started 3rd week of orientation and got told by the director :(

Nurses New Nurse

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Specializes in ED.

So i just started my 3rd week of orientation, but i had a meeting with my director, and my preceptor told her that i havent been keeping up the pace. its a med surg floor and constantly getting admissions and discharging patients so its really a faster paced environment that previous med surg floors that ive been at. my main concern is organizing myself. I can do the stuff but not really up to the pace that my director was expecting. I still have 3 weeks more to go with my preceptor after this week. Good thing another nurse gave me an agenda paper/guidelines on what your day would be like and i think its the answer that ive been looking for. i handled 3 patients today, and my director told me that i should be juggling 8 patients by the end of my orientation. Im really discouraged and i dont want to be replaced. The director told me that 120 new grads are waiting for my spot in case I dont meet up to her demands.. I feel like that i have what it takes to survive in that floor i just need direction on how to do so, and i dont really want to lose my job! I have a parttime job in a nursing home but i really want to have a job in an acute setting. Any suggestions? Any words of encouragement? I'm just really discouraged today. Thanks

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Specializes in CVICU, CCU, Heart Transplant.

My last semester of school I did a 150-hour (roughly 2 months) preceptorship on a MAGNET med-surg floor and was was barely taking care of 4 patients by the end. I think it is absurd to expect a new grad to have 8 patients in a month an a half. Eight patients is mayhem for a seasoned nurse, especially in a unit with many discharges & admissions.

All the new grads at my hospital have at least 14 weeks, critical care areas having 16 weeks. Out of all my classmates who a job, the shortest orientation I have heard of is 12 weeks. This is why there are so few GN positions because of the cost of training.

Plus, in my opinion, it's not very nice nor effective to lecture a new intern about how many people are waiting for their job! If I were you, I would continue to look for work elsewhere-- this unit may not be a good fit for you!

Best of Luck! :redbeathe

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I think the director was trying to motivate you. At least you can't accuse her of hiding the facts. I would give it my all and do the best I could. Opportunities like this don't come along every day so you have to try to make the best of it. But I do agree with what the previous poster said. Unrealistic expectations, but you can't change them. Just hang in there. Good luck!

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Talking about unsafe patient load!!!!!!!!! I dont care what kind of floor this is but having 8 pts as a new grad is very usafe,I used to work on a floor that handled 5 max,also I just interview for a med-surg floor mixed with residency program and the max amount of pt for each nurses is 5 or 6...honestly when then interviewer asked me what do I think a fair amount of patient load is I answered 7-8 patients (even though I dont think it is but I was scared this would be it is the norm of on their med-surg floor),she looked at me like I'm insane and answered that it is way too much and I would never have that many-I would have max of 6,mostly 5 and sometimes and 4.The hospital I applied to is a very small twenty five beds so it is not some magnet,high acuity patient place abut regardless they dont expect nurses to handle 8 pt...really maybe you should look for another place of employment while continuing with your orientation,also I had to laugh when your MIGHTY nurse manager threatened you by telling you that she can replace you in a given minute,ok she might have thousand and more applicants in this crappy economy but I wonder how many she can retain?,I bet you not that many...just remember to protect your license ,good luck

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Geriatrics, LTC.

The director is trying to motivate you. She probably sees something in you that she likes and wants to keep you. Getting the "cheat sheet" should come first but it never does for some reason! I too am in my third week of orientation and all of a sudden something 'clicked'. I just 'got it', you know, that light bulb moment? My job isn't the same as yours, I am a charge nurse in LTC but brand new and with 42 patients I thought it was impossible, but I finally got it the other day and now I feel really good. It will take awhile to get my speed up, but that's not my real goal, the goal is to feel confident. Take things one step at a time, maintain professionalism, ask questions and plug along. I bet your director doesn't want to start all over with another brand new person so know that you are ahead of "all those other people who want that job"...don't let her bully you! You can do this! :up:

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

Definitely keep up your positive attitude and continue doing whatever you can to improve your speed. I guess there will be some protest but I never took lunch when I was slower because I needed that extra time. Figure out where you can safely speed things up even though you may feel you aren't being as thorough as you could be. Unfortunately you might need to let go of some of what you were taught in nursing school. Plan and plan again. If you go to the stock room get everything you will need for the next few hours. Pack your pockets with things because those trip for 2x2s can kill your time management. I still write everything down on scraps of paper and chart throughout the day as time allows. Things will fall into place for you and please keep us posted.

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Specializes in ED.

Thank you everyone for replying. Really appreciate everything!. I will keep you guys updated

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Specializes in Psych, LTC, Acute Care.

Wow! You have a 8 patient load on day shift on a acute MS floor. I just completed my first year of nursing on a busy neuro floor and we have 4-5 patients on night shift and I complain sometimes. I guess I have it made. I encourage you to keep trying hard and work on your organization skills. Its hard but practice makes perfect. I think 6 weeks of oreintation is not long enough. I had 12 weeks and felt that was not long enough. Good luck and keep us posted.

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I had twelve weeks orientation as a new grad. I thought twelve weeks was the norm. 8 pts is a bit much for even a seasoned nurse. The floor is not like nursing school my third week I think I was only taking three pts. What I did was got a binder with all the important numbers ext I needed to know. I took notes also while I was being precepted and kept that binder with me for quick reviews so I wouldn't have to keep asking the preceptor something new. If I needed another explanation I defintly asked, but I had my notes of new things to reflect on. especially shortcuts and review sites on the computer. Good luck.

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I also asked my preceptor to print me out protocals and procedures that we frequently did on that floor so that I could become familar with them. She gave me print outs of heparin, intregelin, nitro, etc protocals. teaching handouts on what we had to do before and after a certain test / procedure, ie heart cath, tee, admits and d/c. I had a binder filled with teaching instructions including protocal for chest pain pts. I studied at home and I had allot of notes to go back to for future reference. Hope this will help you.:)

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Sounds like the preceptor and nurse manager I had for my end of school experience. Nobody can learn it all that fast, and your preceptor is dropping the ball by criticizing you instead of supporting you. It's not rocket science and it sounds like you're performing right where you should be. If they're disappointed it reflects on poor teaching on their part.

My nurse manager also took that hm...not sure you're good enough, better keep trying to prove yourself to me attitude. She liked people to be anxious to please her and under her boot. My flaky preceptor would ignore and neglect me then criticize me to her. I just smiled, did my work, and told my school instructor the facts about how I wasn't being mentored and used instead to staff the unit. On the last day when most people would have inquired about getting hired, the nurse manager hung around near me all day and I didn't say a word except hello. She approached me later and said "I guess this is your last day huh" (like here's where you grovel to me for a job) and I said um hm, thanks for having me. End of conversation.

I got a much better job at a far nicer unit with far better preceptoring (far better everything) and am so glad it didn't work out at the first place. I refused to even apply there, and it propelled me to a better place. Hopefully the same will be true for you. You are plenty smart enough if you've made it this far.

Now that I'm an experienced nurse, and doing great, and teaching students myself, I see even more clearly how much they shortchanged me and blamed it on me. I'm sorry it appears you are getting the same treatment.

Three patients is plenty for your level of experience while you try to learn all the policies and procedures on your unit. You are probably doing fine. My advice would be to hold your head up, be VERY vocal and insistent about what training you need, and apply other places in the meantime. If they don't care enough to nurture you, someone else will. Don't listen to rude intimidation about 120 nurses lined up to take your place. She just showed you she's not a good person to work for and you should explore other options. She's not going to get nicer later on.

Best of luck to you.

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Specializes in Medical Surgical Orthopedic.

I got told something very similar on the morning of my second day as a new graduate. I pretty much told them they were crazy! Now that I've been on my own for a few weeks, I get asked, "Why are you still here?" when I'm 15 minutes late leaving. "Umm, I don't have 20 years of experience like the nurses who left on time do? Buuut, my goal is to become as efficient as they are ....and let me tell you about alll the ways I've improved lately?" :idea:

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