Anyone been a new grad on a unit they've worked before?

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:chair: I'm just feeling a little frustrated & overwhelmed as a new grad. I finished school 12/06, but I have been working on the same hospital unit for the past 2 years as both a CNA and a unit secretary.

I thought at first I would have a better advantage over the other new RNs due to the fact that I knew the unit, the computer system and contact resources. That was true at first, but now I feel that some of the RNs and my boss are expecting me to know everything and have been pushing my orientation faster than the others. New grads are supposed to get 3 mos of 1 on 1 mentoring. At the end of my first week, the charge RN had put me with 2 different shift nurses and then when the other half of the shift was to start asked me if I wanted to take on 2 new pts of my own. To say the least, I about exploded and stated NO - I want the same pt and I want to have a normal 3 mo orientation just like everyone else (of course me quiting smoking that day may not have helped my temperment).

So after all my griping, has anyone experienced a similar situation where you've worked on the unit before you were a RN and if so, how did you handle it?

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Specializes in Pediatrics Only.

I completely understand where you are coming from.

When I graduated in '05- I went to work as a GN-RN on the floor that I had worked on as a student nurse aide for 1.5 years. I thought it was a great decision as I liked the people, knew the floor, knew what the policies/procedures were, and figured it would be better then starting off fresh somewhere else.

I was wrong, and I regretted it as I dont think my orientation was as good as it should have been. I wish i would of went into the NICU at the same hospital, instead of the peds floor that I had worked on.

I only lasted 3 months d/t my husbands job transfer, but I do know that my orientation wasnt the best and if I could have done it all over, I would of done it differently and went to NICU instead.

If I stayed, I dont think I would have transferred for at least a year but..I cant say for sure.

Also, I would discuss your concerns with your nurse manager and let her know that you want to be treated as a normal new grad and receive the same orientation and preceptor that the other new grads do.

Good luck in whatever you choose to do, and good luck with your orientation!

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Specializes in Rural Health.

Yes

Our orientation is supposed to be 3-4 weeks on days and 3-4 weeks on nights. So basically 6-8 weeks. We had classes last month that were NOT supposed to count in our orientation time to the floor.

So far, it appears everyone has gotten their full 6-8 week orientation and didn't have their classes counted against them, except for me. They claim that because I've been on this unit since July as a tech, I didn't need the extra orientation time. So, I was cut loose before the rest of us that were all hired at the same time.

After my 3rd shift my preceptor had to go home early for a sick child and I was forced into taking our team for the last 4 hours because they saw me as experienced already. I was supposed to have gotten help but everyone else was busy too.

My orientation was just the tip of the iceburg that finally sent me over the edge to quitting last week. I tried to talk to my manager and it got me nowhere. Then I guess I made her angry for questioning her because now she is playing games with me.

I wish I had some great advice, but I don't. I just wanted to tell ya...I know how it feels.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

I am actually experiencing the exact same thing right now. It's hard enough being a new grad and extremely overwhelming when the expectations are higher because you have already worked there. I don't know if it makes you feel any better, but you are not alone. Hang in There!:monkeydance:

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Same thing is happening to me. i have just qualified, and started my first job on a ward that i had a student placement. normally newly qualified staff have a 2 week supernumary period when they are not counted in the numbers to get to know the ward. I turned up for my first shift on tuesday this week and was told that because they were short i would be straight in."heres your 8 patients, you know what you're doing".

I almost burst into tears because I thought there was no way i could handle it. in the end it went allright and nobody became very sick on me. I don't think it was fair to me to drop me in it like that, but I was told "thats life".

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Specializes in acute medical.

Where I am, I am not on a ward I know, but I know many of the staff there from previous wards. We only have an orientation period of 5 days and then have a preceptor until the end of the period. Once you are over the five days you are then on your own, though you are welcome to ask questions. I am lucky because we work as a team, and generally no one has their own patients because of the type of unit it is.

My problem is the opposite. It is really hard to know you have knowledge about the hospital etc, and not be able to share it. It's hard to know that when you share information whether ppl think you are showing your initiative, or whether they think you are "showing off', which is not my intention. So I'm learning to shut up. I had a talk to my preceptor about it, and hopefully I'll find a happy medium now.

The next two wards I go to I will have worked on before, especially the third one, where I know virtually all the staff. So I'm a bit apprehensive. I was lucky though in that my clinical educators have made a point of not placing me in the field where I had been working for years...

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thank you all very much for sharing your thought & troubles.

Now instead of running around with 5 patients & a preceptor - we share a max of 4 pts where I just take 2 for now. Now I seem bored because I am not running around like a chicken with it's head cut off (better knock on wood before I jinx myself) - funny how things can work backwards sometimes. I guess my little blow up caused my boss & our clinical spec. to re-evaluate the situation (the one time I can say THANK YOU to nicotine withdrawls).

Thanks again for the support and good luck to all of you in your struggles & triumphs! Let's show them that new grads can kick butt! :cheers:

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Specializes in acute medical.

Good for you! :smiley_ab

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Im from Chicago moving to Houston,Texas as a new grad LPN. What is the going pay in 2007, and where do I start Looking? Thanx.

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Specializes in Operating Room.

I worked for a year and 2 months in the same OR where I had been a surg tech for 2 years. I also thought it would be a real benefit but it turned out to be not so good for various reasons. First of all, there were techs there that were resentful that I became a nurse and gave me grief over it. This shocked me because I didn't go to school to be better than anyone. I also experienced the "you should know this already" nonsense and often I'd be pulled to scrub when there were cases that I really could have learned a lot from as a circulator. The straw that broke the camels back was having me run the board on evenings when I hadn't been out of school a year and there was no consideration of the fact that I was a new nurse.

I ended up leaving. I think a big problem there is they have staff that have been doing this for years and forget what it is like to be new. My advice is to not work on the same floor as a nurse where you worked in a different capacity. Maybe when you are more experienced, fine, but go where you can have a clean slate and no unrealistic expectations.

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Specializes in PACU.

oh no, i am scared now. i accepted a position in the PACU where I had done an externship and working as a CNA there. I can see this happening, because our unit is going through a lot of ""issues". i hope i will be ok......

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Specializes in Adolescent Psych, PICU.

I have been experiencing the same thing and I don't even graduate until May.

I work as a nurse tech in an ICU. I was talking to the charge nurse the other day and she told me my orientation would be about 8 weeks because I already work there (for ICU I think that is ridiculas and they will NOT budge). I think they are just going to push me beyond what I am comfortable with when I graduate. So, I'm looking to work somewhere else and I'm ok with it. My tech job is giving me a lot of experience and change is good right?

I thought working on the same unit I wanted to be an RN would be good, but I just don't think it's a good idea. Working as a tech is nothing like having the responsibilities of an RN (especially a new RN).

There are some other issues I don't feel comfortable with as well, a lot of experienced staff are leaving and the worries me. I think I could be ok with that if I was an experienced RN, but not as a new grad.

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