Terrible orientation experience

[Anomalies]

Sorry for this excessively long first post, but I would really like to get an outside opinion about this. Last year I interviewed and was hired into the OR as a circulator. However due to the educator leaving prior to me starting my transfer was delayed. It took 8 months and a new manager before they hired an educator. Once they had the new educator in place they also had a new manager and I was eventually transferred.

The educator took an immediate disliking to me after having asked her numerous questions she did not have the answers to. After that I noticed that despite not being the only one on orientation the educator followed me around constantly. She would never give me feedback unless I specifically asked and when she did she only pointed out things I did wrong. She was also complaining constantly about me to 2 of the other circulators, whom I noticed came into rooms with me with very negative attitudes. I discussed with the manager that I was uncomfortable working with her and I didn't feel like it was a good learning partnership for me. For a couple of weeks I was partnered with other people and things started going better but then I was told that because she was the educator other staff were not allowed to take over my teaching.

Once I was back with her she would sit in the back of the OR alternating from barking orders at me to staring at me in silence. Periodically she would tell me to do something one way and the surgical assistant would tell me to do something else. She would write up these instances as me not following instructions and would also take things out of context and go to the manager. Finally after screaming at me when I asked for feedback I went to the manager about her. He told me that he was tired of hearing her complain about me and that I was obviously not making enough progress and would no longer be continuing my orientation.

I enjoyed the OR very much but this experience has left a very bad impression on me. Unfortunately I had to go back to my previous job where I was and am again miserable. I do not feel like I can put the OR position on my resume because I was only there 2 months and the way I left was negative. This whole situation has left me heartbroken and wondering if I even want to stay in nursing at all. Sometimes I wonder if I am just being overly sensitive or if this is the norm with OR. Any advise would be appreciated. Thank you.

[GadgetRN71, ASN, RN]

Unfortunately, there are some real jerks out there( as in any job). You were placed in a bad situation from the get go- and it sounds like this educator was insecure in her own abilities.

Was this a teaching hospital or a community hospital? If you can, I'd try to get into a teaching hospital. The larger places tend to have more formal orientation programs in place and they're more used to new people coming through.

Don't give up..

[cdsga]

How sad. It's amazing but some nurses continue the same treatment they received. It's an abusive cycle that should have been addressed by the manager. Try somewhere else if you can and work on things you can control, there will be difficult people in administration that truly are not best fitted for that position. And when you expose them for the frauds that they are, they turn on you like a bad dog. Just know that explaining how you feel, how you best learn, and how you would like to be treated to gain the best experience out of your orientation can make a world of difference and you can reach a common ground in most instances. But unfortunately your manager was not very supportive in this situation. So you're probably better off not being in that environment. It takes time, but if you stay where you are, you will find that these "bad fits" usually are ousted and new people fill those positions and you can start over. Don't judge all OR orientations on this bad experience. There are some good places and good educators and managers out there.