Preceptorship advice!!

Aurora77 · Oct 7, 2011

I just graduated in May. My preceptorship was on a med/surg post-op floor. It's a smaller hospital, so I had a wide variety of patients.

My biggest advice is to treat your preceptorship experience like a job interview. I got hired on the floor I did mine and it was because of my time spent there.

JustJen, BSN, RN · Oct 7, 2011

In my opinion....go thee to the ICU. They usually have the best programs for new grads and you will have fewer, sicker patients. Depending on your preceptor, that will set you up to see in real life, all the patho-phys you have been studying. On regular floors, you usually end up with too many patients to really focus on any one of them for any length of time.

WillowNMe · Oct 7, 2011

I picked cardiac, and I was put on an awesome tele floor that is considered cardiac/pulmonary/renal/observational, so I get a great variety of pts. I ended up getting hired on the same floor and love it.

Amanda.RN · Oct 8, 2011

If I did it all over again, I would do exactly what I did -- med/surg. I worked hard during the preceptorship and was offered a job on-the-spot. It was an excellent way to get my foot in the door on a floor that hired new grads (...not sure if ICU or ER hire new grads). Either way you decide, I wish you the best of luck!

DaughteroftheKing · Oct 8, 2011

I agree with always acting like it's an interview... I also got hired on my dream floor, the neuro icu, right out of school after making a good impression there.

DaughteroftheKing · Oct 8, 2011

Oh so my answer would be neuro icu :) TONS of patho, tons of leanring and even more skills!

PediNurse3 · Oct 8, 2011

Ours was a 'Capstone'...I did mine in an ER. I also worked as a tech in a different ER, and already had a job in the ER internship where I was working. I thought that it would be good for me to get a head start on the nurse role.

I don't know that I would have done anything different but I would NOT recommend it to anyone else. IMO, the ER is not a good place for a fresh mind that's developing habits that will stick with them throughout their practice. Looking back, I feel like I missed out on a lot of the important pieces of being a nurse by working there straight out of school, but I digress.

Where do you want to work when you graduate? If you have a good idea, try to get into one of those units. There were only 3 new grads in our internship program- myself and two other girls who had done their capstone/role transition/ precepting/whatever there. A lot of my classmates were given job offers from the managers on the units that they had done theirs in...so it could work in your favor if you go to an area that you want to work in. I don't really know that doing it in the ICU will maximize the experience, as it is so different from most other areas in the hospital and doesn't really paint a very realistic picture, unless you think you're going to work in an ICU.

Good luck with your decision!

MN-Nurse, ASN, RN · Oct 8, 2011

My preceptorship was in an ICU; I learned a ton and enjoyed it. I did get a little jealous hearing the stories from the folks who had ER ones.

OR was the biggest gamble. If you got a good one it was great. If you got bad preceptors, you sat and did nothing.

hiddencatRN, BSN, RN · Oct 8, 2011

If we had preceptorships, I would have said ER, because I loved every single moment I spent in the ER on clinical observation days. But if that's not where you're interests lie, that wouldn't be a good answer for you. If you're really not sure, you can say what you said here- that you want a place that will provide you with a variety of experiences. I think just about any floor or unit would fit that bill.

honeykrown, MSN, NP · Oct 8, 2011

If i were to do it where i am now i would say med/surg cos on thsi floor we take care of 2day old-death. the range is broad and i can get my hands on taking care of different patients and age groups.