Should I be leery of my new job?

[detrelibre]

I recently accepted a position at a large level one trauma ED here in my city. I am going there after 1.5 years experience at a neurosurgery stepdown unit at my current hospital. The new position is for night shift, which I happily accepted as that is what I prefer because it works best for my schedule. My first day will be March 13, 2017.

I received an e-mail from one of the supervisors at the new job telling me that there were not many preceptors on night shift. She was wondering if I didn't mind precepting on day shift for the first few weeks. Here is my question: should I be concerned that there are a limited number of precepting nurses on night shift? My concern is that although I have 1.5 years experience on a neuro stepdown unit, working in the ED is a totally different ball game and it concerns me that I will potentially not be working with enough experienced nurses on night shift to guide me if needed.

On my current unit, there are usually at least 3 or 4 highly experienced nurses who know the floor and patient population very well. Even after 1.5 years I use them for guidance when I find myself in a befuddling situation. After hearing from this supervisor that there are not many of those nurses on night shift, it concerns me that I'll have to find my own way. A lot of this may have to do with low confidence on my part, but I just don't wanna feel like it's me and a bunch of new nurses working night shift in a busy ED.

So please tell me, AllNurses community, are my concerns legitimate? Please explain why or why not. I appreciate all of your replies in advance! :)

[dishes, BSN, RN]

I would ask the manager more questions about the years of experience of the night nurses and frequency of turn over of new staff, if they have a revolving door of staff turn over, do not accept the job, as it's a sign that the long term staff may be burnt out and the workplace is toxic.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

That's interesting. In my facility, everyone completes the bulk of orientation on day shift. If they were hired on a shift other than days, they will receive 2-3 weeks of orientation on that shift. But I would follow the advice above about finding out about turnover and average experience.

[Okami_CCRN, BSN, RN]

Most facilities conduct the bulk of precepting nurses during the day shift, mainly because the powers that be are there and can track your performance and progress.

Where I came from very few nurses at night precepted new graduates because they had to complete an online module plus class to be able to precept and very few had the time or ability to do it.

I would however, ask about retention rates and the overall level of experience of the shift you were hired for.

[Graduatenurse14]

At my hospital, also a Level 1 Trauma hospital, I know several highly experienced nurses who are done, done, done with precepting new hires as they did it for years and years and no longer want to do it. They all have more experience than most of those who are currently precepting.

Hopefully it is a situation like that. Good luck!