orientation to the ICU

[KatieRN04]

Just a thought about orientation for new employees to a hospital. In an ICU around town, there are many new graduates that are hired. (Note: this isnt a thread to bash new graduates, or new grads in the ICU) In reference to my point though, how would you feel as an experienced nurse or as a new graduate yourself, if you had a new graduate with just barely a year of experience orienting you to a speciality area in nursing? I feel like this is unfair to the new graduate who is being made to orient because they themselves just barely have thier feet wet, even though they are all smart. And it isnt a matter of not having more experienced nurses to orient. And the new grads that are orienting new employees are not begging to orient the new people. I guess I was just trained elsewhere, where there was an expection that the nurse who orients must have a minimum of at least 2 years experience, preferably 4 or 5. Is it like this in all hospitals around Phoenix?

[zoo*moon, BSN, RN]

]Oh my gosh, how can a nurse with barely a year experience orient someone? No way. If I were orienting in ICU, I'd want someone with at least 10 years experience. On our med/surg floor, I've seen someone with two years experience assigned to orient a new hire. I didn't think that was right either. I know how I felt after just 2 years under my belt. There's so much to learn and two years, and even three isn't enough time on med/surg and one year is no way near enough in ICU. How come someone with more experience isn't doing the orientation?

[cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN]

My preceptor had 23 years experience, but I also had people who I could trust and rely on, who had less than 10 years!

It's not always a time issue either. I have seen nurses with many years experience who I wouldn't trust at all, and some nurses with 5 years who are as saavy as can be.

However, to the OP....I agree that 1 year is nowhere near enough to be precepting. If the new nurse is orienting an experienced nurse who only needs to know how to use the paperwork and computers, etc, then it may not be so bad.

But if she is orienting a new grad, then it's far from ideal. New grads need guidance.

[Ahhphoey]

Less than one year in ICU is not long enough to be able to orient. I actually worked in ICU for two years before I began orienting, but had been a nurse for more than two years at the time. Ironically, we have a similar situation in the hospital I work in. A new manager came on and ruffled one to many feathers and several experienced nurses left at the same time. Now, a nurse I had oriented for three months who got done orientation in June is now about to orient a new nurse herself. Although the nurse I oriented has been a nurse for one year and so has the nurse she is going to orient, I still feel its like the blind leading the blind. But hey, what does my opinion matter? By the way, this new manager has no, I repeat NO ICU experience.