Trash Preceptor in Nursing School? | Story Time

In this video I tell a story about a time that I had a poopy preceptor in Nursing School (lul). More importantly though, leave below in the comments a time you have ever felt bullied or experienced a situation where a "nurse ate their young" & I will feature it in an upcoming video on the topic!
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The views and opinions expressed on this channel and/or in the videos on this channel are that of myself and not of any educational institution and/or employer. In compliance with HIPAA and to ensure patient privacy, all patient identifiers in all videos have been deleted and/or altered. The views expressed on this channel and/or in the videos on this channel are personal opinions. The information I present is for general knowledge purposes only.

[@marie.s9995]

Unfortunately, my preceptor made my experience very difficult that day. She was demeaning and even poked her fingers at my head as if telling me to 'think'. I was so crushed that I broke down and left the unit in tears.

[@ninabella9300]

Not every "good nurse" is a good teacher. Mentoring is a skill that goes above and beyond clinical skills. Not every mentor/student is a good match. Thank you for this video. 🔥

[@NurseBass]

Very wise words right there. One doesn't always equate into the other

[@featherdee9213]

I am grateful to hear this.. I am being treated like shit as a new nurse and my preceptors are breaking me down. I thought the older nurses would be the best to help me but they are so cruel...

[@NurseBass]

Yeah I really hate to hear this. There are great places and people to be around and unfortunately, there is the opposite as well. I hope things improve soon!

[@uindyloveable]

I’ve had some pretty awful nursing instructors who have went on power trips and made my life a living hell. Something that happened to one of my classmates in our OB/Peds clinical was just awful. First of all, due to the pandemic and most of our classes being online, we haven’t had a lot of hands on experience with skills. Well, one day we were doing simulation and one of my classmates whom English isn’t her first language so she already struggles was up to play the nurse on the electronic mannequin while we all watched. My classmate was super nervous and couldn’t figure out how to suction a trach properly. Tell me why my instructor watched her suffer for this simulation for close to an hour without offering help while we all watched in horror as she embarrassed herself. Afterward, the instructor yelled at her and all of us for not knowing what we were doing and kept us an hour late to practice trach suctioning. I’m grateful she helped us with the skill but it almost seemed like she got off on our insecurities and lack of experience. This is an LPN program btw so it’s not like we had even been in school that long to be pros. Nursing school in general has been so stressful for me, I’ve cried almost every day. It wasn’t until this semester when I finally got a caring instructor that actually wants us to succeed that I’ve felt safe. Nursing school has been really traumatizing for me and my classmates.

[@alisondouds7875]

I’m so sorry you’ve experienced this. I’ll tell you, your clinical experience will determine how much you love a specialty, and your clinical instructor or preceptor is a giant part of that. Early in my ADN program, maybe 5 months in, we had our first simulation. Patient had type 1 DM, and upon assessment, her glucose was 689. She was confused with decreased LOC, lethargic, fruity odor to breath (yelled from the instructors watching the sim), and I was watching her O2 decrease. She was in DKA. There were about 5 of us in the sim. I grabbed the nasal cannula and placed it on the patient, but none of us were sure what to do, as we needed to hang regular insulin, but no one knew how to work a pump. The patient flatlined in minutes. Later we were told the whole sim was designed for us to fail. They said “we needed to understand how little we knew,” as though we didn’t know that lol. I understand sink or swim methods of teaching, but not without giving the tools to succeed first. Instructors should be there to guide you from the sidelines, not watch you drown and use that as some sort of lesson. Needless to say, I left that program and entered a BSN program at another university. BEST decision I ever made, as the new school I attended made me feel like they wanted to help me succeed, rather than tear us down and weed people out.

[@uindyloveable]

@@alisondouds7875 yes!!! And I absolutely hate the idea of “weeding us out”. We all worked so hard on prerequisites and spend on much time and money to get there, just to possibly be kicked out of the program for something silly. I understand that it’s extremely important that we know what we are doing because lives are on the line but nursing school is such a toxic environment and has pushed me away from wanting to further my education. And I learn soooo much more when I’m not under such harsh scrutiny. I’m glad you found a better program! I truly believe nurse bullying starts in the classroom. We have to figure out how to put an end to it. Life is hard enough without the extra drama.

[@sheepdog5799]

That’s why you have to advocate for yourself and let them know their behavior is not acceptable. Took me almost a full semester to do that and I’m glad I did.

[@uindyloveable]

@@sheepdog5799 I did advocate for myself and took it to the Dean along with half my class. My instructor was close friends with the Dean so nothing ever came of it, unfortunately.

[@strawberryrhubarbpie]

I had a nurse, she was a travel nurse at that hospital, who started off the morning so helpful and nice, telling me what we were doing every step of the way and answered all my question. But our clinical group always gathered for a small lunch break about half way through the day, and when I came back she had done a total 180 on me. When I asked her a question she answered me in a very short way and would just walk away without saying anything so that I had to run to keep up with her not knowing what we were doing next. She made me feel like I was a burden and she did not want me around. I have no idea why she changed like that but my best guess was that she was either annoyed that we went on break (maybe she didn’t do that when she had clinical) or she found out we were LPN students and not RN students while I was gone.

[@NurseBass]

I'm sorry to hear about your experience but I appreciate you for sharing it! Really really odd behavior to do such a 180!

[@fromlakerhood]

This happened during my last semester of nursing school. I was assigned a nurse who seemed nice and was glad to have me around. As a student it is impossible to know everything and sometimes when we get asked a question we sometimes forget at the moment. When I stood just thinking about the answer said you are taking too long and you should know this because you are in 4th semester. After that he calls over his coworker and starts making fun of me and hazing me in front of his coworker. I was really mad and upset wanted to swing and cuss him out but i decided to keep my cool and endure for the rest of day. Although that was horrible event, I ended up using it as motivation to study harder and to treat future students with kindness and respect especially when they want to learn.

[@marie.s9995]

A PACU nurse once taught me using the Socratic method, but I made it clear from the start that I didn't like that type of learning. It's not my preferred way of learning.

[@jBecker1844]

These videos are so encouraging! I wish all nurses had this helpful and humble attitude!

[@NurseBass]

I'm so happy to hear it. Thanks for popping in :D

[@nicmoni1986]

Not a nurse but as a laboratory scientist on my first week of rotations . And overall I guess my Preceptor is a nice human but horrible teacher . She just tells me to do a procedure without explaining or giving me a overview of her doing it first and wait for me to do something wrong to talk down as she explains the correct way (with words never a physical demonstration) and it was always followed by telling me no matter where I go i have to do it correctly . Whatever that means

[@amarmata1]

She points out my errors in front of everyone

[@deidragrosseibl1100]

I have a preceptor that’s a great nurse, however not a great teacher. She works fast and I’m a new grad so I work slow because I don’t know. She doesn’t really speak slowly or stop to explain things to me. And when she did my weekly progress report I get a bunch on 1s. Meaning not proficient.

[@GamRNightwing]

My clinical instructor was amazing for fundamentals.. she made us feel comfortable by relating to us.. what I mean is she would borderline be unprofessional by chatting in downtime (at school) and business only when it came to clinical and practice. Need more of that I feel like

[@NurseBass]

Yes, I honestly feel like that goes a very long way. I've had people who said that they really enjoy my videos, even the edu ones, because I 'keep it real.' & I think it just boils down to me being myself, and not putting on a professional, sometimes holier-than-thou front, much like your instructor :D

[@amarmata1]

New grad rn here only been on the flooor one day with her out of 2 and she belittled and humiliated me in frint if everyone

[@idunno6186]

I loosely remembered why we give lactulose from first semester (last year)! :D

[@NurseBass]

There you go!

[@KeepItRealRN]

It seems like these days the young are eating the young, and they are eating the old too.

[@NurseBass]

You dealing with or seeing bad things on the dept? Sorry to hear it tho buddy, I hope you're doing well sir! Good to see you again

[@Jordan-th8ps]

Ive only been through MedSurg rotations so far. Some nurses have been great but other are simply horrible. My second day I went up to a nurse and politely introduced myself and told her I was assigned to shadow her and assist her with whatever she needs, and asked if that is okay with her. She rolled her eyes, took a deep sigh, looked over at her charge nurse, and said "I guess, but I'm not going to try to teach you anything." Needless to say, I notified my clinical instructor, and I got moved to a better nurse. I was a police officer before going to nursing school. It is not uncommon that you show up for your shift and get told out of nowhere that you need to go pick up a "ride along" (usually a citizen that wants to see the job or an intern in college) at the station. I always hated having ride alongs because you are stuck in your car for most of the day with them and feel like you can't ever just take a deep breath when you need to. Having said this, I would never in a million years go out of my way to make the person feel like such a nuisance. I sucked it up and just tried to make the most of it and be friendly. I don't know where I am going with this, but it just amazes me how some people are...lol.

[@NurseBass]

Yes, also I would say that some people are just miserable people unfortunately. It should never bleed over into the experiences of somebody who is new though and in the learning phase. It just is unacceptable. But it's good that you had the similar experiences of your previous career. Sounds like you did what you needed to do. Make the most of it indeed!

[@PATRYAN84]

So I applied recently to a DNP FNP program recently and am set to start in after the fall semester. My end goal is to become a nursing instructor because of this reason. I understand nurses are busy, hell there are days I do not get a chance to pee. However, if a student is with me I take the time to help them understand why am doing what I am doing. Why shrug off someone who wants to learn. One day I will need a nurse to care for me. If its someone I helped educate I know I will be in good hands.

[@NurseBass]

100% 100% Also, good to see your name pop up in the comments section! Hope you're doing well buddy!

[@camillemarquez7716]

I'm working on getting in to an ADN program. However, being the overly sensitive little baby I am...this scares me!!!

[@NurseBass]

Lol, well have some trust in yourself that you are smart enough to do it, develop the calloused skin over time by diving into the fire, and lean on your peers your trust to uplift you when those moments of doubt come :)

[@Angelito_Noreaga]

Had an adv med surg clinical instructor that had a stank attitude on minute one of day one as we met her outside. This is at a very well known and respected hospital. All of my classmates did their best to appease her so they could at least pass and move on. I found her attitude to be unprofessional and I lost respect for her quickly. I didn't show any effort to appease her. I'm a vet with 12 years of service, I didn't come to nursing school to put up with some female's bullshit attitude just because she has a nursing license. Needless to say she wanted to fail me and worked backwards from there. She found out from my classmate at the beginning of my clinical that she was being fired after the semester.

[@hs7720]

I hear this. Not all BSN students are in their 20's with limited life experiences and resources. Rather, some students are mature, independent, self-actualized professionals who pivoted to nursing school for whatever reason. Unfortunately, we may threaten some clinical preceptors, simply by breathing and showing up. No, we are not dumbing ourselves down to a lower level to be liked or to pass this clinical. Rather, we employ negotiation and communication skills learned along the way and push to get through b/c you will not stop me (us). Sheep among wolves does not mean we are weak and unassuming. TY

[@theman3443]

Nursing student 4th semester this fall, Some Nurses have been trash bro

[@NurseBass]

Lol yes, this will happen. Congrats on 4th semester though! The end is nigh!

[@Nataly-lk9yj]

Love your videos

[@NurseBass]

Thank you so much Nataly!

[@mgar23]

Never bullied, one nurse told me I couldn’t shadow her because, she was to busy and wasn’t giving meds “correctly”. Whatever that means 🤷🏽‍♂️

[@NurseBass]

Well glad you haven't experienced any bullying. Keep grinding!

[@NurseBass]

Ever experienced nurse bullying or nurses eating their young? Leave your testimony below!

[@sheepdog5799]

Not sure if you saw it but I made a response video about this but it has been taken down. (Basically her behavior started on day one) Yeah, I dealt with it from an instructor. It got the point after she accused me and 19 out of 20 of her students that we plagiarized. I lawyered up and went straight to the Dean and took care of business. Of course this angered her and we had it out for about 4-6 hours in front of the entire class as she made some accusations about the person that reported it so I finally had enough & I shut that down right there. To anyone reading this, you have to be able to advocate for yourself. Although she cried crocodile tears at the end of the semester about what happened to this day she’s still a trash instructor. Heard from more of her students about how abusive she is and constantly brings them to tears. How she still has a job is beyond me.

[@laurenelizabeth7525]

Yes I have, both, in school and on the floor. At first, naively, I just couldn't understand how these nurses (who are supposed to be compassionate) could be such evil people. Now, I realize they are just miserable people. I was really sensitive before and their behavior would get to me, but now I blow it off. I learned to be thick skinned, AND an awesome nurse. I've noticed their behavior isnt limited to nursing students or new nurses, but carries over to their patients, too. TBH, I pitty them. And I use it as an example of "how not to be." I love precepting. I love helping baby nurses find their way. I just feel like they can learn better when they arent so stressed out all of the time. I just hope a good approach to teaching will go forward through them, and they will in turn exhibit the same in the future.

[@MegaRafaelloco]

She was the Dr Cox of preceptors 😭😭 “It’s regular strength Tylenol. Here’s what you do: you throw it at them, whatever sticks, that’s the correct dosage.”

[@NurseBass]

Loooooool

[@eltalizaire5241]

Am in a new gad program now n I get bullied, talk down to , belittle all in a different language sometimes. I think I have to quit

[@QsRandomRantz]

Yea bullying this video is not for me. I have to much experience in hand to hand combat to bullied.

[@NurseBass]

Hahaha yeah that won't fly around you I'm sure

[@moseleych]

It continues in anesthesia school too 🙃 99% of my preceptors have been great tho

[@NurseBass]

Lol Charles, I can only imagine. Glad you've been having good experiences though. I don't think we realize how pivotal the role is until we resume being the preceptee once again :D