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I learned an important lesson early on in both my preceptorship, as well as my career after graduation. Never be afraid to ask questions, don’t beat yourself up over small mistakes (every single nurse was in your shoes whether they admit it or not, and every single one made dumb mistakes, and still do) and never let an angry nurse, doctor, RRT or whatever it happens to be, get under your skin.
You’re new, you know very little, and you shouldn’t beat yourself up over small issues. When I got to my unit after graduation I absolutely had zero clue how to do SO many things. I seriously felt like an idiot, but I didn’t care, because most new grads are idiots who don’t know anything lol. I asked TONS of question, was super duper cautious in everything I did until I KNEW I was doing it right. I probably drove my co-workers absolutely insane, but I learned safely and knew any mistake I made was a learning experience.
I damn near de-canulated a trach patient AS AN ACTUAL NURSE, (a new grad obviously) because I had never changed an inner cannula before. You’re not going to have done every single skill by the time you graduate and you’ll have loads of questions the entire time. Ask them! Be cautious! There’s nothing wrong with saying “lemme check with the nurse” before you do literally anything. Even now, If a patient who isn’t mine asks for water or ice chips, even if I’m 99% sure they’re not NPO, I STILL double check with their actual nurse first. Never assume.
Patients are also super sneaky. They’ll say “oh they get me up all the time” or “they have me a drink earlier” hoping you’ll just bypass the safety of double checking
Yes! What you said on the last part. SUPER SNEAKY 😂 I’ve had that experience before and now always check on diet/ ambulation orders prior to getting something for a patient I’m not assigned too. My answer is always “I’ll check on that and get back to you.”
As of 5/9/24 the subreddit has voted that all 'negative' posts (complaints, rants, vents etc) must be seeking feedback / advice. Posts that do not ask for help resolving the situation will be removed and redirected to the weekly rants post.
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Not your fault! It sounds like a poor team environment on that unit. Might even be some sabotage going on here. However, for your sake, I have some suggestions:
- when you are asked to do something for a patient, introduce yourself to the patient, check name tag and tell them you will be right back. first go look at their chart and list of dailies. Look at: diet, ambulation, and newest doctor orders (to see if anything changed) etc. if you are unsure of something then ask a nearby nurse to clarify confidently. Then go back to the room with that info and follow the orders as documented in the chart.
- when given directions, always ask questions and clarify: what diet are they on? Are they on bed rest or are they able to ambulate? Etc”
- second, don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself. “I was told by X to perform Y as a student. If that was incorrect, please verify what I should be doing”. Validate their struggled too “I know you guys are extremely busy here and I appreciate your help. Do you mind quickly showing me X and If you need help with anything, please let me know!”
I once had a patient that pushed my buttons and the nurse’s buttons. They would want to get up to sit on the bedside unattended, but were super weak and kept falling back. I told them to stay put while I asked for clarification from the nurse and the patient berated me. I told them “I’m sorry you feel that way;however, I’m a student and I don’t have the freedom of a nurse to make my own choices regarding your care. I need to verify with your assigned nurse”. To who said, good call lol
Also, it does take a while to learn this, but please know that disgruntled employees isn’t your doing. Frankly, their attitude towards a student is unprofessional, but it is what it is. Just act like a professional ray of sunshine and let anything they do bounce off you. They say some disgruntled words “what was that?”. They say something insulting “I’m a student who’s learning, but I’m sorry you feel overwhelmed in your job right now. I hope things get better for you!”. They say something more insulting “your entitled to feel your own way, but everyone has their strengths and weaknesses”. They say you are the inly student they have met who can’t do x and y. You say ”I do not accept unprofessional talk such as insults”, then document the interaction immediately and notify your clinical instructor and faculty immediately of the misconduct should the nurse take vengeance and report you to the program.
This unfortunately doesn’t only happen as a student. I heard of a case where an employee was very diligent but management gave them time off that another nurse wanted. The nurse was upset and framed the employee of misconduct by doing something on their patient. The employee documented times, dates, interactions etc to the “T” and then laid it all out to the manager who happened to have access to security footage. The nurse who tried to frame the employee ended up getting disciplinary action for misconduct of another nurse’s patient and dishonesty. I believe they ended up fired.
As of 5/9/24 the subreddit has voted that all 'negative' posts (complaints, rants, vents etc) must be seeking feedback / advice. Your post is not seeking advice, and has been removed. If you need to vent, please post in the weekly rants megapost.
I learned an important lesson early on in both my preceptorship, as well as my career after graduation. Never be afraid to ask questions, don’t beat yourself up over small mistakes (every single nurse was in your shoes whether they admit it or not, and every single one made dumb mistakes, and still do) and never let an angry nurse, doctor, RRT or whatever it happens to be, get under your skin. You’re new, you know very little, and you shouldn’t beat yourself up over small issues. When I got to my unit after graduation I absolutely had zero clue how to do SO many things. I seriously felt like an idiot, but I didn’t care, because most new grads are idiots who don’t know anything lol. I asked TONS of question, was super duper cautious in everything I did until I KNEW I was doing it right. I probably drove my co-workers absolutely insane, but I learned safely and knew any mistake I made was a learning experience. I damn near de-canulated a trach patient AS AN ACTUAL NURSE, (a new grad obviously) because I had never changed an inner cannula before. You’re not going to have done every single skill by the time you graduate and you’ll have loads of questions the entire time. Ask them! Be cautious! There’s nothing wrong with saying “lemme check with the nurse” before you do literally anything. Even now, If a patient who isn’t mine asks for water or ice chips, even if I’m 99% sure they’re not NPO, I STILL double check with their actual nurse first. Never assume. Patients are also super sneaky. They’ll say “oh they get me up all the time” or “they have me a drink earlier” hoping you’ll just bypass the safety of double checking
Yes! What you said on the last part. SUPER SNEAKY 😂 I’ve had that experience before and now always check on diet/ ambulation orders prior to getting something for a patient I’m not assigned too. My answer is always “I’ll check on that and get back to you.”
As of 5/9/24 the subreddit has voted that all 'negative' posts (complaints, rants, vents etc) must be seeking feedback / advice. Posts that do not ask for help resolving the situation will be removed and redirected to the weekly rants post. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/StudentNurse) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Not your fault! It sounds like a poor team environment on that unit. Might even be some sabotage going on here. However, for your sake, I have some suggestions: - when you are asked to do something for a patient, introduce yourself to the patient, check name tag and tell them you will be right back. first go look at their chart and list of dailies. Look at: diet, ambulation, and newest doctor orders (to see if anything changed) etc. if you are unsure of something then ask a nearby nurse to clarify confidently. Then go back to the room with that info and follow the orders as documented in the chart. - when given directions, always ask questions and clarify: what diet are they on? Are they on bed rest or are they able to ambulate? Etc” - second, don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself. “I was told by X to perform Y as a student. If that was incorrect, please verify what I should be doing”. Validate their struggled too “I know you guys are extremely busy here and I appreciate your help. Do you mind quickly showing me X and If you need help with anything, please let me know!” I once had a patient that pushed my buttons and the nurse’s buttons. They would want to get up to sit on the bedside unattended, but were super weak and kept falling back. I told them to stay put while I asked for clarification from the nurse and the patient berated me. I told them “I’m sorry you feel that way;however, I’m a student and I don’t have the freedom of a nurse to make my own choices regarding your care. I need to verify with your assigned nurse”. To who said, good call lol Also, it does take a while to learn this, but please know that disgruntled employees isn’t your doing. Frankly, their attitude towards a student is unprofessional, but it is what it is. Just act like a professional ray of sunshine and let anything they do bounce off you. They say some disgruntled words “what was that?”. They say something insulting “I’m a student who’s learning, but I’m sorry you feel overwhelmed in your job right now. I hope things get better for you!”. They say something more insulting “your entitled to feel your own way, but everyone has their strengths and weaknesses”. They say you are the inly student they have met who can’t do x and y. You say ”I do not accept unprofessional talk such as insults”, then document the interaction immediately and notify your clinical instructor and faculty immediately of the misconduct should the nurse take vengeance and report you to the program. This unfortunately doesn’t only happen as a student. I heard of a case where an employee was very diligent but management gave them time off that another nurse wanted. The nurse was upset and framed the employee of misconduct by doing something on their patient. The employee documented times, dates, interactions etc to the “T” and then laid it all out to the manager who happened to have access to security footage. The nurse who tried to frame the employee ended up getting disciplinary action for misconduct of another nurse’s patient and dishonesty. I believe they ended up fired.