Five week ER orientation

[Happy-ER-RN]

Hello.

I am a new grad starting my Orientation in a busy level 1 trauma center next week. I will have 5 weeks of orientation before I will be on my own. I was never a Tech or anything, just had a summer internship in a small ER. My question is, is 5 weeks ridiculously short and will I be a danger to my patients? I know that I will never do anything I am not comfortable with without asking for help, but still, FIVE WEEKS! I have heard some have 6 months. I would hate to request a longer orientation time and appear to lack in confidence right off the bat.

[RN 2005]

Hello everyone, just wanted to post an update. I am now in my 3rd week of orientation, I went to my manager yesterday and said I am not going to be ready in two weeks (most of it is general hospital wide classroom orientation). Apparently the majority of new grads get an extended orientation. So to answer my own question, no 5 weeks is not even close to enough. We see about 60,000 pts a year--and are the only level 1 trauma center in the area.

Anyway, they gave me about three weeks more of orientation, and if I am still not ready I will ask for more. I absolutely refuse to put my patients lives in danger and my license on the line. I still don't know how to find a freakin' alcohol swab when I need one, much less manage my patient if they crash all of a sudden.

This trend of shorter orientation time is soo soo soo scary. What would the general public think if they knew hospitals where willing to let a nurse with a few shifts of experience care for their critically ill family members.

I understand completely how you feel. Just knowing where supplies are when you need them IS important in the ER....I am hanging in there on my orientation also but it is a struggle and I really wonder if they possibly remember what it is like to be a new grad. I am glad you posted again.... I have wondered if I was the only one just doing all I can to escape at the end of my shift doing less damage to the patients then what they came in with!

[Happy-ER-RN, RN]

So, how long does it take before I feel any sense of knowing what I am doing? Every day is so busy that it's just this whirlwind of things being thrown at me, after 6 shifts it seems like I have not had the same type of patient twice--which is what I thought would be so great about the ER. Now that I am here I don't know how I am going to learn all of this. All of my happiness and excitement has been drained from me and I just want to throw up when I walk into the department in the morning! :)

I thought I would be so great at this because I love to be busy and think fast and I am usaully assertive and outgoing and independent. :chuckle I was until I started this job at least. I also thought I had such a good knowledge base because I did well in school...I guess I am just not used to feeling stupid all the time! I don't know if I am just overwhelmed right now or if maybe ER is not for me, nothing else sounds good though!

I appreciate all the responses.

[carachel2]

Hang in there Happy ER RN ! I came home and cried almost my entire first week ...TRULY ! I gave up a FUN, non-demanding desk job for the ER and that is *all* I could think about that first week. I had no idea how I was ever going to sort it out. You WILL get to the point where you figure out some general trends and learn to anticipate what will be worked up on the abdominal pain patients, the chest pain patients, the detox patients and the gyn cases. You will learn (for non EMS patients) to make your life easier and have the patients pee into a cup BEFORE you get them into a gown and hooked up to whatever; you will learn to get in there and get your blood drawn and the IV going before the x-ray and ultrasound and CT techs start circling like vulturues. You will learn what questions to ask..........

And even then, expect to keep feeling dumb and to also know that your coworkers have been in your shoes and if they are worth anything at ALL they will be more than happy to help. Don't give up !

I ordered a few ER nursing books and make it a point to learn something new about a different topic each night I am not working and it has helped a lot.

[carachel2]

that being with a preceptor is a great thing BUT in a lot of ways it makes soooo much harder than it will be when you get off orientation. I was with more than one preceptor who did things while I was starting an IV for example....and I never even knew what they did. I once spent 45 freaking minutes looking for a patient's chart to call report only to find my preceptor calling report on the patient ! I guess what I'm trying to say is it gets easier to figure things out when *you* are having to figure them out...kind of like if you are a passenger in a car going to a new destination, you don't really learn where to turn and where to go. But if YOU are the one driving, you are forced to remember and plan where you are going...big difference !

Learn all you can from your preceptor, they are awesome, but I wanted to say that there is hope and it does get better and figuring out the way *you* are going to do things really does help.