One day of orientation

[lovedijah]

I got hired PRN in LTC. Originally the DON told me I'd be orienting for two weeks because it is "soooo much work" and "I don't like to be called in, so you need to know whats going on and how to handle things". I go in and find out my orientation may only be one day. She'd have to speak with the owners to see if they would allow more time, otherwise I'd have to "jump on the floor head first".

Now it doesnt take a genius to figure out LTC is a lot of work. Even with two weeks of training, a person would still have questions. But two weeks is fair, I suppose.

But one day of orientation is barely enough time to learn where the supply room or fire exits are. You get what you pay for. If you don't want to invest more than one day training your staff, then wont your facility reflect that? Am I missing something? I know it's expensive to train people and people are desperate for jobs (you gotta do what you gotta do), but I almost thought she was joking with me. Heck, I managed restaurants and we didn't even put servers on the floor with only one day of training.

Is one day of orientation "normal"? I hope not.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

For a PRN job, yes, it is normal. This is why most new nurses cannot make PRN work.....work for them. When you are a "fill in as needed" nurse, they want/need/expect you to be able to hit the ground running.

Hopefully you will have patient people that you work with. Even if you aren't officially on "orientation", there should still be resources available to you in the form of those you work with.

I am afraid this job may be very difficult for you, but square your shoulders, ask questions as you need to and learn both fast and safety. Keep looking for other opportunities that will give you full time potential.