I'm so not a teacher!

[Steffers]

So I'm a new nurse who has been working in an Alzheimers for about 4 months and the DON wants me to train a new nurse! Oh and btw you will start tonight and you don't have a choice! I was like I'm a NEW nurse! I'm sooo not a teacher, I just have like Zero patience! So my question to all ya'll is how do you guys effectively orient/teach a new graduate?! Especially when [not to be mean], but the new nurse hasn't been catching on with the few days she has been orienting! I need some advice! :heartbeat:heartbeat:heartbeat

Thanks!

[NightAngelle]

I precept a decent amount of students and new hires. I have 10 years of experience, but on occasion,I am still asked questions that I don't know the answers to. I believe that if your trainee asks a question that you don't know the answer to, make sure that you openly acknowledge that it is a learning experience for the both of you!! Find the answer together, and it will feel more like DIALOGUE instead of a MONOLOGUE.

This builds rapport and it also decreases the tension from the trainee about feeling they have to come with an overly abundant amount of knowledge. The day we stop learning better be the day we die! Hope this helps.

[rn/writer, RN]

Be honest with the newer nurse and let her know you don't have all the answers. Tell her you will go looking for the answers together. Don't EVER try to bluff your way through. You'll only lose her respect (as well as your own).

Size up your communication styles right away. See if you can work out any kinks in that area or at least arrive at a way to have a working relationship. Keep short accounts. Stop as soon as you can if there is a problem and deal with it. Letting things fester is almost always a bad idea. That said, sometimes it's good to take a few minutes to calm down. The messages seem contradictory, but it's just a matter of finding a good balance.

Keep personalities and actions separate.

Try to see each other as allies in the trenches. You can be a big boon to each other.

Think of this as a learning opportunity for yourself. Anything you can explain to her is something you understand.

During WWII, the military was so hard pressed to train their people that a popular expression (and only a slight exaggeration) was, "See one, do one, teach one." This was used in medical circles as well. It's definitely a "baptism of fire," but this kind of tension can make you really sharp in the long run.

I wish you both the best.

[NightAngelle]

See one, do one, teach one...ya know, I've only been a nurse 10 years, and I can remember when this approach to teaching in nursing was used...and it works. Now, nurses on our unit use the fact that they haven't had a particular "competency" or "class" as an excuse not to take care of a patient that the skill to be learned is used for. I like the jumping in approach, where you put your hands on the plow and learn how to drive it, with an experienced driver riding with you, as you go.

We should get back to that. I mean, competencies are a way to let JCAHO know that the nurses are "competent" to do their jobs...but at the end of the day, just because you completed the class or did the CBL module on the computer doesn't make you "competent". Just my . I fully agree with learning together. Just the other day I learned what "bitter almonds" smelled like. (Nipride toxicity -cyanide breath) Go figure! I hang Nipride all the time and have for years, but I couldn't begin to tell you if a patient was cyanide toxic! See? You just learned something.