How do you keep up with new hire nurses?

[NurseLatteDNP, MSN, DNP, RN]

I am a clinical educator for med surg. Every June/December we hire about 10-12 GN's for med surg and I keep up with their orientation. This is excluding the experienced nurses we hire. So far I have been doing ok, but this June we are expanding the hospital and I will have 20 GN's for med surg alone. They will orient for about 10-12 weeks. I want to see if anyone is having a better process in keeping up with their orientation progress.

Do you just stop by the unit and chat with them, do you have official sit down meetings, or do you have another process that works for you?

Here is my current process:

1. I get a list of new hire nurses from HR 2 weeks before they are hired

2. I find out who their preceptors are from the directors during that time

3. I create orientation calendars for all new hires

4. I have a spreadsheet that I created to help me keep track of all nurses, aides and unit clerks that are orienting (meeting dates, comments, last day of orientation etc.)

5. I meet with orientees and their preceptors every 2 weeks. Most often this is done by me coming to their unit when they are working.

6. I communicate regularly with directors regarding new hires and troubleshoot if necessary.

I am just so afraid someone will fall through the cracks with so many of them coming. Especially since orientation is only about 25% of what I actually do.

[NurseLatteDNP, MSN, DNP, RN]

Bumping this. I would love to hear what other educators do.

[nursel56]

Perhaps you could try posting this in Nursing Educators/Faculty. We do have some members who work in related environments who may offer advice to you.