Reality check: new grad in SNF

[NotFlo]

Can anyone with experience overseeing or orientating new grad RNs in the SNF environment please tell me where they would expect the new grad to be after five to six weeks of 1 on 1 orientation? How long does your facility give new grads for orientation and at what point is it determined if the person can safely handle an assignment by themselves (with plenty of people available for support and answering questions still, of course).

I'm just wondering if my expectations are way off with where a new nurse should be in this setting at this point in orientation and I think I need a reality check.

[RNGrammie]

5-6 weeks of orientation in a SNF is a long time. I believe when I oriented a few years ago, it was only a couple of weeks. Don't know if that's the norm or not, but 6 weeks seems a bit long.

[chickie]

I only got 2 weeks 10 years ago, but things have really changed since then. We are giving new grads in the hospital 3 months entry-into-practise orientation. Wish we had this program when I was a new nurse

[PAERRN20]

I know this is different but as a brand new grad RN in the ER I was on my own and carrying a full load by 6 weeks

[arelle68]

I got about two and a half weeks two years ago, then they told me to sink or swim. I swam, but only by the GRACE OF GOD!

[NotFlo]

I know this is different but as a brand new grad RN in the ER I was on my own and carrying a full load by 6 weeks

Wow! Did you feel like you had enough orientation?

[NotFlo]

5-6 weeks of orientation in a SNF is a long time. I believe when I oriented a few years ago, it was only a couple of weeks. Don't know if that's the norm or not, but 6 weeks seems a bit long.

Yeah, only four years ago I got about a week at a SNF then was on my own, sink or swim style. I'm not saying it was right or ideal by any means, but that's the way it was.

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

Six weeks is not the norm in LTC. I worked at one place that gave every new grad 6 weeks of orientation and by the end of the 3rd week they were pretty much ready to go. Back in the dark ages when I had orientation, it was 3 days...and yes, I was a new grad.

[etaoinshrdluRN]

I got 3 days, which I asked to be extended to 5.

At 5 or 6 weeks, slow but confident and independent is good. The nurse should still be asking a LOT of questions that will take months to become second nature.

LTC is notorious for throwing nurses in without much orientation or precepting, perhaps because the acuity is so low. I know that I would have liked a lot more orientation to the clerical crap as a new grad; treating patients was the easy part!

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

lol...apparently you haven't worked in a facility with a subacute unit...low acuity?? I think not.

[DizzyLizzyNurse]

Wow we only get 10 days.

[DNS on the go]

I got 2 days class room, 1 day to learn the medications pass and ordering process, 1 days to learn treatments and 1 day to learn the paperwork and how to do report, etc. That was it. They held our 1st weeks paycheck for 6 months so if you bailed on them, you do not get paid. As for an extension, you have got to be kidding. I was told by the in-service director that her orientation was to shadow a nurse for a day and then your on your own. If training is what you want, SNF are not the place to go.