Shadowing in the ED

If you can, find out how long is orientation program? ( for a new grad 1 year should be the right time IMO before a new grad is functioning independently)

Once it is completed, will you have a resource person and for how long?

what is the average nurse to patient ratio? ( if you see nurses struggling with 6-8 patients, it is probably not good. The ER should be able to accomodate 1-1 if there is a critical patient. )

What schedule will you have? I noticed that many places tell you one thing and then it turns out to be something completely different. Ask other nurses if they are happy with their schedules? is the mandatory overtime?

Do they have a high staff turnaround? If many people are quitting and leaving then there are obviously some problems. when I worked on a good unit we only had 1-2 new grads every year.

These are not really technical questions, but if you are thinking about working there, your very first RN experience can be really great or really bad depending on what the unit is like.

JMO

good luck, Nat

Ask questions if you don't understand something. Observe how a patient assessment happens in the ER- we do focused assessments instead of head-to-toe assessments, so it's much different than other areas of nursing. Observe how the nurses work together in a trauma or critical situation- everyone should have a role, and it is much like well-orchestrated chaos. Just try to "see" as much as possible- ask to observe in different procedures, etc- that way you will learn as much as possible.