Preceptorship & Orientation on Same Unit

[S.T.A.C.E.Y, LPN]

This is a question for those of you who are working on the same floor/unit that you did your preceptorship/consolidation on. How did your orientation work? If you already spent weeks/months doing your preceptorship there, did you get the same orientation as other new grads who are new to the unit? Did you have to go through the paces again from the start? Keep the same preceptor/mentor? Was there a higher expectation from you once you started working? Was there a big difference from preceptorship to orientation & working? How would you describe the difference?

I'm still a nsg student, and I’m just asking because the manager of the unit I’m doing my pre-grad on gave me all of the paperwork they give their new-hires, and she said she wants me to follow along…..Kind of wondering if I work there after graduation if the expectation is that I’ll be that much farther along in my orientation, or if she just wants me to have a more focused pre-grad.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

I'm not sure I follow the thinking of having a new grad work with a preceptor on a unit she WON'T be working on....? The only way I'm familiar with is when you are hired for a spot (you know the floor you're hired for, obviously), then you're assigned to a preceptor for that unit. You work the preceptor's shift, or you work with different preceptors if you work a set shift and the preceptor doesn't, but either way, you are working the unit you will be on after orientation. That's kinda the point, right?

You may find yourself orienting on different shifts on the same unit, though. If you were hired for days, you might orient on days and evenings; if for nights, both days and nights. Something like that. I was hired for nights, oriented half my time on days (because all the testing and therapies happen then, get familiar with more "stuff") and then the last half is nights (which, frankly, I think they need MORE of since it's a totally different JOB on nights!).

Does that help?

[willdgate]

I believe that if you know where you want to work that is a good thing for you as a new nurse. So, don't stop working there and you will be more familiar with that hospital.

A mentor is not the same thing as a preceptor, they can be, but a mentor is someone usually not working on the same floor as you that you tell your nursing problems too, that you wouldn't typically tell your preceptor.

[S.T.A.C.E.Y, LPN]

Ok, sorry, let me clarify. At the end of the nursing program (still in school) we have a consolidation/preceptorship/pre-grad semester where we are paired with a preceptor in an area that interests us, and work with them for 2-3 months. My question is for those who are hired to work in the same area that they did this school placement in, after they graduate. I'm not a First Year Nurse, like this forum is for, but rather my question is kinda meant for the first year nurses who've recently completed school are are still in orientation or have recently finished.

Thanks to those who did reply though!

[maolin]

I wasn't in this situation myself, but there are a couple of new grads in my orientation group that did their capstones in the unit. They are receiving the same orientation as I am - same classes, same # of weeks of orientation, same shift rotations, etc. They did seem to have been ahead of the learning curve at the beginning as they knew where all the supplies were and familiar with the paperwork, but their overall progression has been about the same as mine (pt care, procedures, time management, critical thinking, etc). We've all learned that being a student nurse and a Real Nurse are worlds apart.

Good luck to you!

[Indy, LPN, LVN]

That was my exact situation, and I enjoyed it. My last quarter was called practicum, and my preceptor for that, wound up being my first preceptor for the actual job once I passed boards. So when I was on practicum, my preceptor knew that I had been offered the job. She taught based on learning the routine of how to actually do the work, how to organize a day, how to get it all done, NOT how to overload the poor student with patients.

When I started the job, my preceptor then pretty much picked up load-wise with where I left off as a student. That's when I found out all those things you can't sign or can't do as a student, take up quite a bit of time as a nurse! I think my orientation went very smoothly, in part because I already had a rapport with my preceptor and some idea of what to expect.