I have been an RN on a general med-surg floor for about a year now. I was asked to precept a newly graduated RN and am curious about our floor's preceptor program compared to others.
The maximum number of patients for one RN on our floor is 6. I always thought that as a preceptor, I would have no more than 6 patients combined with the nurse I am teaching. And it started out that way. But now that the nurse I am teaching is a few weeks into her preceptorship, I am being told by management that I am to take a full patient load and the new nurse I am orienting is to take a full patient load. This makes me uncomfortable because I feel responsible for double the patients and don't have the time to double check everything my orientee does because I have my own 6 patients to keep track of. My question is this.... if the new RN makes a mistake with one of her 6 patients while on orientation, who is responsible? Would it be her (she is an RN, afterall) or me as her preceptor since she is still on orientation for a few more weeks? I have asked management at our facility and they won't give me a clear answer, saying things like "well, your orientee is an RN so she can be held responsible but you are her preceptor so you still have some responsibility too". But they got angry when I said that I wasn't comfortable having 2 full patient loads while orienting a new nurse.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts!
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I have been an RN on a general med-surg floor for about a year now. I was asked to precept a newly graduated RN and am curious about our floor's preceptor program compared to others.
The maximum number of patients for one RN on our floor is 6. I always thought that as a preceptor, I would have no more than 6 patients combined with the nurse I am teaching. And it started out that way. But now that the nurse I am teaching is a few weeks into her preceptorship, I am being told by management that I am to take a full patient load and the new nurse I am orienting is to take a full patient load. This makes me uncomfortable because I feel responsible for double the patients and don't have the time to double check everything my orientee does because I have my own 6 patients to keep track of. My question is this.... if the new RN makes a mistake with one of her 6 patients while on orientation, who is responsible? Would it be her (she is an RN, afterall) or me as her preceptor since she is still on orientation for a few more weeks? I have asked management at our facility and they won't give me a clear answer, saying things like "well, your orientee is an RN so she can be held responsible but you are her preceptor so you still have some responsibility too". But they got angry when I said that I wasn't comfortable having 2 full patient loads while orienting a new nurse.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts!