Thought I was doing fine... THEN got a call from my manager.... :(

HopefulNurse2011 · Aug 27, 2010

Hey epona, I think i read a thread about you attending hampton , i've applied and i'm waiting to hear back from them. I don't how this forum works but I was hoping to speak to you about their nursing program, any insight would be great!

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Aug 27, 2010

If it's just one nurse saying these things about you, I would consider chalking it up to young-eating. But if it's more than one nurse saying these things about you, then IMO you really have to consider the fact that while it could still be young-eating, it might also really be you and your performance--because if multiple nurses are going to your supervisor with the same concerns, then there might be some truth in them.

Either that, or it's one hell of a conspiracy against you...but if that's the case, they could have let you go a month ago instead of extending your orientation and then offering you a mentor. Why prolong your torment?

Seriously, you need to talk to your supervisor about these concerns and be open to his/her feedback...and IMO you also need to do a little honest self-assessment. As Ruby said, just because you think things are going well doesn't necessarily mean they are--they may or may not be. But you won't know until you ask. Good luck.

regularRN · Aug 28, 2010

I would rather new grads or RNs new to a specialty ask questions - as did I - because this shows a commitment to delivering evidence based nursing care founded on research and hospital procedures and policy, rather than guessing. In fact, I was praised for seeking clarification.

No RN has ever experienced every thing ever, and it is natural to approach another RN for advice in a novel situation, regardless of years of experience. It is also natural to confer with other RNs on topics relating to patients with conditions that are sporadically or rarely encountered - it's just another safety net to ensure patient safety, which should be the bottom line.

steelydanfan · Aug 28, 2010

Hello everyone!! I have been out of orientation for about a month. They gave me an extended orientation because my boss and I thought it was necessary (was a new RN). I have been doing just fine (or so I thought), and then my boss contacted me today to say 'I have to have a mentor (someone to shadow me), because I have asked several questions and get unfocused (according to charge nurses).' WHAT???!!! Yes, if I don't know something, I AM GOING TO ASK. I am new and not going to hurt anyone. If I don't know, I am going to keep asking questions. My boss said this is a good thing and will help me, but I don't know. She said I was unfocused??? I am many things perhaps, but unfocused is NOT one of them. I have always paid special attention to detail and have been a stellar student all my life (graduated top 10 in my RN program). I feel I have been doing just fine and have had no problems. So this was completely out of the blue.
How would YOU take this?? She told me what the charge nurses had said and some of the things they reported never happened.

Firstly, your willingness to have an extended orientation tells me that you have the ability to assess your performance appropriatley. Secondly, "asking several questions", or even A LOT of questions, is not grounds for further shadowing (and NO, a mentor is NOT a shadow; a mentor is a coworker, usually above you in status, that has no direct interest in your IMMEDIATE performance outcome, that you can feel free and secure going to that has your best interests in heart .

"Unfocused" as a critique is so nebulous as to be worthless. Demand a full explanation of the term.

A word of caution, as a new grad. Please believe me when I say that your education as an RN was SO only the tip of the iceberg. You have lots to learn, and must do it quickly. Do NOT think for a minute that your Top 10 ranking in nursing school makes you a great nurse. It simply shows that you have enough smarts not to do something REALLY stupid your first year. The breadth of this profession is STUNNING, and you will look back on this in 5 years and shudder how you survived.

AprilRNurse · Aug 28, 2010

Firstly, your willingness to have an extended orientation tells me that you have the ability to assess your performance appropriatley. Secondly, "asking several questions", or even A LOT of questions, is not grounds for further shadowing (and NO, a mentor is NOT a shadow; a mentor is a coworker, usually above you in status, that has no direct interest in your IMMEDIATE performance outcome, that you can feel free and secure going to that has your best interests in heart .
"Unfocused" as a critique is so nebulous as to be worthless. Demand a full explanation of the term.
A word of caution, as a new grad. Please believe me when I say that your education as an RN was SO only the tip of the iceberg. You have lots to learn, and must do it quickly. Do NOT think for a minute that your Top 10 ranking in nursing school makes you a great nurse. It simply shows that you have enough smarts not to do something REALLY stupid your first year. The breadth of this profession is STUNNING, and you will look back on this in 5 years and shudder how you survived.

This line says so much. I have friends going through nursing school, and when they ask for advice I say something along this line. As a new grad, you do not know what you don't know, and most nurses don't expect you to know anything. Ask your questions and learn, and never act like you know it all. The NCLEX does not determine if you are a good nurse....it determines if you are a safe entry level nurse.

Epona · Aug 28, 2010

I too think the 'mentor' thing is a bad omen. The boss told me it was a 'good thing', yes a good thing in the fact that probably someone else already would have been fired by now. I too think the mentor is going to report back. As far as maybe I am actually bad, and just do not think it... well I am a very objective person. I know my strengths and my weaknesses. I even discussed this with my boss during my orientation reviews (there were a few of them)- strengths and weaknesses. She knew I was weak with hands on skills. I brought this to her attention. So if I am weak or strong in something, I admit it. All in all, I think I have been doing very well and I AM PLEASED with my progress. I feel pretty confident overall on the floor.... if things come up I do not know, then I ask questions. Any new RN will ask questions. Someone posted that NCLEX proves if you are ENTRY LEVEL nurse; well that is me, entry level. If she fires me (I have already passed my 3 month probation), then I really will not feel badly about it. I am pleased with my progress (I have grown tremendously) and continue to grow everyday. If it is not fast enough for her (or the charge nurses), I cannot control that. I can only control and critique myself and be honest, and I am. Whatever happens, life does go on and I'll press on....

MzMouse · Aug 28, 2010

"Unfocused" as a critique is so nebulous as to be worthless. Demand a full explanation of the term.

I completely agree. If someone is going to complain or question another nurse's performance they should give specific information and I think upper management should demand it. Just one of my pet peeves. :devil:

steelydanfan · Aug 29, 2010

I too think the 'mentor' thing is a bad omen. The boss told me it was a 'good thing', yes a good thing in the fact that probably someone else already would have been fired by now. I too think the mentor is going to report back. As far as maybe I am actually bad, and just do not think it... well I am a very objective person. I know my strengths and my weaknesses. I even discussed this with my boss during my orientation reviews (there were a few of them)- strengths and weaknesses. She knew I was weak with hands on skills. I brought this to her attention. So if I am weak or strong in something, I admit it. All in all, I think I have been doing very well and I AM PLEASED with my progress. I feel pretty confident overall on the floor.... if things come up I do not know, then I ask questions. Any new RN will ask questions. Someone posted that NCLEX proves if you are ENTRY LEVEL nurse; well that is me, entry level. If she fires me (I have already passed my 3 month probation), then I really will not feel badly about it. I am pleased with my progress (I have grown tremendously) and continue to grow everyday. If it is not fast enough for her (or the charge nurses), I cannot control that. I can only control and critique myself and be honest, and I am. Whatever happens, life does go on and I'll press on....

1. If you have already passed your probationary period, you would have to commit a pretty severe error to be fired, so I think you are OK there.

2. Again, this person is not a mentor, they are a preceptor, and the 2 are VERY different. Most preceptors are dedicated, interested and hands on, but there are some that are not. You don't seem to have problems with yours, but I also don't remember you talking about your preceptors input/reaction/action plans for correcting these 'deficiencies".

3. If at the end of all that, you still feel that you are not being evaluated fairly, then by all means, feel free to move on to a more collegial environment. You deserve that.

NocturneNrse · Aug 31, 2010

oh dear.. this sounds similar to what had happened to me a few months back. as far as the mentor, take it and use it to your advantage! try to develop a good rapport w/him or her so that will help your side of this case. unfortunately, there are some rotten **expletive**'s in this profession who for some reason, take pleasure in seeing you suffer.

i agree with asking for the instances where they found you to be "unfocused". how are you to improve your focus if you aren't told the areas where your weaknesses are? i had a nurse report me for not completing a task , for which i had, and i had to strongly fight that in order for the manager to look into it beyond only that nurses report, to see that i had indeed completed it.

don't let them get you down! easier said than done, i know... boy do i know. ask questions galore!! don't stop asking questions.. utilize this mentor fully. utilize your manager as well. approach a nurse you feel comfortable with, and ask her for her guidance, ask her what you can do better.

i never knew that when they said "nurses eat their young".. they had no idea of how much further that went!

hang in there.. you've got us here on allnurses to help you through!

oh, and always keep your eyes open for new positions... it's empowering to have them in your back pocket! :redpinkhe

RNforLongTime · Aug 31, 2010

Sorry this is happening to you OP.

When I moved into the ICU at a previous job, I was 'warned' by the nurse manager that her night shift crew was a tough one and I'd have to "earn my stripes" with them...prove my mettle..so to speak.

I did 6 weeks of day shift with one preceptor and got a glowing 90 day eval at the end of that 90 days. I even found a discrepancy in their heparin drip protocol and this was placed in my permanent record!!...then I went to night shift.

The nurse manager was right! I have NEVER met such a group of nasty backstabbers in my life!! It seemed I was in the office DAILY because they reported that I didn't know how to draw blood off a central line because I forgot the purple tube needed for the CBC...umm like they never forgot something when they thought they had everything before they went into the pt's room?

One night at around 4am, I noticed that they hadn't updated the assignment book...who had which pt's, who was floated out to another floor...so I asked if they minded if I wrote it in for them..sure go ahead they told me. Next thing I know, the assistant nurse manager is admonishing me because they told her that I'm trying to take over...ok then...

I was also accused of documenting my assessment before actually assessing the pt and then that I assessed the pt too quickly. One evening, I got out of report and by this time, I'm near the end of my orientation and taking on the full pt load by myself. So, after report I go out to my pt's room with the off going RN and we go over a few things, she leaves the room and I go about completing my assessments.....meanwhile my preceptor and the other RN are chit-chatting with the off going day shift RN's....20 minutes later, I go to sit down and chart my assessment while they are still talking.

So, I'm sitting there charting and my preceptor says to me, Did you chart your assessment without assessing the pts!! I was like um no, I assessed them while you and Mary were talking with the day shift. She was all...there is no way you assessed two patients in 10 minutes...I said actually it was more like 20 minutes...she still didn't believe me and I said well, you go assess them and see if we didn't come up with the same info. I told her I didn't assess them any differently than I did when I was on day shift with Mary and she didn't have ANY issues with my ability to properly assess the patients.

And since this was a union hospital, being as I was low man on the totem pole, I was always the first one to be sent out to float to other units when ICU census was low, which was frequently. I was lucky if I got to work in ICU one night a week(I worked three 12 hr shifts there).

Also had an issue with one of the weekend shift RN's who got mad because the SUPERVISOR assigned her to go out to the floors and float because ICU had no patients..ICU housed the telemetry monitor sfor the rest of the hospital so someone had to sit and watch the monitors. She felt since she was the senior RN that she should be the one to sit there while I floated. I stood my ground and told her that the supervisor made that call NOT me. So 3am rolls around and we're getting an admission. I offer to take it and she gets all snotty with me and was like NO I'LL take it...ok..not gonna argue....then I go to help her do her paperwork, which normally is how we worked things and I get told that she'll do it herself and if she needed my help she'd ask for it! OK THEN! I erased what I'd already written(we had to hand write the care plans and normally the other nurse did this while the nurse would admit her pt) turned away from her and didn't speak to her the rest of the night.

This was eight years ago and getting away from that toxic environment was the best thing I ever did.. Couldn't stand to work there another minute!! I'd watch my back OP because it sounds like they've got it in for you!

diane227, LPN, RN · Aug 31, 2010

1. Don't get offended. 2. Take the extra time from the mentor and work with it. Ask your mentor to offer you specific feedback on what you are or are not doing. 3. Make sure they understand that you will continue to ask questions. 4. I would start my shift by talking with the charge nurse and reminding them that I need to ask questions. Do they want you to come to them for those questions or go to another nurse on the unit?

What kind of unit are you on and how much initial orientation did you get? How many patients are you caring for at one time? Lots of other factors to consider here.

Let me repeat....DON'T GET ANGRY. Every one of us has had a similar experience. I remember when I was a year out of school and transferred from the floor to the ICU my preceptor told the nurse manager that she should get rid of me because I was dangerous. The manager did not get rid of me and it all turned out well. Keep asking questions. Never stop... no matter how long you are a nurse.

MurphRN · Aug 31, 2010

I've also had an experience like this. I took a job at a small community hospital in the I.C.U. They gave literally 2 days of orientation and then put me on my own. The patient acuity was less then what I was used to but I still had to get used to the layout of the place, and the specifics of that unit. ( Where supplies were kept, what Dr. worked for what service, they still paper charting and I was used to computerized charting, etc...) I was struggling with a difficult IV stick and asked for help. The place I had worked before was team oriented and asking one another to help with things like this had never been a problem. I asked a simple question about where I should be documenting something and the other nurse I was working with was short with me. I didn't really think anything of it until I was called into the unit manager's office and was told " This is NOT a teaching hospital" ! by the unit manager. The place was unionized and the other nurses had all been there for a minimum of 15 years. She then went on to state that the other nurses had come to her about other little things as well. She refused to elaborate but told me "it wasn't working out". I have no idea what they said but she never even asked for my perspective. I'd never been fired before in my life and I cried for weeks. I worked at a Level one trauma center for two years before that and had never even received a negative evaluation. It made me question everything I know and I seriously considered giving up nursing. Now I am working at another hospital and just received an excellent evaluation. Some people are just spiteful, unfortunatly.