New Nurse Orientation

In our program we ORIENT (not teach) to policies, procedures and resources available. Since the nurses are from different departments no competencies are done, unless they are generic to nursing, such as restraints and skin care. Unit-specific competencies are done on the floor. Even something as simple as getting vital signs is done on the floor, due to varying patient populations. Our CV-ICU has parameters and equipment that general pediatrics does not use, and vice versa. So vitals are a unit-specific competency that the preceptor is capable of assessing. Hope this helps.