I’m a new grad RN currently going through OR orientation, and honestly, the way some people treat new nurses is starting to really get to me. I came into the OR excited to learn, pretty outgoing, and genuinely motivated. But over the past couple of months, I’ve become so much quieter and more hesitant to ask questions because of how certain coworkers respond. There’s one scrub tech in particular who has been consistently rude to me. Today, I was standing near a draped microscope when she suddenly yelled across the room that I had contaminated it by touching it with my head and that they couldn’t use it anymore. I genuinely didn’t feel my head touch anything, so I was confused. Everyone stopped and looked at me, and I just froze. My preceptor quietly said, “It’s okay, we’re done using it anyway.” I want to make it clear that I understand how important maintaining a sterile field is. As a circulator, I know it’s my responsibility to speak up if I contaminate something, and I would absolutely admit it if I knew I had. I have no problem being corrected, especially when it comes to patient safety. But I genuinely didn’t feel my head make contact with the microscope, and the way she immediately started yelling at me in front of everyone felt more like being scolded than being educated. She constantly says things to me in a very demeaning tone of voice, basically making me look stupid anytime she talks out loud to me. She knows the right things to say so I wouldn’t be able to respond (stuff relating to patient safety) , so I would then look dumb if I tried to argue back. I’ve brought up this scrub tech’s behavior before, but the response I get is basically, “Oh, she’s like that with everyone in the beginning.” Except I don’t really see her treating experienced nurses this way, and I haven’t noticed her treating other new grads this way either. What’s frustrating is that I genuinely notice a difference in myself depending on who I’m working with. When I’m around supportive nurses and scrub techs, I’m asking questions, taking initiative, and actually enjoying learning. When I’m around people who constantly make me feel stupid, I completely shut down. I know I have a lot to learn, and I’m not expecting anyone to hold my hand. I just don’t understand why being new means you’re expected to tolerate being talked down to. I ended up crying after work today because I’m honestly exhausted from feeling this way. I don’t think I hate the OR itself. I think I’m starting to hate how I feel at work. Has anyone else experienced this during OR orientation? Does it actually get better, or is this just the culture in some ORs? How did you handle coworkers like this without making your orientation even harder?   submitted by   /u/sexynessybaby [link]   [comments]