Nurse residency VS. Straight on the floor.

Nurses New Nurse

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  1. Nurse residency or just straight to the floor???

    • 11
      Nurse residency
    • 6
      Straight to the floor

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I've said before that I am currently in a nurse residency program. In fact, I just graduated this week so I wanted to come on here and ask you guys a question and get some opinions from you all.

As a new grad, or maybe even a seasoned nurse, what is your opinion on new grad residency programs???

Mine consisted of 8 weeks in a classroom setting (EKG class, ACLS, TNCC, ENPC, skills, etc) all of these were provided in the nurse residency.

After successfully completing the 8 weeks you are then given 8 weeks on the floor.

Years ago, my same hospital would give new grads 14 weeks of on the floor precepting and BLS, ACLS and PALS included for all ER nurses.

So my question is, what do you think is better??? New grad residency or just straight to the floor?

To all the new grads interested in my advice and opinion. I believe if you have any experience in the medical field (Medic, CNA, patient care tech, etc) this nurse residency program isn't really as beneficial as it might be for someone who has never worked in healthcare.

I did truly enjoy receiving all these certifications prior to starting on the floor because now I don't have to worry about getting any of them. Besides that, I am so ready to get started on my unit.

So, with that being said, what's your guys advice and opinions???

Going to add a poll on this one. Vote if you can.

Xo

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Overall I am a big fan of nurse residencies. That being said I'm not a fan of how yours was set up. Ours are 18 months long. I think they did you a disservice wasting time in orientation getting the extra certifications. Those could have and probably should have been done later in your orientation. 8 weeks of didactic seems a bit much and 8 weeks on the floor is definitely not enough time.

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I am also a new grad and am in a transition to practice nurse residency. Our residency is set up a little different from yours. The residency is a year long. The first 16 weeks there is class time as well as time on the unit. Our class is 8 hours once a week and then we are on the unit for two 12's and a flex 8 hour shift. We rotate to a different unit every 2 weeks. At the end of 14 weeks, there is a "match" day where you pick your top 3 units and get matched to a unit. Once you've matched, you will then be on your home unit for the remainder of the time that makes up the full year. You may then seek permanent placement on that unit or apply to another unit.

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Specializes in Case manager, float pool, and more.

I went straight to the floor, no nurse residency. I had 3 weeks orientation and was on my own after that. ( I had been a LPN before that so it was a shorter orientation for me ) The nurse residency program was just starting at our hospital at the time but it was 6 months long plus during that time a new grad would get 6-8 weeks floor training with Fridays spent in classroom. I can see the benefit more nowdays as it seems clinicals may be lacking in some areas. I don't know much about nurse residency programs but I have heard alot of positive feedback. I know what they started out as and I assume the prgram has grown. Personally, I think there is benefit from them overall. It seems that these programs also may vary from hospital to hospital.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

If given the option, I would prefer the residency program. It goes more into depth about what you see on the floor, a lot of times the preceptor does not have time to explain it all. However, I'll admit, I did not take my residency seriously. I did not appreciate what we were learning in the classroom setting because I thought it was all fluff because I did not understand how it truly applied to my practice. I treated it like I treated a regular nursing class. This came to bite me when the classes ended and now I was seeing the importance of what I learned in class but now it was too late to truly appreciate it.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
Overall I am a big fan of nurse residencies. That being said I'm not a fan of how yours was set up.

I totally agree. So I didn't vote. I like well-planned residencies, but the program described by the OP didn't sound very good to me. I think new grads (and most other people, too) learn better when the classroom experiences are mixed in with clinical experiences during which the classroom learning is reinforced. When the classroom and experiential learning experiences are intertwined, the learner also has the opportunity to better recognize the need for some of the class content. In addition, spreading the learning out and intertwining it helps retention. When you try to cram too much factual information (class content) in over a short time period, not much is retained.

Finally, a longer program provides support when new grads often need -- after the preceptor program is over and they are on their own. That's when the problems often set in and/or become obvious.

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Specializes in Telemetry, Med-Surg, Peds.

As a new grad I applied specifically for positions that offered a residency program. I am in a PCU residency program that will last 12 weeks. We get 2 days on the floor and 1 day in the classroom. Honestly, I like this setup, I'm only on my 3rd week, but have learned so much already.

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I totally agree. So I didn't vote. I like well-planned residencies, but the program described by the OP didn't sound very good to me. I think new grads (and most other people, too) learn better when the classroom experiences are mixed in with clinical experiences during which the classroom learning is reinforced. When the classroom and experiential learning experiences are intertwined, the learner also has the opportunity to better recognize the need for some of the class content. In addition, spreading the learning out and intertwining it helps retention. When you try to cram too much factual information (class content) in over a short time period, not much is retained.

Finally, a longer program provides support when new grads often need -- after the preceptor program is over and they are on their own. That's when the problems often set in and/or become obvious.

I should have mentioned that the program is actually one year long. Like they check up on us once a month and we all meet to ask questions. But no more class learning time, does that make sense?

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I like how you guys have floor and classroom experience together. Unlike ours where it is separated with classroom being the first 8 weeks and on the floor the final 8.

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I agree with PP in that your program doesn't seem very well set up. As a new grad, the biggest challenge for me was to transition from the "ideal" practice of a student nurse with only 1-2 patients to the "real world" work of a floor nurse with 5 patients.

After graduating and passing NCLEX, you know the basics; what you need to learn is how to apply them quickly and effectively. Spending two more months sitting in a classroom with no accompanying clinical hours isn't going to get you to that place.

Better to be on the floor with a good preceptor (and having a GOOD preceptor is important) will give you the chance to ask questions about protocols and be supported in new-to-you nursing tasks.

The exception to the above is if you are going into a true specialty like pediatrics where there might be a real gap between what school teaches you and what you need to know.

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Commenting so I can follow this thread. I don't graduate until December and I am considering applying for an Onco Residency.

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