ED RN Orientation

RNCENCCRNNREMTP · Apr 25, 2003

Looking for input on ED Nursing orientation. If any of you can send me a copy of your ED RN orientation outline I would appreciate it. I am trying to redevelop ours. You can respond to me off list at [email protected] Thanks

AngelGirl · Apr 29, 2003

Hi, Andrew,

Having recently oriented to a very busy County ER after some time away, I have an opinion to share with you.

The ER in which I work is quite short staffed at times. When I showed up, a nurse of 30 years, but with little recent ER experienced, they were just so glad to have "another nurse," that orientation got lost along the way. I was assigned to one nurse who suddenly received 3 critcal patients. She stuck with one, as I juggled the other two on my SECOND ORIENTATION DAY!!

In retrospect, I should have stopped and insisted on sticking with the one nurse, my proctor, rather than accepting that idea that "no one else was available" to treat the other 2 critical patients.

The sad part of this is that the docs there didn't know that I was orienting and just figured I was NORMALLY clueless as to policy and location of items. It's taken the past 3 months to reset the clocks, so to speak, of some MDs.

Opinion: assign orientee to another nurse and join them at the hip for the duration.

AngelGirl · Apr 29, 2003

Hi, Andrew,

Having recently oriented to a very busy County ER after some time away, I have an opinion to share with you.

The ER in which I work is quite short staffed at times. When I showed up, a nurse of 30 years, but with little recent ER experienced, they were just so glad to have "another nurse," that orientation got lost along the way. I was assigned to one nurse who suddenly received 3 critcal patients. She stuck with one, as I juggled the other two on my SECOND ORIENTATION DAY!!

In retrospect, I should have stopped and insisted on sticking with the one nurse, my proctor, rather than accepting that idea that "no one else was available" to treat the other 2 critical patients.

The sad part of this is that the docs there didn't know that I was orienting and just figured I was NORMALLY clueless as to policy and location of items. It's taken the past 3 months to reset the clocks, so to speak, of some MDs.

Opinion: assign orientee to another nurse and join them at the hip for the duration.

CCL"Babe", BSN, RN · Apr 29, 2003

One thing I used to do was send my orientees out with the paramedics for a day or two. Usually it gave them a good appreciation of what happened first, and they never called them "ambulance drivers" after that.

CCL"Babe", BSN, RN · Apr 29, 2003

One thing I used to do was send my orientees out with the paramedics for a day or two. Usually it gave them a good appreciation of what happened first, and they never called them "ambulance drivers" after that.

tripletmom · Apr 29, 2003

I agree about orienting one on one with another nurse. I myself just transfered to the ED, and my orientation was lost in the shuffle of busy days. I picked up on some things quickly because I worked the ED briefly years ago, but unfortunately some of what I'm learning is by learning from mistakes. Thank goodness they are on paper and not on the patients. It is easy to forget someone is orienting when it gets busy, but very improtant that they learn the system and how things work. They should all know where everything is in the department before they are told to get something STAT in a code situation. That I have learned the hard way as well. One thing that has saved me though is our ED has exellent team players. Our Doctors and Nurses work well together. But nothing should take the place of a good orientation.

tripletmom · Apr 29, 2003

I agree about orienting one on one with another nurse. I myself just transfered to the ED, and my orientation was lost in the shuffle of busy days. I picked up on some things quickly because I worked the ED briefly years ago, but unfortunately some of what I'm learning is by learning from mistakes. Thank goodness they are on paper and not on the patients. It is easy to forget someone is orienting when it gets busy, but very improtant that they learn the system and how things work. They should all know where everything is in the department before they are told to get something STAT in a code situation. That I have learned the hard way as well. One thing that has saved me though is our ED has exellent team players. Our Doctors and Nurses work well together. But nothing should take the place of a good orientation.