how long before u get to do stuff?

PostOpPrincess, BSN, RN · Dec 31, 2009

Why don't you ask your preceptor?

reddellrn · Dec 31, 2009

i dont have one preceptor, more like anyone who is there when i work.

RNnik07 · Dec 31, 2009

My preceptor had me doing stuff pretty much immediately. It was so quick that I was completely overwhelmed. I told her it was too much independence too fast and still nothing changed. So I talked to my supervisor and switched to a much better preceptor for myself. I followed her around for about a week then got more hands on every day. I definitely didn't wait anywhere near a month to be hands on.

SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN · Dec 31, 2009

i'm not ob but i am a rn who just finished 1 year. i had to orientate on four floors in that time frame (one hospital had me float a lot). anyway, every time i orientated i told my preceptors i was taking some or all of the patients from their load; otherwise i would not learn a thing! therefore, despite the number of preceptors i had, not a single one ignored my request to take patients. like the others said, you need to talk to your preceptors and let them know you need to take patients or you will be in trouble when you get off of orientation! gl! :twocents:

rn2bnwi, BSN, RN · Dec 31, 2009

Jump in there! I like the suggestion of 'making your game plan' at the beginning of the shift.

Lovely_RN, MSN · Dec 31, 2009

How long is your orientation?

I'm not a L&D nurse but a month seems like a long time to just observe and pass meds.

I think it's critically important to your future success to start being proactive...right away...like on your very next shift. You're going to have to speak up and do more. It's easier for an experienced nurse to just go ahead and take care of business than it is for them to teach a new grad how to do something.

What's going to happen is that the same nurses who are allowing you to take it easy are are going to evaluate you as lacking in initiative and enthusiam.

After an entire month on the unit there should be a few things that you can do besides observe and administer meds?

Since you have different preceptors it's up to you to tell them what you have learned so far and it's also going to be up to you to say let me do this or show me how to do that as you observe them.

babyktchr, BSN, RN · Dec 31, 2009

Oh dear. Sounds to me like you need to have a chat with your manager. It is one thing to go willy nilly and allow anyone to orient you (not a great practice), but not to have a written plan of action is another. You should be following some sort of orientation process so that each preceptor will know where you have been and what you need. You also need to step up and ASK for what you want. Just allowing them to put you in a corner will get you nowhere. Our orientation allows for observation but not for a month, unless your orientation is a year long process.

Have a chat with your manager and get a game plan. Really, there should be one already. Good luck.

Waynehoobler · Dec 31, 2009

You could wait until an opportunity presents itself, but I think as the others are saying, you'd be best off by just bringing this up with your preceptor.

reddellrn · Dec 31, 2009

thanks for all of the replies. I have been orientating mostly in pp, and I do function much on my own in pp, I have been a rn for 6 yrs, so not a new nurse but very new to ob/gyn. I believe it will still be a while befor i can do any thing in l and d. I have to take a fetal heart monitoring class first, so for now all i can do is observer very closely. i also will be orientating in the nursery. I have heard that some nurses do orientate for up to a year in ob/gyn where i work. One ob doc will not let u labor a pt by yourself untill u have worked a year.

misstvlgirl · Dec 31, 2009

I began my orientation in October on a L/D unit. Within 2 weeks I was very hands on with pts; cervical checks, meds, assisting with epidurals, etc. I am now off of orientation and on my own. I feel that 1 month just observing is really wasting valuable time that you could/should be getting practice doing sterile vag exams since that takes quite a bit of practice to perfect. Good luck to you.

NurseNora, BSN, RN · Jan 1, 2010

There are lots of things you can do in L&D without taking a fetal monitoring class. Whoever is working with you should be teaching you the basics of how to look at a strip. You could be doing Leopold"s and putting on the fetal monitor (external), helping with breathing techniques and other comfort measures. If a patient has an epidural and it will not cause her additional discomfort, you could be doing cervical checks after your preceptor of the moment does one, or cathing the patient. I know you've been doing it for some time, but it is sometimes more difficult doing it with a swollen vulva, lots of fluid and mucus, and the baby's head very low.

If you're doing lots of PP stuff, you should be able to do much of the recovery after delivery: checking the uterus for firmness and position, assesing the amount of bleeding and the fullness of the bladder, helping the mom nurse the baby for the first time. And charting all the above.

If they're not giving you learning opportunities, you'll have to ask for them.