Sanford New Grad....be warned

[WPotterBSN]

I'm not sure if this is allowed on here but I want to make sure future new grads don't fall for this program like I did. In talking with other new grad nurses this seems to be the norm across different floors and explains why the turnover rate is bloody high.  I wish someone else had taken the time to write something like this post, so in a Google search I would have be alarmed a head of time.

Sanford is a medical chain in North and South Dakota that has facilities all over in varying capacities and settings.  I got accepted into their "new grad" program that supposedly just kicked off earlier this year.

I was told I would be enrolled in classes over the span of a year that would help guide me into nursing and that I would get an opportunity to see other units and get my foot in the door with different patient populations and different levels of care acuity.

Here's what I really got: The first two weeks are computer modules talking about the business standards of Sanford, their history, and a very bare introduction to Epic (thankfully I have significant experience with Epic from a past job). There are some presentations about how to use and contact the pharmacy and about benefits.  Pretty standard stuff for new job orientation.  Here where it goes downhill...

Turns out the "new grad" program doesn't start till 6 months in, and is just a group of 10 new grads getting together once a month to write a paper and discuss some topic for an hour or two.  There is no exposure to other units or other patient populations (like peds or post op or ICU).  Speaking of peds, I took this job because I was told the floor was a pediatric and adult floor and I would get great exposure to both groups, but they float peds nurses down from another floor to take those patients  or they moved them off the floor (which I understand because peds is its own world, I still feel lied to though).

My first shift was following a charge around, but essentially it was me sitting in a chair while they took care of their charge responsibilities as well as 4 patients of their own. My second shift was with my actual preceptor who wanted to dump 3 patients on me, told me to figure it out, and to ask if I had any questions. If I did have a question it was either met with a sigh and eye roll (like about their specific lab gathering and sending policies) or was told "nevermind, I'll take care of it". My preceptor has been a nurse for a little over 6 months, so that didn't really help either.  I was then floated with my preceptor to another floor 3 shifts in a row and told my orientation was put on hold till things settled down. My preceptor would regularly disappear back up to our floor without telling me to get food that was apparently ordered so I had to hunt down other nurses to get help (like how to discharge a patient or how to do x procedure while pending orders...you know, safety stuff).  Tried to voice my concerns about not actually being exposed to or showed what I was supposed to be doing and the manager brushed them off.

 

TLDR: I moved 700 miles to join a new grad program that sounded amazing on paper, to only get lied to about the program and my job, and be put in seriously dangerous positions that I am not prepared for as a new nurse.