I've noticed alot of threads lately from new nurses who seemed quite stressed out, which I can totally understand, I've been there for sure. So I thought I'd start a thread from the other POV. This shouldn't be an opportunity to be sarcastic or uncharitable, but maybe it can help a new grad to see the other side of the story.
I get nervous by a new nurse who doesn't ask questions. I also will have misgivings about a new nurse who asks a question and then argues with my answer. Also, a new nurse who knows it all makes me nervous.
I get irritated by a cocky new nurse. A little bit of deference and humilty is a good thing. But someone who grovels makes me unsettled. I also get annoyed if a new nurse is too bossy with the pts.
you have never been a seasoned nurse with a newbie to watch over and to teach while you still carry a full assignment and patience isn't your best virtue and those docs keep writing orders and that new nurse has so many questions and you haven't had a break all day and your bladder is about to erupt and your blood sugar is about two. so before you start bemoaning the idea that your preceptor has forgotten what it's like to be a newbie, think about the idea that you have no idea what it's like to be in her shoes!
i'm not gonna flame ya - you made me laugh:lol2: i'm new, but, except for the part about watching over a newbie (i am the newbie!) i've already been through many shifts like this - and believe me, i am not a nice person when my blood sugar is in deficit! (i especially have no patience for newbie interns who heave sighs every time i have to call them in the middle of the night because an md order is screwed up - thay know i can't fix it, but their attitude is "if the patient isn't on the verge of death, leave it for the dayshift." yeah, that's gonna fly with the day nurses, not to mention what'll happen to me if i don't fix a med order and give the med to the patient, or whatever else the problem is.)
I especially have no patience for newbie interns who heave sighs every time I have to call them in the middle of the night
My experience isn't limited to just interns - it extends even to 'seasoned veterans'.
because an MD order is screwed up - thay know I can't fix it, but their attitude is "If the patient isn't on the verge of death, leave it for the dayshift." Yeah, THAT'S gonna fly with the day nurses, not to mention what'll happen to me if I don't fix a med order and give the med to the patient, or whatever else the problem is.)
Somehow folks assume that "it's nighttime and everything should be ok".
I don't like leaving the next shift holding the bag either - days, eves or nights.
I am a new grad. I am the first to admit that I don't know ANYTHING! I do not suffer from overconfidence. I probably ask too many questions, but if I'm not sure about something, I am going to ask "to make sure" before I do it. I don't want to kill anybody because I was afraid to ask another question. Even if I do know how to do something, more than likely there's a better, more efficient way that it can be done. I encourage new grads like myself to always be open to a better way of doing things and admit when you don't know how to do something. I have worked as a student nurse tech, did an externship and transitions with preceptors, and worked as a nurse tech. I have never had any problems with any preceptors. Maybe I was just "lucky" but I think it was all in the attitude. And remember, just because you've started an IV, inserted a foley, or put down an NG tube ONCE does not make you an expert just yet.
I just finished orientation with a girl that always had a comeback to say, was very argumentative, and thought she knew how to do everything already. She didn't participate in any of the practices. Even when we were covering the contents of the code cart and what drawer has what she never got off her butt to come up and check out the cart or learn how a laryngoscope is assembled. There is no way on earth I would want this girl anywhere near me in an emergency.
i am a new rn, having just started working on an acute med floor..after working for a year in outpatient as an lpn. i made the move because i wanted to learn all those skills i did not recieve while i was in my preceptorship, so essentially i went with the intention to learn. my first few weeks were very difficult, new to the cna's, new to the nurses and my orienting nurse was also teaching a nurse student. so i was stressed out, tired, and of course full of questions. it is not easy being new, knowing that you are a load to the nurses on the floor, and hoping that your common sense will pull you through at some point.
with all that said, i am done with orienting, i am thankful to the nurses who have been supportive, and still are. i am finding that i am getting much better with my prioritizing and am not chasing my tail as much as before, which has freed me up to team play, this has made a significant difference in my more experienced rn's attitudes.
like everything it takes time, but if your new nurse goes in there to learn and become a productive part of the unit then mabye it is worth taking the time without huffing.
kudos to those nurses who even take on a new nurse to orient...and yes i do think you should get a bonus pay for doing it!!
Kudos to those Nurses who even take on a new nurse to orient...and yes I do think you should get a bonus pay for doing it!!
One person i trained got me a custom made magnet for my locker that says "love a preceptor" with the word love symbolized with a red heart. That was cool (and i have no idea where she got it either).
Ok I am a new grad, just finished my first 2 weeks on orientation.
I have to admit that when I first read this I wanted to post that I was quite tired of reading things about new grads, but then I began reading responses. Ok call it a knee jerk reaction! Anyways, I do appreciate hearing things that you all get irritated with new grads over.
So far my orientation has been good. I ask questions and I am the first to admit, that suddenly I feel like I don't know enough to do this job! LOL! I am also working on a unit that I have been a CNA on for 3 years prior to becoming an LVN. So I feel like my orientation can be spent on nursing stuff and not, hey where's the med room or where is this supply or that. I know where things are and I know my way around the hospital, so I can concentrate on my patients, and nursing stuff. I still break out my drug book if I don't know the meds my patient is getting, I will be the first to question if something doesn't feel right or look right. I see the nurses I work with, even the seasoned ones, still ask questions.
I remember right before graduation our teacher told us that by now we should recognize what we don't know and that if we thought we knew it all we were probably in trouble.
So anyways, from a new grad, thanks for your opinions. It helps.
i've noticed a tendency among new nurses to personalize stuff that really isn't personal. if a preceptor or co-worker corrects them, no matter how tactfully, the new nurse assumes that she's being eaten, that the preceptor is mean or that the co-worker is evil and hates them. then they complain about how they're being picked on, forced out of their work places and driven out of nursing and everyone rushes to comisserate with them. (ok, i've exaggerated a little -- but only a little!)
and
there are bad preceptors -- sometimes they're really good nurses and the right orientee can learn an awful lot from them. sometimes they're just bad nurses. there are lazy preceptors, and i don't doubt that there are even a few mean preceptors. but in reading these boards, it seems like the overwhelming majority of nurses and preceptors are mean, evil people out to humiliate and terrorize innocent, well-meaning new grads who have never done anything to bring this on themselves. i have difficulty believing that. the majority of nurses i've met in my long career are good people. sometimes they're bad nurses or bad teachers, but most of them are good people.
i have no doubt i'll be flamed for this post -- but my intent was to help new grads understand things from their preceptor's point of view. if one or two orientees or about-to-be orientees stop and think, i'm glad. let the flames begin from the rest!
:yeahthat: your whole post was excellent and right on target. it's really becoming a bit tiresome seeing the same "mean old nurse" posts again and again. in 10 + years the majority of the nurses i know are good and kind people. my best friend is another nurse, she's got about 17 years in. sure i have run across a few crabbies but thats true in all walks of life. i too have a hard time believing some of these newbies that go through several jobs in several months and then blame it on the preceptors. it doesn't add up.
i started out as a unit clerk while i went to nursing school and got hired at that same hospital. i stayed there for 10 years total. no job hopping and dealt with many personalities.
i have no doubt that there are many new grads that will do just fine. for the rest... time to chin up and thicken your skin!!!
as they say in georgia (lived there three years) "done did it already!"
it helped to talk with the nurses who were willing to listen, even if it meant wading through the ones who weren't. i've actually been able to lend a hand to other nurses on my shifts over the last couple of weeks, and the regulars on the night shift with me are much more supportive now that they understand just how woefully ill-oriented i was.
I start on the floor tomorrow. (This previous week was Nursing Orientation.) I am very nervous because there are lots of things I didn't get to do as a student. So, I am aware that I am at a skills defecit in some regards.
My only hope is for a kind preceptor that won't roll her eyes and sigh every time I have a question, need help or need guidance. I'll try not to be a cumbersome burden and to do what's asked without complaint. But please God, let my preceptor be a kind and patient soul.
My only gripe is with folks who start IVs, Tegaderm OVER 'em - but don't bother adding a saline lock!
Please folks! If you can't add the J-loop, it's fine... but please, please add a saline lock!
Just a thought, and I truly don't even know if this is true or if there is any literature to back this up, but I was taught in TNCC that if you put a #18g IV in the AC and then put a lock on it, it now changes your #18g to a #20g, and if you add a J-loop it will even change it to a #22g. So there is no sense in putting in an IV that large if you add the adaptors. I was just taught that every peice you add makes to gauge smaller. Like I said I'm not even sure if this is correct, but I know that you cannot run a level one rapid infuser through them. I am guilty for never adding a J-loop. Mainly because we don't even have them as stock in the ED, but I always put the lock on.
Hmmm, you may have a point. I know nothing of this and didn't learn it in school or at work.
I think part of my gripe stems from the kind of connectors we use - we don't have the kind where you screw on the loop to the catheter. We use the "push it into place and pray it doesn't pop out later" kind.
Like I said before - I know that the ER/ED nurses have their reasons for the things that they do :)
newbiern2006
34 Posts
i'm not gonna flame ya - you made me laugh:lol2: i'm new, but, except for the part about watching over a newbie (i am the newbie!) i've already been through many shifts like this - and believe me, i am not a nice person when my blood sugar is in deficit! (i especially have no patience for newbie interns who heave sighs every time i have to call them in the middle of the night because an md order is screwed up - thay know i can't fix it, but their attitude is "if the patient isn't on the verge of death, leave it for the dayshift." yeah, that's gonna fly with the day nurses, not to mention what'll happen to me if i don't fix a med order and give the med to the patient, or whatever else the problem is.)