New to med surg

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I'm very excited to receive a position as a PRN float in med surg. My only issue is the orientation is 2 days! 2 DAYS! I don't even have med surg experience. I've been a PACU nurse since nursing school which was about 3 yrs ago. So on top of no med surg experience, I'm still new to the career. I'm kinda freaking out because just finished a week of class orientation. Now I'm about to orientate on the floor. Has anyone ever experience such a short orientation? And how did you survive?

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Specializes in Medical-Surgical/Float Pool/Stepdown.

This is a fairly normal orientation for the floor pool. You're expected to be able to hit the ground running just like a travel nurse would be expected to do. You should be getting a nice differential for the floor pool correct?

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Specializes in Med/Surg/ICU/Stepdown.

2 days of orientation on a unit for PRN? Run.

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I know, I'm kinda freaking out a little. Especially going from paper charting to EMR, on top of the task for med surg. Pacu was just here's your pain med, okay time to leave, adios. Now there's all this stuff.... and yes, I'll get a nice rate, really that's the only reason I took the position. Flex hours, no on call, twice the hourly rate. Im just so scared about trying to cramp everything in only 2 days.

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I wonder why they hired you prn float in med-surg when you don't have any med-surg experience. Usually nurses experienced in their particular area are hired and orientation is little more than a skills check off, going over hospital policy and "the break room is over there, the meds are here and here is your assignment."

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Specializes in Medical-Surgical/Float Pool/Stepdown.
I know, I'm kinda freaking out a little. Especially going from paper charting to EMR, on top of the task for med surg. Pacu was just here's your pain med, okay time to leave, adios. Now there's all this stuff.... and yes, I'll get a nice rate, really that's the only reason I took the position. Flex hours, no on call, twice the hourly rate. Im just so scared about trying to cramp everything in only 2 days.

With twice the hourly rate and other perks, you can probably understand why they're not looking to spend money on orientation and have high expectations for you. I got three shifts myself but started in Med-Surg to begin with. Good news is that they think that you can pull it off or you shouldn't have gotten the job!

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

You are used to 1-2 patients at a time and now have to take care of 5-7!? Good luck! You will be fine as a nurse, but time management will be a huge challenge.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I was offered one week of floor orientation to a med/surg oncology floor several years ago. Since I had no acute care hospital experience, I declined the job offer. I'd also be leery about a two-day orientation to a floor that is unfamiliar to me.

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I need a xanax. I've been worried all week. I think I was so distracted by the pay, I didn't hear the "you only get 2 days orientation" part. I did not lie on my resume or in the interview. I said, "hey I would like to learn med-surg" She said, " oh great!" and here I am. I think the most patients I'll have is 5, which is still a lot from the 2-4 I use to have.

I'm debating about just asking if I can get another day or 2 of orientation.

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It never hurts to ask for a couple more days of orientation. Just tell the Manager how you feel ASAP. I'm not sure how she will feel about your request, but it's worth asking about, especially if you have never worked med surg.

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wow that's not alot of time for orientation if you've never done that kind of nursing before! I work med-surg and we never get PRN floats who don't know med-surg. I don't think we ever get new nurses who haven't had a thorough orientation, or floats who don't know the unit. Doesn't make sense really! I hope you can handle it I really do and wish you lots of luck. I don't think I would do it with so little training first!

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Our M/S floor has such widely varying orientations! Our new grads got 4 months of internship, then 3 months of preceptorship before working on their own. I got 6 days of float orientation over the course of several months (no experience in medical). One of our travelers asked for and got a single day of orientation (and then had no idea how to do anything on our EMR, or where anything was). A new to the hospital nurse with experience is getting 3 weeks of orientation.

Ask for more. If you don't get it, hope you've got nice and supportive co-workers. Regardless, if you stick it out, you'll figure it out. It might take a few weeks or months to get your flow and time management and confidence up to speed.

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