RN Nursing School Orientation?

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Pretty soon I will be attending my schools rn orientation for new students. It will be 8 hours long and I have no idea what to expect. Is there anyone who has gone through this and would like to give me any tips as to what to expect? Thanks!

My orientation was 8 hours long as well. Mostly we filled out paperwork for clinicals, they introduced the entire nursing faculty, and we introduced ourselves. They also had us bring our laptops so they could get us registered on all of the online resources we can use. We had guest speakers from the hospital so we would know what to expect. We went over lots of paperwork, took pictures for ID's and talked about what to expect. I would recommend bringing paper as I was so excited I forgot what I had heard.

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ebailey1218 How soon after you started school did you start doing clinicals

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Mine was a lot of the staff talking. Then we signed up for our classes, saw samples of our uniforms that we have to order, submitted our CORI/SORI, had a little intro about our books being on our iPads, telling us our schedules/classes, telling us about the 2 step PPD one after May 31st 2nd afetr July 1st, our shot requirements plus our drug testing that will be scheduled in September, and our flu shots in september. We have a Nursing STAT program coming up where we will be able to see the simulation lab, go over some nursing math, and get help with iPads and books. So excited, that was optional but I totally signed up.

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ebailey1218 How soon after you started school did you start doing clinicals

I start September 3rd and they said the middle of September (the 3rd week of classes) we will start our clinicals in LTC.

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Specializes in Hospice.

I am going CRAZY waiting for news on our orientation. I want to DO something, don't know what to do. I have my PPD already, my CPR for Healthcare workers, getting my first Hep B on June 24. Are the other immunizations a series of shots that I should get started on, or is it one shot? Should I be doing those even though we don't even have a list of the rquired immunizations yet? This is driving me crazy waiting. I could be doing my background check and drug screening stuff if I had our school's package code but I don't have any information. They said we should have a date set up for orientation and have our organization on Blackboard by mid June. Well, guess what? It's officially mid-June today! Yeah, yeah....... I know. I need to chill out. :cool:

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Wow! That's awesome! Are you going to buy shoes and a steth before you start? Do they have restrictions on things like that?

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Specializes in Hospice.
Wow! That's awesome! Are you going to buy shoes and a steth before you start? Do they have restrictions on things like that?

Which brings up another point! We don't have info on what uniforms, shoes, supplies are required...... Some people have been saying their orientations are a week before class starts. How in the world do you get all that done before then?

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Wow! That's awesome! Are you going to buy shoes and a steth before you start? Do they have restrictions on things like that?

Our college fees pay for our stethoscope, b/p cuff, pen light. Only thing to buy is a printer and my shoes. I already bought my uniforms and name pin. My books are paid for with my scholarships.

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Specializes in Hospice.
Our college fees pay for our stethoscope, b/p cuff, pen light. Only thing to buy is a printer and my shoes. I already bought my uniforms and name pin. My books are paid for with my scholarships.

You've had orientation already, right? Or did you get some kind of packet that told you all that? All I have for information is the ADN student handbook which doesn't tell you any of that. It did give me a list of vaccinations though, I'm glad I looked at it. Our acceptance letter didn't address any of that. The handbook is online for download so I checked that out and it says we need our proof of vaccinations at orientation. Hopefully they will send something out before orientation for the people who haven't looked at the handbook. That is the ONLY reference I could find that says we need anything before orientation.

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Which brings up another point! We don't have info on what uniforms, shoes, supplies are required...... Some people have been saying their orientations are a week before class starts. How in the world do you get all that done before then?

Don't panic. You will have time to purchase these things. You don't start clinicals your first week. We didn't start clinicals until a month in because you have to learn how to take vitals, how to do a head to toe assessment, etc etc. good luck!

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Specializes in Hospice.
Don't panic. You will have time to purchase these things. You don't start clinicals your first week. We didn't start clinicals until a month in because you have to learn how to take vitals, how to do a head to toe assessment, etc etc. good luck!

Thank you! I think once we have orientation and I get some info I will probably relax a little more about it. But it seems like so much to do and with not knowing exactly what is expected it is very stressful!

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We have all of the information we need for matriculation. We are update constantly via email. We also have student mentors we can contact to ask questions. And calling the admissions office, you can ask all the questions you can come up with. My program is good about updating us. Our orientation is the beginning of July for 8hrs, where we will be going over expectations, purchasing uniforms and instruments, books and all, meeting other students, taking our id photos, paperwork, etc-- and then we have Welcome day in Sept the day before classes start, another 8hr event to sync our ipads, verify everything is in order (matriculation reqs), find our classes, and REJOICE! Then we're of to the races.

I've got my clearances done already and I'm already registered for my classes! Just a few more detail to finish up, book/uniform/equipment purchasing, and physical completion, and IT'S A GO!!!

Good Luck Everyone! We ROCK!!!!:yes:

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