orienting nurse with limited labor and delivery experience

[ldcmw1]

Help!! I'm orienting a nurse to our labor and delivery unit who has about 6 months of experience in this area. I'm having many problems with her. She is slow, doesn't prioritize properly and seems to lack intiative. I'm constantly reminding her to do things that I've told her to do many times before, questioning her on why she is doing this before that, taking an hour to do an admission assessment, and the list goes on. I'm beginning to think she might not be cut out for our labor and delivery unit. Our unit is very fast paced and can even overwhelm very experienced nurses at times. On the plus side she is awesome with the patients and on a personal level I like her. I'm at a loss as what to do. Any words of wisdom from those of you who have been there before would be greatly appreciated.

[VegRN]

How long is her orientation and how much time does she have left on that?

Prioritizing and time management can often be easily fixed with a good plan.

Lack of initiative and having to be told things over and over are less encouraging behaviours in my book.

I would sit her down and first ask her how she thinks she is doing. Then offer your assessment with the good and the bad. I would also share your concerns about how she will be doing once she is off orientation. You may or may not want to do this with your manager present. For her sake, I would be very honest with her. Maybe she already knows how she is doing and it would help to talk about it and what you two can do together to get her up to speed.

I have had to do this several times in the past and for the most part, the receiver has been grateful for the honesty (although tearful or upset at first) and in most cases they have started putting their nose to the grindstone and have done better after that.

[ldcmw1]

Thank!!!!

[SheaTab]

I agree with the previous poster. You owe her your honesty. Definitely start by sharing with her how wonderful she is with the patients but you have to be very forthright with your concerns about her prioritization and pace. How long has she been orienting?