Unconventional Orientation

[Davey Do]

At Wrongway Regional Medical Center, whenever it was requested of me to orient a nurse to the unit that I was working- typically geriatric psych- I mainly had them follow me. I would generally narrate as I performed my duties and was open to questions. 

Usually, we get a quick sense of a new nurses' attitude and abilities. If the newbie was a slug merely going through the motions, they would get the standard bottom line logistics and I would rarely stray from the accepted mode, robotically going through the motions myself.

However, If I sensed an interested individual who was a quick learner, I would load as much information on them as they could handle. I would even give information that was somewhat unconventional.

One example was of a new LPN, Annie, who was following me as I set up and administered meds. I gave Annie the conventional methods and also gave her some of the shortcuts, which were unconventional.

My sense of Annie was correct, and she went on to be a great coworker. Sometime later, for example, Annie was integral when we found a non-responsive patient on the women's psych unit, called an RR, and got her to the ER with a good outcome.

In trusting my sense of Annie, and giving her an unconventional orientation, I believe that a certain trust was initiated. Sharing secrets, giving some confidential information, made me vulnerable to scrutiny, but I was careful on the amount and importance of the information that I shared, lest it come back to bite me in the butt.

Another example of a time I gave a partial, somewhat unconventional, orientation was with Jason Hiney RN. I remember the first time I met Jason, for he gave me good eye contact and was very respectful toward me.

I felt as though I could let down my defenses with Jacob and I immediately shared some relatively sensitive information with him:

 

 

 

 

When you have oriented newbies, do you get a sense about them from the get go?

Have you colored outside of the lines and given an unconventional orientation?

Have you ever received an unconventional orientation that was later found to be advantageous?

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

Being on nights, most of the orientees I've had have already had a few weeks on days in the unit so I've had a chance to meet them, maybe even give or get report from them and if I've followed them I can get a sense of their work based on the condition of the room and the charting I see. Really, my orientation time is more the finishing touches because they don't come to nights until they have about four weeks left, so they should be mostly on their own.

However, I agree with you that some orientees are worth far more time and energy invested based on what I see from them right off. If you're taking care of the sickest patient in the hospital, but I have to ask whether you want to get off your phone to titrate your pressor, I'm not going to put any extra effort because clearly you don't want to be there. (true story, she went back to the med surg floor and told her coworkers we were "mean" in critical care) If someone wants to learn, I love to teach. If someone thinks that critical care on nights means two sleeping patients so they can do TikTok and text their friends? Not so much effort on my part.