Frustrated in Orientation

"At this rate, I feel like I will never make it off orientation."

Q: 

Dear Masked Maven,

I am in the middle of orientation and every day is a struggle for me. My preceptor tells me that I need to get used to doing everything. When I try to do it, she constantly complains that I am too slow and not doing things right and waits for me to do something wrong. I can never seem to do things as she would do them. When I ask for help, she reminds me that when I am off orientation, I will not have her there and I need to figure it out myself. What is worse is that during the case, she apologizes to the surgeons for my slowness and blames me for everything that does not go well for the case. No matter what I do or how much I prepare, it is never good enough. At this rate, I feel like I will never make it off orientation. What should I do?

Sincerely,

Frustrated in Orientation

A: 

Dear Frustrated in Orientation,

Wow, that is rough. This sounds like a classic case of training using tough love. But, that is not accomplishing what your preceptor thinks it is. One of my preceptors was exactly like this, and I dreaded being assigned to work with her. Thankfully, I had other preceptors who were not like this.

First of all, the way you are being treated is not at all a reflection of how you are doing in orientation. It is likely a reflection of the preceptor and how they were trained. They probably had a preceptor themselves that trained that way. That is not to excuse this behavior, but to give some insight.

It is really easy to just not say anything and try to suffer through orientation. I would not do that. The type of learning environment that is being created does not promote growth and is going to make it harder for you to learn to stand on your own.

The best thing to do is sit down one on one with them and talk about this. Let them know that you are struggling. Try to use statements that show how it is affecting you, such as, “When you ______, it makes me feel_____.”

If you have already tried this and it is not improving, you need to talk to your manager or your unit educator. They can help you figure out the next steps to keep your orientation going in the right direction. This may involve group meetings with you, the preceptor, and leadership or a change in who is your assigned preceptor altogether.

There is a lot to learn in the OR and it is important that the environment created helps set you up for success.

All the best,

Masked Maven

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AORN Resources

Open access:

• AANA, AORN, ASPAN Position Statement on Workplace Civility
• AORN Position Statement on a Healthy Perioperative Practice Environment

AORN members can access:

• Preventing and addressing incivility in nursing - AORN Journal