HeadcaseRN

I remember my first orientation as a fresh grad on the Surgical Unit. I was orientated on all three shifts because I was going to work both second and third shifts. The day RN did great giving me room to make mistakes and learn but watched over me carefully. The second RN just let me do the work while she sat and chatted with our coworkers. The third RN watched me like a hawk. We did our assessments at the same time..stethoscopes side by side on the patient...anytime I entered a patients room she was right there no matter what I was going to do. While taping report she informed me that I needed to "get your sh@@ straight and get organized". I thought I was doing good. She informed me that my reports sucked and I didn't know what I was talking about. Needless to say I went home crying. Later I told her about this and we can laugh about it now as we are now good friends. She even tells new orienties our story so if she comes across harsh to them she doesn't mean it. I think we need to be hard (to a point) on our new orienties to make sure they can get the work at hand done. Nursing in the hospital is not an easy job and should not be treated as such when orientation comes about. I'm not saying we need to beat down the spirit of new orienties but they do need to realize what they have to do. I am looking forward to being able to orientate someone into the hospital. I'm just not looking forward to this class. I recently changed units at the hospital and am still considered a newbie so for me to be taking this class over someone who has been there for years is kinda hard for me to figure out (however the majority of the ladies I work with are almost retirement age so I figure its because I'll be around longer and have to orientate their replacements). So I hope I can do a good job and not be to hard but hard enough for someone new.

afrocentricrn, thanks for the post. i remember my very first orientation expierence on the surgical floor. i orientated on all three shifts. i did well on first shift with the rn following me while i passed meds and did exams. then the second shift rn just let me do my own thing while she sat and talked with her peers. then i got to third shift. that rn watched me like a hawk and had me in tears by the end of the shift. while giving report she told me i was scatter brained and needed to get my "sh@@" together. to this day however me and her are good friends. she even uses our orientation expierence as a story she tells other new orienties she precepts. i can laugh about it now but i think her toughness made me a better nurse today. sometimes we need to be tough on the ones we orientate to make sure they can do the job at hand. i am looking forward to precepting a new grad so i hope i can do a good job. i'm just not looking forward to this class :)

Thank you so much! Thinking about it that way makes it easier for me to think about questions I would like answered before I precept someone.

I worked for 4 years on a Surgical Floor working night shift 8 hours. When they decided 12 hour shifts were "Better" for us and our patients I had to leave. I am a mother of a 3 year old with a husband that is gone a lot because of his work. I do not like to throw my child into daycare or from family member to family member just so I can work. I feel I should be more involved with my child than bring home "the big bucks". I do not regret my decison to leave the surgical unit as now I enjoy spending my 8 hours working on a psychiatric unit within the hospital. Whoever thought about 12 hour shifts did not think about the working mother. I could not work 7pm-7am due to my husbands schedule. Even working the 7am-7pm shift would be difficult as the hospitals daycare only open from 6am-6pm (how strange!). I agree the days off would be wonderful if I was working a day job but as a night shift worker I would be a walking zombie or sleeping all the time. The people who think up these 12 hour days are the ones who already work dayshift and have older kids at home. They don't realize what its like to work when everyone is sleeping and try sleeping when everyone is awake wanting something from them.

I am going to be attending a program to train me how to become a preceptor within the next week. Before the class even begins I have an assignment to come up with 5 personal goals for this preceptor class. I have no idea what to do!! I am taking this class just because I was asked not because I really want to become a preceptor. I just recently (ok within the last 1 1/2 years) started working on the unit and do not feel that I would be the best preceptor. So I guess goal #1 would be to just make it thru the class (however I know that that cannot be a goal). Please help any advice on what goals to set?