MrsHijinx08

:ancong!::ancong!::ancong!:

I graduated in the middle of March, was offered a job (pending the results of NCLEX) in April, passed NCLEX towards the end of April, and started working in the middle of May! I'm working on a Med-Surg/Oncology floor. I've been off of orientation for almost a month now, and things are going pretty well! Congrats to all the other 2011 grads!

It gets better. I promise, it does. I am fresh off of my orientation (going into my third week on my own), and I still feel overwhelmed and stressed, but it gets better with every shift that I work. I think you should immediately contact whoever is standing in for your manager, and voice your concerns to her. It's not doing you any good to be with the original preceptor if it causes you this much stress and upset. I do have to be honest though, and tell you that I think "shadowing" for longer than a day is a little excessive. I was hired on for night shift at my facility and during my orientation I did 2 weeks on the day shift and 4 weeks on nights with a preceptor. The very first day I was on they floor (with my day shift preceptor) I shadowed, and it was a great way to familiarize myself with the unit and their procedures. The second day I took two patients of my own, with the understanding that my preceptor was available to answer any questions that I might have or to assist me with anything I might not had experience with. There was also a broadcast over our unit phone system (we use Voceras), that there was a new orientee and if anything interesting or out of the ordinary were to arise to contact myself or my preceptor so that I could be a part of it (I did about a million IV starts, inserted foleys and NGs, etc.), in order to gain familiarity with these procedures while I had somebody with me. The second week I moved up to taking three patients, the third week I took four, and so on. . . By the fifth week, I was managing an assignment of six patients with minimal help from my preceptor, and the last week was really just getting more comfortable with my own routine and figuring out what worked best for me. Just hang in there, and good luck!

I don't work on a post-surgical floor, but we still do encourage all patients than can ambulate to do so regularly. The ones that can't, we make sure they have TEDs and SCDs on most of the day.

I think you should most definitely let your employer know that your great-grandma is a resident at the facility, and if they're ok with it I would think long and hard about how you feel about working there. On one hand, it might be a benefit to be able to see your g-ma on a daily basis and to get to know the people caring for her. On the other, you might not be comfortable caring for your g-ma in a professional setting.

My thoughts exactly! I've got about a 40-minute drive on the freeway to and from work, and my satellite radio is all that saves me on my way home some mornings after 14 hours.