orientation issues!!

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hello everyone.. so i am a new grad.. graduated may from nursing school and got a job at a hospital.. started orientation and i have no nursing experience before graduating except clinical experience and this is my second career. at first i was excited to start at the hospital since classroom orientation was so fun... it lasted for 2 weeks..... and made me feel i was going to learn so much since it is considered a "teaching hospital". i got hired for a medsurg unit where ratio is 1:7 or 1:8.. my first day, i observed and was trying to orient my self to the unit and see where things are.... second day.. i got 3 patients and gave meds on my own without supervision... until it became a habit that i did things without supervision and had to go back and forth to find my preceptor if i didnt know how to do something.. my patient load had increased by week two.. and i got 4 patients. my manager was pushing me to do more patients but just couldnt do it since im not so confident. preceptors are saying im too slow with giving medications but im still learning and said i ask stupid questions. but how am i supposed to learn if i dont ask questions??? manager isnt supportive at all and wants me to have more patients.. i am going crazy in this place!! please give me your feedback :(

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Your facility does not want to train you.They want to get you working ASAP. 1:8 is unsafe for an experienced nurse.

Demand your full orientation with weekly reports on your progress. You should have 12 weeks.

Best wishes, it's a jungle out here.

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Personally I think a ratio of 1:7 or 1:8 is crazy on a Med-Surg unit and I wouldn't have taken the job, but I haven't worked Med-Surg as a nurse. Only a tech or a student. So maybe it's common in some areas. I haven' heard of any hospital units that are greater than 1:6 in my area.

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thanks for your advice... yes 7-8 max is crazy...our orientation is 5-6 weeks.. i feel like its so unsafe.. few preceptors get annoyed since they are so busy with their patients but im taking a few of their patients too! they are always low on equipment... no wonder why people come and go on this floor

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Dear God, guess I should be grateful for my 5 patients, I am on a Tele floor. I am too a new grad, about to go our on my own. I got 8.5 wks of orientation, you can get up to 12 weeks if needed. But I did have to sign a 3 year contract. And definitely was not trusted to do my own thing until a few shifts in and had proven at least baseline competence.

I would seek employment elsewhere honestly. I've struggled with 5, 8 is impossible. And this is coming from a former LTC LPN that had 25 patients. 5 pts in the hospital feels like 25 LTC pts.

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

Start looking for another job. Do the best you can, don't burn bridges, stand up for yourself and hang in there.

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thanks for your advice... yes 7-8 max is crazy...our orientation is 5-6 weeks.. i feel like its so unsafe.. few preceptors get annoyed since they are so busy with their patients but im taking a few of their patients too! they are always low on equipment... no wonder why people come and go on this floor

Lack of equipment is a red flag. Continue your orientation, with a smile on your face.. and request 12 weeks. Start looking for other employment now. You have been set up for failure.

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thanks for the advice. i did request to see lesser pts but manager said she doesnt want me to do more than 5 weeks extension and that 5 weeks is good. we were sharing one blood pressure machine at one point and a patient coded. im going to look elsewhere or at least try for another unit... i dont want to risk my license or my sanity.... when i ask other nurses for help... they say "ask your preceptor" but preceptor is never available

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thanks for the advice. i did request to see lesser pts but manager said she doesnt want me to do more than 5 weeks extension and that 5 weeks is good. we were sharing one blood pressure machine at one point and a patient coded. im going to look elsewhere or at least try for another unit... i dont want to risk my license or my sanity.... when i ask other nurses for help... they say "ask your preceptor" but preceptor is never available

This sounds a lot like my first job as a new graduate in south texas. I had eight patients and an LVN to cover who also had eight patients. Nothing worked and everything was out of stock. We were lucky if the one or two CNAs on the 40 something bed unit didn't run off crying. I got a full 12-14 week orientation and still struggled to keep my head above water. And no one is ever available to help because they're all struggling just as much. You're going to have to cut corners in a major way, just make sure you don't cut the wrong ones.

The good news is that every other job will seem "easy" if you can survive there.

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wow so we both experienced this type of setting. the aides on my unit... are another story. they want to sit all day and when you ask them for help, they say they are unavailable. so i have to do everything myself. its hard enough to handle 4 patients on my own.. imagine double! trying to find another job but job market isnt that great for new grads since all want experience. i dont think i can stay here and do my one year experience

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This sounds a lot like my first job as a new graduate in south texas. I had eight patients and an LVN to cover who also had eight patients. Nothing worked and everything was out of stock. We were lucky if the one or two CNAs on the 40 something bed unit didn't run off crying. I got a full 12-14 week orientation and still struggled to keep my head above water. And no one is ever available to help because they're all struggling just as much. You're going to have to cut corners in a major way, just make sure you don't cut the wrong ones.

The good news is that every other job will seem "easy" if you can survive there.

how long did you stay there?

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how long did you stay there?

I stayed for a little over two years because I knew I was moving out of state and wanted a stable-looking work history when I moved on.

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