RN Program Orientation

[Pegasus1023]

Hello everyone! I have just completed my first year of my ADN program in Texas. I have been giving the responsibility of planning the orientation for the incoming freshman class and would like some ideas and feedback. I have read a few previous posts that have been great. Most of the information provided to the new students will be given by the instructors. Each sophomore will be asked to give one piece of advice.

One idea we had was to pair each freshman with a "mentor" from our class. The dental hygiene program at our school did this. Each freshman and each sophomore was handed an end of a piece of dental floss and followed it until they met their mentor. I have been trying to think of something like this for nurses. There are 25 freshman and 23 sophomores, so most of the things I have come up with won't work (like different colored bandaids). Are there any creative people here that have any ideas?

Again any ideas are much appreciated!

[RunBabyRN]

Our program did that, and it was really nice having someone to ask about stuff when I was a first year (for us, junior), and someone looking to me for advice and that understood her issues as a second year (senior). I've become friends with both my mentor and mentee. We didn't have any kind of creative thing like that, because many students, particularly the older ones with jobs and families, couldn't make it to the orientations/socials. We basically were e-mailed our mentee's e-mail address and other contact info, and we were to make the first contact. It's really nice having someone to talk to that's NOT in your class, but that understands the personalities of the instructors and administrators and such. I know I vented to my mentor about these people, and my mentee did the same with me!

[Sparrow91]

My school is considering doing a mentor program that is similar to that. I would not make complicated, nursing school is complicated and confusing enough. Just give them the contact info by email, that way if people are unable to come they can still be able to get in touch with their mentor/mentee.

[Suckitupbuttercup]

If you are doing it at some type of mixer and want to have some type of activity, how about some kind of "Medical Match Up"... Think Anatomy...bones, organs, etc...

[Pegasus1023]

Thanks for the thoughts guys!

[christina731]

At my orientation, they sold our white uniforms. They had someone dressed in an "appropriate" uniform - shoes and all and another person dressed in an "unacceptable" uniform. They had their hair down, flip flops, a hat and fake tattoos drawn on their arms - basically all of the things that were frowned upon. It was really funny and it lightened the mood.