Orientation without an orientor....

That is So Scary! Maybe talk to the HR department in a diplomatic way? Are the other nurses adverse to answering questions? Try to find a nice one and adopt them as your orientor. Ask lots and lots of questions.

I'm orienting too. I have the opposite problem: too many orientors! They have me turning in so many directions contradicting each other that I have to tell them to slow down and stop arguing with each other about the best way to orient me.

I hope it works out for you. Sounds like a pretty unsafe situation, though.

If there are 9 patients, and only the charge nurse + 1 staff nurse I don't see what she has to be in charge of, sounds to me like the charge needs to step up and take her fair share.

What type of facility do you work at?

If I were you, I'd give notice. You are just a warm body with a license, so, that takes the responsibility off of them and puts it squarely on you. If something bad should happen, you will take the blame for it, because as a licensed nurse you have to know what you don't know and make that decision whether or not you are competent to take any assignment. With no training, you are not competent. For some reason that NM is over a barrel and just needs some body. She probably has little training herself. It's obvious something is terribly wrong, or, she would not have hired you knowing you desperately need orientation and leaving the facility's patients in danger.

No, there is nothing wrong about you OP, you have your head screwed on correctly. Protect yourself.

Oh wow....that's crazy. Orientation is not always ideal, but you should at least have a bad orientation. Are they even supportive and/or helpful when you have questions?

I would leave, no sense in jeopardizing your license. Why is the charge nurse only assuming care for 1 patient? That's bogus!

Lately, it seems that no one offers a decent orientation. The last LTC I worked in I got less than 1 hour orientation to the med pass from hell. They told me it would be an 8 hour orientation. After about 45 minutes of orientation, the nurse told me "Here are the keys. The only way you are going to learn is if you do it on your own." She left and I was on my own. I am now working private duty and was given a 15 minute orientation on how to take care of patients on trachs and ventilators!!!!!. I have signed up with another home agency and I was never given any orientation on how to do the actual nursing paperwork.

Make sure you have another job if you decide to quit this job. In today's economy you have to be so careful. I remember reading a post here about a nurse who couldn't stand LTC so she quit. Later on she said that she had looked for a new job for over a year and no luck.

No wonder they had openings.

Not only is this unsafe, it is probably contrary to the facility's own policy and procedure as well as Board of Nursing requirements.

Many State Boards set forth minimum orientation requirements for new graduates as well as experienced nurses entering new facilities. Most hospitals also address minimum orientation requirements in their Human Resources policies and procedures. To work in violation of these standards may leave you open to BON inquiry as well as legal scrutiny should an adverse event occur on your watch.

For example, as an experienced NICU nurse, I was required by my new employer to be "checked off" by an established staff member on skills such as IV insertion, tracheal suctioning, blood draws, etc., to ensure that I was using proper technique, infection control precautions, etc. New grads in most facilities have an extensive list of skills that must be verified before independent practice.

Time for a sit down with your manager, and possibly Human Resources as well.

Lately, it seems that no one offers a decent orientation. The last LTC I worked in I got less than 1 hour orientation to the med pass from hell. They told me it would be an 8 hour orientation. After about 45 minutes of orientation, the nurse told me "Here are the keys. The only way you are going to learn is if you do it on your own." She left and I was on my own. I am now working private duty and was given a 15 minute orientation on how to take care of patients on trachs and ventilators!!!!!. I have signed up with another home agency and I was never given any orientation on how to do the actual nursing paperwork.

That's ridiculous. I guess these facilities just want a warm body to start work as quickly as possible, patient safety be damned.

Expecting a new grad to be ready to be an independent nurse for 8 pts after 5 days is completely bs. It's not only unsafe to have that many pts, but expecting someone so new to be working independently, are they just begging for a lawsuit? Does your unit have a nurse educator you can talk too?

Wow. What about safety first? We are educated professionals and we should not be put in a position that feels unsafe. After all, if a nurse feels unsafe then what does that say? Employees at McDonalds receive more training than it sounds like your facility provides. Shame on them! You are not crazy, they are putting you in a dangerous position. Don't feel bad, I turned down a job because to me, it just sounded really unsafe. A new RN on night shift all alone with acute care transfers from the hospital. Expected to do arterial sticks if needed when I had never even SEEN one done before? Sorry, I'm not into that kind of liability.