I had my fair share of bad preceptors throughout three years of nursing school. I had preceptors who would ignore my questions and another who would nitpick every little thing I did. Everyone has bad experiences with a certain preceptor, and I’m here to share how I dealt with my bad preceptors.
If you do not feel comfortable with your preceptor, go find a new one
If your preceptor does not care to teach you anything, talks down on you, or performs some questionable nursing actions, get a new preceptor. Try to find a new preceptor who is willing to teach you something, even if you have to double up with another student. If you see unsafe nursing practices, please report it to your instructor so they can take it up to the charge nurse.
The reason some preceptors do not want students is that it slows them down and presents another stressor, and preceptors are not monetarily compensated for their efforts. You will find a preceptor who sets all these aside and provides great learning opportunities for you. Once that happens, learn as much as you can from that preceptor!
Speak up for yourself
I had a preceptor who expected me to know everything about the intensive care unit (ICU). This was our second semester of nursing school, and we had not covered critical care yet (our nursing school curriculum was not in the best order, but what can I do)? I knew absolutely nothing about the ICU. This preceptor expected me to know how to do all different kinds of interventions, such as inserting IVs (I had no practice yet). I told him that I was not comfortable doing all these interventions yet, and would prefer to watch him do it first before I try it. My preceptor told me that I should already know how to do these things.
As much as I hate confrontation, I sucked it up and told my preceptor in a professional manner what things I could and could not do comfortably. Do not attempt something you did before on a real patient, especially by yourself. Always always always practice patient safety first.
Speak up for your patients
As a nursing student, you should advocate for your patient. I had an elderly patient whose brief needed to be changed because the patient had some diarrhea. This patient had C. diff, which is a contagious disease passed on through contact. His brief had not been changed since the previous day, and he cannot do it himself. I told my nurse about our patient, and she did not care much to change him right now and said to do it later today. I stood my ground and said that he could get a pressure ulcer, especially with how limited mobility he had. The nurse still did not care much, so I looked for the CNA for the patient, who was more than happy to help me change him. The patient ended up with a stage two pressure ulcer.
The overall lesson of the day is to stand your ground and speak up for what you think is the right thing to do, even if you get told that it is wrong.