How long was your new employee training?

[Marisette]

How long was your training as a new employee, although not a new graduate?

I just took on a job as a triage nurse and was expected to be on my own in 4 days. This is a new specialty for me and a new EMR. I was informed during my interview that training would depend on my needs, but now, my preceptor tells me, I'm on my own. She just walked away, shouted that I should look at my notes. She tells me that she is going on FMLA and apparently there is no one else to train me in this busy 10 provider practice. There appears to be about 50-100 triage calls which involve mostly med refills in a day, with the occasional walk in patient for triage.

The morale in the office is quite low and the manager is said hide in her office by the medical assist and my trainer. She has been on vacation since I started. The physicians come to me like I should know everything, one has a habit or rolling her eyes. I think this preceptor has been gossiping about me. I feel I did not misrepresent myself when I interviewed. It's hard to learn when the trainer is shouting at you. I did speak to her about this. It looks like I may get 3 more days, don't know.

I would bolt out of there, but returning to my old job is not an option because of the commuting that it involved (home dialysis). I simply can't do it anymore and my previous employer was upset that I was direction challenged and "inflexible". But nurses were asked to move from facility to facility, in addition to patient's home.

Now, I'm stuck drowning in a new job, with a preceptor who has no intention of training and is going on FMLA. I suspect this whole FMLA was scheduled purposely to prove herself indispensable. Moreover, this new employer failed to notify me that conditions had changed and I would not have a trainer prior to my start date. I can handle much of the medical questions, but I'm challenged with the EMR and refills because physicians don't send out many of their medication orders. The OB and Peds cases are new to me. I was told by my preceptor that manager does not know how to triage so she can't help me.

Is it normal to get 4 days training and set off on your own?

[bell1962]

As a school nurse, no orientation. Luckily I subbed a little bit (like 10 days) for another school system, so I at least had a clue as to what I was supposed to do

[Beatlefan, BSN]

I was scheduled to work with my preceptor once. I was told to pair up with another RN once. Two shifts of orientation. I was lucky to have been a student on the floor I work on. I have been a nurse for 10 years now, and when I run this scenario past other nurses, I find that this attitude of throwing us in to teach us to swim was the norm. I became a nurse at 40, and had other jobs and careers.

[Marisette, BSN, RN]

I was scheduled to work with my preceptor once. I was told to pair up with another RN once. Two shifts of orientation. I was lucky to have been a student on the floor I work on. I have been a nurse for 10 years now, and when I run this scenario past other nurses, I find that this attitude of throwing us in to teach us to swim was the norm. I became a nurse at 40, and had other jobs and careers.

Interesting. I've been a nurse most of my life it seems, 28 years so I can't compare it to other careers. Would you say new employee training in your other jobs and careers was longer? Perhaps, it's not even fair to compare to many other non health care careers because providing medical care to people and dealing with lives simply requires more orientation time.

[FurBabyMom, MSN, RN]

Corporate orientation and central nursing orientation? 2-3 days. Orientation to my division/department? 6 months. Orientation to my team? Another 6ish weeks.

[wayemika]

I'm a nurse of 16 months. I'm going from med/surg and cardiac to ICU. they are only giving me 8 weeks. they say it will be enough but at 3 weeks in I wonder?

[Beatlefan, BSN]

I can see by re-reading my message where you would assume that I am comparing it to other careers. I am actually pretty bitter that I was cheated out of a proper orientation. I just wanted to state the fact that this happened to me, I changed careers while older, and that I am surprised to find that it happened more than we think. After my lack of orientation, my floor got a new nurse manager. I told her what happened to me, and the policy changed.

No matter what the situation is- I observe that most often health care workers can be horrible to one another. Withholding training/information. Backstabbing and even outright rudeness. I would have loved to work with a seasoned nurse when I was new.

[Jbgood]

I'm a new nurse and started on a busy, high patient load, med surg floor with 12 weeks training but I had an awful preceptor and my training consisted of "here's your phone and your patient assignments, let me know if you have questions". Asking questions and asking for help consisted of her rolling her eyes or otherwise making me feel incompetent...that is if I could even find her. Therefore I left right before my training ended and now I'm starting on a psych unit where I was told I would be trained as if I had zero experience and that they had a great preceptor program. I'm training with another girl who is a new grad and we just found out yesterday that we will be with our preceptor training on the floor a total of 10 days before we are on our own. 10 days?? Wow, that's quite a change from 12 weeks at the other hospital. I hope I learn a lot on that short time. Lol

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Here's an afterthought. Back when I was an inexperienced factory worker in 2001, the company that employed me provided three solid months of new hire orientation. The orientation consisted of a mix of on-the-job training and classroom training.

On the other hand, I've been lucky to receive three solid days of new hire orientation at most of the nursing jobs I've secured. There's a disconnect occurring somewhere when a factory worker receives a lengthier orientation than a nurse who has patients' lives in his/her hands.

[Marisette, BSN, RN]

I'm a new nurse and started on a busy, high patient load, med surg floor with 12 weeks training but I had an awful preceptor and my training consisted of "here's your phone and your patient assignments, let me know if you have questions". Asking questions and asking for help consisted of her rolling her eyes or otherwise making me feel incompetent...that is if I could even find her. Therefore I left right before my training ended and now I'm starting on a psych unit where I was told I would be trained as if I had zero experience and that they had a great preceptor program. I'm training with another girl who is a new grad and we just found out yesterday that we will be with our preceptor training on the floor a total of 10 days before we are on our own. 10 days?? Wow, that's quite a change from 12 weeks at the other hospital. I hope I learn a lot on that short time. Lol

So sorry you too are going through this situation. The good thing is that you will be going through this with another nurse who may be supportive. I don't understand how employers expect nurses to function efficiently with 10 days training. I think short trainings set one up for making mistakes. Perhaps if you had gotton more support with your previous employer, you would have felt more comfortable and stayed with them.

As for me, I have survived 4 weeks, after my short training, working independently. I figured out most of the EMR, trial and error. There were a few other surprises along the way, but I survived and the manager appears content with my performance or just happy to have a nurse on staff. However, I have decided to leave this employer. I'm not staying for any more surprises.

i can't trust an employer who tells you something during the hiring process and delivers another. I was honest in telling them I had limited pediatric experience during my interview, but after my start day it was sink or swim. They put my license at risk with inadequate training and staffing. Moreover, it feels like the likelihood of more surprises and unacceptable work conditions will repeat. It speaks poorly for the organization.

I can clearly see the challenges the new graduates are experiencing. Hopefully, your new employer will provide additional as needed support after your 10 day training. It's really important to make one's expectation of the orientation clear prior to accepting a new position. If the employer does not have an obvious training period and process in place, then you can expect a difficult transition to your new job. I graduated in 1988, a 3 year diploma program, with clinical experiences along the way within the hospital that was directly involved with the nursing school program. The orientation for new graduates from nursing school to the work force was less painful. There was a nursing shortage at the time and most of the new graduates went on to work with the hospital, with bonus incentives to accept positions to boot.

[Libby1987]

3-4 months. Not shadowing the whole time of course but reduced work load and an expectation that there will be lots of questions and review needed.

At 4 mos we expect our nurses to be able to manage a moderately full load but still need verbal support and shadow for new or complicated procedure and situations. We don't expect complete independence for a year and even after that we still support our staff.

Those that come with speciality experience are given a full load about a month in but we still try to be as supportive as possible for the first 6-12 mos and beyond.

It's hard work as a manager to provide that much support as we don't have any more resources than anyone else and we still have our own task lists but the reality is that it's hard to learn a new job in 2016 and no one will succeed without a team effort. While not everyone is up to the challenge, I cannot stand to see a broken spirit, especially knowing I learned my speciality eons ago when it was so much simpler.

[purplegal]

At my first nursing position, orientation was three months (which I never made it through). It was for a cardiovascular surgical PCU. Now, at my job at a senior rehab center, we had classroom orientation for three days and five days on the floor. Though, on my fourth and fifth nights of orientation, I was basically on my own as there wasn't enough staff for me to have a preceptor.

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

The longest orientation I've had was 5 weeks, in corrections. Otherwise, it ranged from 2 weeks (ALF) to 1 hour (flu clinic).