Starting a brand new job soon after terrible first experience....Advice?

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Hi everyone!

I am excited to announce that I am beginning a new job almost 1 year exactly after a terrible experience at my first "new grad" nurse job in a city hospital on a med-surg unit. I dealt with many putdowns and even had a nurse get in my face and ask me "If I ever went to nursing school!: :crying2: Nurses talked about me behind my back, if I asked for help they would tell me flat out NO to my face. I dealt with numerous eye rolls from season nurses who were suppose to mentor me. When I asked a question, they would all stare at me as if I had 2 heads. After 4 weeks of my 16 week "trial" period...they let me go, telling me that I had refused to do certain skills, which was completely UNTRUE. I had told my preceptor that if I wasnt sure how to do something I would like to watch first and then do it...so I could be refreshed and also not harm a patient. They told me that I was "not a good nurse there" and it would be better if I found someplace else to go be a nurse. I remember leaving that morning after being stripped of my badge in front of other nurses, in tears. I use to go to work in tears, I even had chest pain from anxiety. I would leave in tears....that is how my first job as a new grad resulted.

2 weeks ago....I applied at our county Health Department for a job and a miraculously was called back for an interview. This was for their Women's Services Public Health nurse I position. I found out Wednesday that I GOT THE JOB! :D I am so excited and relieved, but also very anxious. I do not want a repeat of what happened the first time, and it keeps replaying in my mind. I am terrified of looking like an idiot again. Is there anything I can do to help relieve my nerves and anxiousness? I am SO grateful for this opportunity as I loved Public Health clinical rotation in school :D I just feel nerves starting to creep up on me.

Any advice? I want to be the best nurse possible and hopefully try to put the past behind me.

Thanks for reading :)

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Congrats on the new job! That's so horrible about your first job but I don't think you did anything wrong. You're a new RN, you're SUPPOSE to ask questions and your staff is suppose to support you and help you develop your skills. In a way, it's probably a good thing you're not working there anymore. I can only imagine how you feel going into this job but if your staff is supportive and friendly I don't think you should have problems! I'm sure they'll expect you to question things and they know that as a new RN you won't know everything.Take deep breaths and you should be fine! :) Goodluck and let us know how it goes!

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Thank you so much and I will definitely update on how things go. I begin September 19th :yeah:

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CONGRATS!!! I hope that this is a better enviroment for you. Don't be afraid to ask questions in this position, as it is expected. That last place you were at is NOT the norm and now they are history. :) I have only been working for 2 mo. on a med-sug floor and I ask a zillion questions ALL the time. Sometimes they look at me like I am nuts and I laugh it off. They usually end up laughing too. Hopefully, this place will be better. Community health is such an awesome field and I hope to land a position there one day when I finish my BSN. Sometimes we think that when things happen it is the end of the world, but really it was a blessing in disguise. You get a new start, no patients got hurt because it is risky havuing a new grad with no support and your bruised confidence will heal with time. Embrace this new position, as it is probably where you belong.

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to the OP what you experienced as you may or may not have realized -was bullying or 'lateral violence' and it is rampant in some hospital nursing cultures. i would hedge a bet tha tthe floor you worked on had a good amount of disgruntled nurses with unsavory RN to patient ratios and unsavory working conditions--i could be wrong just taking a guess here. i am so sorry to hear of that experience how humiliating. and to think this kind of behavior came from people in a caring profession.

sad how this behavior is so common jahco investigates it.

hopefully being in a community nursing environment will be a better experience for you. i wonder who all else has such stories of harrassment and humiliation from work? none of my other professional friends have ever told such stories..:down: but good for you sounds like things are looking up and that terrible time will soon be a distant memory from whihc you musta gained much fortitude from facing..

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CONGRATS!!! I hope that this is a better enviroment for you. Don't be afraid to ask questions in this position, as it is expected. That last place you were at is NOT the norm and now they are history. :) I have only been working for 2 mo. on a med-sug floor and I ask a zillion questions ALL the time. Sometimes they look at me like I am nuts and I laugh it off. They usually end up laughing too. Hopefully, this place will be better. Community health is such an awesome field and I hope to land a position there one day when I finish my BSN. Sometimes we think that when things happen it is the end of the world, but really it was a blessing in disguise. You get a new start, no patients got hurt because it is risky havuing a new grad with no support and your bruised confidence will heal with time. Embrace this new position, as it is probably where you belong.

Thank you so very much for your advice! I will let you know how it goes ;) I am hoping this IS where I belong.

to the OP what you experienced as you may or may not have realized -was bullying or 'lateral violence' and it is rampant in some hospital nursing cultures. i would hedge a bet tha tthe floor you worked on had a good amount of disgruntled nurses with unsavory RN to patient ratios and unsavory working conditions--i could be wrong just taking a guess here. i am so sorry to hear of that experience how humiliating. and to think this kind of behavior came from people in a caring profession.

sad how this behavior is so common jahco investigates it.

hopefully being in a community nursing environment will be a better experience for you. i wonder who all else has such stories of harrassment and humiliation from work? none of my other professional friends have ever told such stories..:down: but good for you sounds like things are looking up and that terrible time will soon be a distant memory from whihc you musta gained much fortitude from facing..

It was something I never want to experience again. Those nurses were brutal and other RNs would make comments to me such as "You probably wont last long...." and so forth. Nurses on the unit could have up to 10 patients or so at a time...and they were so burnt out. It scared me!!

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OP I had a similar experience at my first new grad job. How did you explain it in interviews? I am currently working at an ok job but hoping to try something new. I am worried about how to explain away my bad job, what they will say if contacted, and also afraid of it happening again. Yikes. I shouls just stay put but I am afraid of losing my skills.

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I was not even at the other job long enough to use it as a reference, so I did not even bring it up. If they brought it up to me I was going to just be truthful and let them know why things did not work out.

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Was it on your resume?

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No it was not.

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Specializes in ED, ICU, MS/MT, PCU, CM, House Sup, Frontline mgr.

heather, i recall your story after reading this post. i suspect that when you work in the health department, you will do better because you will be working with nurses that have to behave like grown-ups. the nurses you will work with are working in a business-like environment and will have no choice but to act business-like. do not get me wrong, you will run into some nurses that act juvenile, but not like you have experienced working bedside. in fact, i worked in a health department prior to nursing, and the nurses i worked with were the reason i went into nursing in the first place! thus, i will be very shocked if you post that the same thing you experienced before is occurring again. however, keep us posted either way. good luck to you! :up:

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Thank you so much! I am honestly a little worried over the whole "nurses eat their young" philosophy since I have already experienced it once :uhoh3: I am hoping that they are more "adult" acting as you say. I look forward to beginning :) Orientation starts tomorrow! Will be updating on how it goes!

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