Starting 3-11 pm shift at Rehab facility

[EwokRN]

Hi. I just ended my 1 week of floor orientation at the Rehab facility. The 1st 2 days were kind of confusing. At first they scheduled me with an LPN to work the med cart like I wanted (I'm a new grad RN). Then, they assigned me to the unit manager who btw practically ignored me the first 15-20 minutes. I was talking with the unit manager and asked her if I could hang with the LPN I was originally assigned too. She said yes, and I was orienting with her and another orientee at the same time. In other words one mentor was assigned to me (new grad RN) and the other LPN at the same time. Of course, I wasn't receiving enough one-on-one time, which I found ridiculous, so I went to the staff educator. She agreed that I should receive enough one-on-one and therefore scheduled me with someone on the other floors, which is actually working pretty well.

I'm receiving more hands-on experience pulling out drugs and administering drugs. So far, my mentors have been telling me that I've been doing better, which I hope they're telling me the truth, because I was lied to before at the hospital I was originally orienting at.

I guess my only real complaint is that the staff educator doesn't want me to look at the Nursing Procedures book before next Friday. It turns out that I can't even look at their procedures through their intranet at home, which I found totally ridiculous. She said go through one week, and see what questions I have before that time. Not surprised, it turns out that she actually taught from the nursing school I graduated from, which in my opinion as dumb a*@ instructors! BTW, I do have a questions, but I didn't want to discuss it there, because it involved a conflicting of two nurses doing a procedure of flushing the G-tube, but I didn't want to discuss it there because I was busy plus, it was in public, and I didn't want to embarrass anyone.

Well, since I start 3-11 pm shift, I was actually wondering what was the best way to start getting your sleep schedule adjusted? If anyone could offer any suggestions. I guess the only good thing about this is that I get to see my 3 y.o. daughter more during the day. Plus, I could help my parents more in taking care of her by taking on some of the load vs them sitting for her the entire day while I'm on day shift. Luckily, she hasn't started pre-school yet, so I'm lucky in that respect.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[NC Girl BSN]

I loved working 3-11 but I could never go to sleep untill 2-3 in the morning and slept late in the am. Maybe you can take tylenol PM until your bosy get use to it because your 3 yr old is not gonna let you sleep in the mornings.

Also regarding Policies and procedures. Its probably best that you wait till next week to look at them. Being new in LTC can be sensory overload. There is alot to know and some of that stuff is not gonna make sense until you have been exposed to it. Trust me you will have plenty of time to get aquainted with the polices and procedures. They are always revising them in my LTC facility and posting them all on the nurses station.