RN Residency?

[Swellz]

Hey all,

I am just starting my final year of nursing school, so all the buzz is about finding a job, which I know will be tough in my RN-saturated area. A friend of mine posted something about RN residency programs. It sounds like a great idea, but I was wondering how widespread something like that is. Is it common for a new grad to complete a residency? I have a couple of friends who graduated in the past year or two, and none of them completed a program other than the orientation/training set out by their respective hospitals.

[tokebi]

I don't know about other parts of the country but here in California, many new grad programs in hospitals are known as RN Residency programs. The well-known Versant program (which numerous hospitals all over the country subscribe to) is also a RN residency program. It combines classroom lectures, skills lab, and preceptorship on the floor. It may be exactly the same thing as the orientation you're thinking of. Here in California, getting into a residency/new grad program may be the only way a new grad RN can start working in a hospital. It's not something you complete before you apply to hospital jobs. Rather, you apply to hospitals when they offer the program, and if you get accepted, you go through their residency program and become their employee.

[Swellz]

Sounds like they must be the same then. Thanks!

[ShantheRN, BSN, RN]

It depends on the area. My residency program was a monthly 4 hour seminar, and to be honest.....I dreaded it. Mainly because it was either at 0800 or 1300....horrible times for night shifters, especially that afternoon one! I picked up a few useful tidbits interacting with the other nurses but all in all I thought it was overrated. I think the term "residency" is used rather loosely across the country.