Re: Ahh! New grad starting on a med/surg floor!
You might want to leave that med surg reference at home because you probably won't have time to look at it while you are at work. Paper work is easy. Fill in the blank. You have to concentrate on learning the policies and what their standards of care are for certain illnesses such as pneumonia, etc. What is the routine. Every hospital will have certain medications that they use the most and will have a standard formulary. Most will have some type of standard orders for certain things: for example, we have set sets of orders for each type of orthopedic surgery we do, all our PCA's, TPN, restraints etc. So get to know those standard order forms. Get to know your charge nurse and ask them what they expect from you. And your preceptor as well. If you are not getting the back up you need, let your manager know so that you can get what you need during orientation. It is a lot to learn.
What kind of floor will you be working on? What kind of patients? What shift? What will be the nurse/ patient ratio? How big is the hospital?
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