am not saying to not try this method, but, be aware that if you do try this method, the manager and HR may force you to leave the hospital system rather than risk being shamed.

Well, if you do decide to try this method -

Get to know other managers and see if they would be willing to take you (Side note: This runs of the risk of your manager finding out that you are thinking of transferring. Pray and pray hard that the manger(s) you speak to can give two ***** about what your current manager thinks.)

You may well have a point. When this happened to me I was very shocked that HR and management were well aware of the situation and were very happy to ignore it.

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Specializes in ICU/ER/Med-Surg/Case Management/Manageme.

I disagree with the comment about staying and giving the hostility and gossip time to die down. You mentioned your self-confidence. If you stay, it's going to take a beating and it might take a very long time to get it back. Also, working under that type of stress will make you more likely to make a mistake. Those two things, combined or individually, might hamper your long term goals more than not having an ICU experience.

I want to add...for years, I worked ICU/ER/Trauma in some top-notch centers in several states. Great experience. However, the very best experience and the toughest job was working a couple of years on med-surg floors (surgical and tele). Incredible what I learned in those 2-3 years even after many years in specialty areas. I personally think jobs on pedi floors/pedi ICU's will definitely assist in meeting your LTG's. Take care.

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Specializes in ER, Pre-Op, PACU.

First, I am not sure how long you have been in your current unit. Some health systems will actually block transfers if it is under 6 months or a year.

However, I completely identify with what you are going through. Being a new graduate nurse is difficult and already causes a lot of anxiety and self-doubt as you are learning, growing, and finding your own ways of doing things as a nurse. To be under that kind of pressure can actually make it near impossible for you to grow. A new graduate needs to be supported in their growth, not put down all the time.

I see both sides of where people are coming from in their posts. On one hand, I would caution you not to “jump ship” too soon without another job in place or go into an even worse job. On the other hand, if you DO find a job that is more supportive and will foster your growth and gradually build back your self-confidence, then look for it. Just be aware that if you try to transfer within the same system that your manager will likely be contacted so be prepared to tell her why you want to transfer in a professional manner.

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