Depressed about oreintation schedule

[kaybrn]

I graduated last month and take NCLEX this Wednesday. I have the perfect job which I am suppose to start next week in NICU. My job will be a night position with 12 hour shifts which is what I wanted. I knew that my orientation would take place during the day shift. The nurse manager called me this week and told me that she wants me to work Monday through Friday for 8 hours a day for a while.

This has me very depressed. I assumed that I would work `2 hour shifts from the beginning. I have small children and want to be with them sometimes. I have a teaching degree. If I had wanted to work every day M-F I could be a teacher. I also had a mother who would carpool with me so I could get my kids to school. In order to carpool though you have to be able to drive sometimes. The hours the nurse manager wants me to work every weekday would make that impossible.

Do you think I could negotiate with my nurse manger? NICU jobs are not easy to find, and I really want this job. I really can't stand the thought of being away from 2 year old every day! I never thought that I would have this problem with nursing.

[RN1982]

Well it's true. If you really want this position, just suck it up and deal with it, the hours are not the same forever and I'm sure other people would like to have that NICU position, as they are hard to come by. Good luck to the OP. I'm not say this to be mean, more like in a big sister type of way.

[suzanne4, RN]

Best of luck to you first on the NCLEX exam.

Next, you need to be aware that orientation in the NICU is one of the longest orientations that there is. Most do not feel comfortable until they have at least been at it for months.

You may wish to talk with your manager so that you actually have some idea as to how long that your initial orientation is going to be on days, but expect it to be at least three months and perhaps even longer; have seen it go up to six months before someone went to shift. Nurse educators work and orient on the day shift for the most part, didactic training for the NICU takes usually about 8 weeks at the minimum, especially for a new grad. Let alone all of the clinical experiences that you need to cover before you will go to nights and be paired with a preceptor for sometime on that shift. This is one area where you will not be on your own for quite a few months; and for very good reason.

You are going to have so much book work thrown at you for the first weeks, that doing 12 hour shifts would not work. Your time is not going to be primarily at the bedside, but in the classroom to start.

Best of luck to you. But I would recommend speaking to your manager as soon as possible about what your orientation is going to cover and what will be expected of you. This actually was something that you should have been aware of from the beginning. How long were you told that orientation would take place for and how long before you would be on your own or at least on shift?

[MB37]

I too plan to work 12 hour night shift at my new job in adult critical care. I have never had a day job and it's nearly impossible for me to fall asleep before 4 am without chemical help (I have a scrip for sleep meds). However, I put up with it for 15 months of NS, and I'll put up with it for my 6 month orientation. We have class for three weeks, M-F, 8 hour days, before we start on the unit. Then we work two 12s - also days - and come in for an 8 hour daytime class, plus we do 8 hours from home online. I'll be miserable and sleep deprived, as I was for the entirety of nursing school (my body never adjusted to the hours), but I'll get through it. So will you. As someone else said, you had planned to have child care while you slept during the daytime anyways right?