[PhoenixGirl]

I am in LPN school and working pool as a CNA sometimes. Last night at work I was with a brand new LPN who told me all she had was 3 days orientation and then thrown onto the floor on her own! Is this a normal thing? She was talking about how she feels unprepared and disorganized and wished she had more orientation. I was thinking about trying to work at this place when I'm done with school but now I'm not so sure. 3 days seems like SO little, I hope this isn't routine.

Btw, this place is a mixture of LTC and sub-acute. I think the average load for the LPN is about 15 patients/residents.

When I go out looking for a job as an LPN, what is the length of orientation that would be acceptable?

[michelle126]

Orientation varies. As a brand spankin new nurse, I would want at least a few weeks.

[nurse_clown]

Well, normally around here a good orientation is about two weeks. In a perfect world, that's what we expect. BUT it doesn't always happen that way. When I applied at the LTC setting, I got two night shifts, one evening and 1/2 a day. Plus I got my corporate orientation which was a day. But at the hospital, I got one evening orientation and because they were so short staffed, I was thrown to the wolves and on my own.

I'm an R.N and would have appreciated a little more time to get used to the unit and routines but it just didn't work out that way. Meanwhile, other new RN's and RPN's got more time if they asked for it. I didn't know we could do that until one year later

At the nursing home, we have a binder that outlines the expected duties for the PSW's and Registered Staff. Sometimes, we can hope that the place who hires us wants to have competent workers but they don't always provide the time for the new ones to learn. Try not to worry about being prepared. Just work hard to learn all you need to learn from school and work hard to apply the principles you have learned to your work. I'm not sure what a CNA is or what type of duties you are expected to do. When you are orientated for a job, ask a lot of questions. Be eager to try things out and work hard to learn the routines.

Best of luck to ya! :hatparty: