Difficulty Orienting with Younger Nurse?

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Is it just me or has anyone else had trouble during orientation with a younger nurse? I am over 40, been a nurse for 15yrs, just moved to a new area and starting a new job on a med-surg floor. The nursing care I am comfortable with but the computer program is taking time for me to learn. The nurse I am orienting with seems like a very good nurse but when it comes to teaching me the program, her patience is being tested. I feel like an idiot!!!! She clicks away so fast and thinks I should be able to follow. Is there something unique about brains that grow up with computers? I sware there is a direct link between her fingers on the mouse and her brain! I have explained ot her that I need to actually do it and have her walk me through it to retain it but that doesn't seem to be happening. I would like to orient with someone on the same wave lenghth..........help!

Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Hang on Just a Gosh Darn minute!

I am on the far side of 50 & I am an uber--proficient computer user, including database programming and design and development of eLearning programs. Technology is my friend. I relax with my Nintendo DS and spend time in Second Life each week. I continually encounter veiled (and not so veiled) amazement that someone as ancient as me actually knows how to turn on a computer.

If they only knew. My first pc didn't even have DOS or a hard drive - we had to hard code anything to make it run in HUGE floppy discs or tape drives. And don't even get me started about punch cards -- anyone remember those?? In my view - computer systems today are pretty much idiot proof... just point and click. My dad - 86 years young - is an avid Internet user and loves playing video games, especially the ones with combat simulations. So - enough with the age-ism already.:no:

Computer competency has nothing to do with age - it's all about familiarity & experience. Chances are, the "older" staff just hasn't had the benefit of the high levels of exposure that the young ones have. Because it is may be unfamiliar, they aren't comfortable with it - YET. Just make sure that new users have an opportunity to practice in a "safe" environment - don't turn them loose unassisted in a live environment until they are ready. Provide readily available (e.g., stuck to the side of the monitor) graphic job-aids that illustrate the location of everything, including which darn menu it is hiding under. And please, don't over-react if your new user makes can't recall which button to click. Give them enough time and they will undoubtedly become proficient.

I'm not saying there aren't some real differences that arise with increasing age - like being able to tie your shoelaces standing up :chuckle. But knowledge and competency don't belong to any one generation or age group.

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But knowledge and competency don't belong to any one generation or age group.

I don't recall anyone saying odler people were incompetent.

The brightest people in the IT industry just happen to be older as well.

The attitude about computers though is very different. You being an uberGeek (that's a complement!) at your age is a rarity. Most people that are older don't want to be bothered. Many don't own computers and those that do see it only as a tool to use for email or the occasional browsing.

That attitude is what impedes learning. That and the unwillingness to place more importance on computers than they think is necessary.

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I am curious, how does having a home computer equate to learning the software programs we use at work? It doesn/t as a matter of fact. If we were allowed to have the same software on our computers at home, then that makes sense.

Our system uses Epic, Clinicomp, Mainframe etc, etc, Each is very different than the other programs. Our facility has everyone who is new take a 4 hour class to use say Clinicomp. 4 hours is not enough if someone is totally unfamiliar with the program. On the job, with patient care it is very difficult to learn all the programs.

I personally did not have difficulty, but that is how my brain is hardwired. It is not like that for everyone. I tell the new people, ask if you have questions I will show you, or I will sit next to you and as you come across something you do not know how to do in the program I will teach you. Again it takes time to learn the ins and out of the hospitals software program. They are not necessarily user friendly.

I have given them small cheat sheets which tell you what combinations of keys will get you to the screen you want.

There is so much thrown at the new people it is sometimes amazing they have the fortitude to stick it out at all.

Working with a computer at home familiarizes a person with how a computer works, necessary for using the computer at work. Nobody expects her to use the computer programs from work at home.

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My mother is sixty, so did not grow up with computers. She has a PC and is a Tech Support nightmare. I swear, I would not want to be the one on the other end of the phone when she calls Tech Support.

I bought her an iPod Shuffle for her birthday last summer, thinking it would be nice for her to have something to put her oldies on to listen to while out in the yard gardening, or puttering around the house. I showed her how to set it up, how to put music on it, and everything, and honestly, I don't think she uses it because she cannot remember how to make it work.

many yrs ago, i got my mil a microwave oven...something she had never used.

next time i came over, she was using it as a breadbox.:cool:

leslie

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Specializes in ER, PACU, Med-Surg, Hospice, LTC.

Personally, I feel that computer classes should now be a part of the Nursing curriculum. If one already has the computer skills necessary, they could take a computer skills test and have the class waived.

I think that it is unfair to train a person in the Nursing field and expect them to be proficient with computers (if they have never really used one before).

I think this just feeds into the frustration and burn-out of new Nurses.

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Specializes in ICU.
Personally, I feel that computer classes should now be a part of the Nursing curriculum. If one already has the computer skills necessary, they could take a computer skills test and have the class waived.

I think that it is unfair to train a person in the Nursing field and expect them to be proficient with computers (if they have never really used one before).

I think this just feeds into the frustration and burn-out of new Nurses.

"Introduction to computers" is one of the required classes for the nursing program at my school.

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Personally, I feel that computer classes should now be a part of the Nursing curriculum. If one already has the computer skills necessary, they could take a computer skills test and have the class waived.

I think that it is unfair to train a person in the Nursing field and expect them to be proficient with computers (if they have never really used one before).

I think this just feeds into the frustration and burn-out of new Nurses.

The computer classes are part of the nursing program now...

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Intro to computers is hardly sufficient. I think computers should be an integral part of every class. Whether used in testing, writing papers, having computerized assignments, something...

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Intro to computers is hardly sufficient. I think computers should be an integral part of every class. Whether used in testing, writing papers, having computerized assignments, something...

One should start using computer at home....

:usarm:

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update on my struggles.... so i have been sticking with it, precepting with someone more patient (regardless of age), and it's finally starting to click (or i am)! it's not that i am or was a total luddite lol, as i have used computers in my daily life for years, but i think the combo of needing to learn even more, a new facility, new focus of nursing and a challenged teacher made for a seemingly hopeless outcome.

advice for others in my shoes - stick with it, better to move slowly than not at all......oops, i think that was confucious!:yeah:

thanks!!!

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