When are you no longer a new grad?

[HeartsOpenWide, RN]

How long after you graduate are you no longer considered a new grad? Is there a difference between say a new grad that has worked a year and a new grad out one year that has only worked a few months or not at all? When are we considered going from Novice/new grad to intermediate? When can I stop being considered a new grad?

[grandmawrinkle]

Personal opinion -- after 1 year of full time work in nursing, after the orientation period is over.

I think most people say it's more or less after about 1 year of working.

I don't know what Benner would say. I know her criteria doesn't necessarily have days/months/years attached. You would probably have to go by what your expertise level is and evaluate yourself that way.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

how long after you graduate are you no longer considered a new grad? is there a difference between say a new grad that has worked a year and a new grad out one year that has only worked a few months or not at all? when are we considered going from novice/new grad to intermediate? when can i stop being considered a new grad?

some parts of your question are easier than others. there's a definite difference between someone who graduated a year ago and has been working the whole time, and someone who has worked a few months or not at all. the latter is definitely still a new grad. the former? depends upon how much she has learned, how she's progressed and how much maintenence she requires as a co-worker. if you're still needing lots of help but unable to free yourself up to give it, you're still a new grad. if you can handle most of your assignments just fine and still have time to help your neighbor clean up poop, you're not. i was probably a new grad for a couple of years; my current orientee -- who is almost ready to fly on her own -- seems to have already passed the new grad state. there is no definite time line. it's all relative.

[nursemike, ASN, RN]

I was about to be uncustomarily succinct and say, "When you stop acting like one," but Ruby put it more nicely.

I was in about my ninth month and hoping for some miraculous metamorphosis in three months when one of my coworkers made the off-hand remark, "It takes about 5 years to get comfortable as a nurse..." I now agree, although there are shifts when I wonder whether "comfortable" and "burned out" aren't close to synonymous.

[caliotter3]

Ruby said it perfectly.

[rn4ever?]

When are you no longer a new grad?

When the recruiter thinks you are not. Because if she wants to hire you, she will. And then, if she doesn't want you, she will find a dozen excuses why you are not qualified.

How long after you graduate are you no longer considered a new grad? Is there a difference between say a new grad that has worked a year and a new grad out one year that has only worked a few months or not at all? When are we considered going from Novice/new grad to intermediate? When can I stop being considered a new grad?

[guiltysins]

It depends on how you want to evaluate it. If a student graduates in 2009 and they still haven't worked, a recruiter doesn't consider them a new grad in 2010 and new grad programs don't consider them a new grad, even though they have never worked.

If you mean experience wise than that's a whole different ball game.

[PostOpPrincess, BSN, RN]

Agree with Ruby. It isn't about the timeline. It's about what you can handle..especially the crises.

I took very sick Open Hearts six months into my ICU orientation. Nobody did that. Boy, the more experienced nurses wanted to eat me alive. They never got a chance since I blew them all away.

However, that's just me...I know some nurses who didn't take super sick patients 3 YEARS into their ICU experience. I would've been bored out of my gourd..

[sairin8]

In NZ we have the PDRP (which stands for Professional Development Recognition Programme). In this, there are different PDRP rankings. A new grad starts at Beginner RN and is supposed to move to Competent RN within the first year, so I guess one is no longer a new grad when they are no longer working at a beginner level

[elprup, BSN, RN]

It depends on how you want to evaluate it. If a student graduates in 2009 and they still haven't worked, a recruiter doesn't consider them a new grad in 2010 and new grad programs don't consider them a new grad, even though they have never worked. If you mean experience wise than that's a whole different ball game.

Exactly what I experienced! Soo depressing

[minnymi]

if you just got hired after graduating...or a few months after passing your NCLEX then i would say you are a "new grad."

if you graduated/passed the NCLEX and got your first job a year later....then i would introduce myself as a "new nurse." if someone asks what you mean (which they will if they don't already know) then i would explain at that time, "i graduated last year, but this is my first job so i don't really have any experience outside of school/clinicals."

you don't want to discredit yourself by saying you "don't know anything," but you definitely want people to know that it's your first job AND you've been out of practice for awhile. the expectations will be pretty much the same as a "new grad" but they will know that you've been out of practice for several months...or a year.

[minnymi]

just to add...this issue comes up when someone is full time vs. PRN also since it has a huge impact on the amount of experience they gain.

my manager pointed this out to me one time after a nurse/soon to be doctor made a nasty comment to me about how a "cna should be confident in their role" when i refused to ambulate a patient by myself who had a fractured pelvis on the right side (non weight bearing), an immobilizer on the left side, and i could barely ambulate him WITH the help of a male nursing student.

i ended up having a heated exchange with the nurse who i had asked for help (after the student was gone) because she said that i should be able to do it if i was "comfortable and competent in my role as a CNA." because the other CNA on the floor, "joe" was able to do it without her help. basically, she was saying, "if he can do it without help then you should be able to" aka "he's a good aide and you aren't."

at which time i said, "well, joe must have not done it properly because there's noooo WAY!" she insisted that he had. come to find out...."joe" had no idea that the patient wasn't allowed to ambulate without the immobilizer on (duh, the whole point of the immobilizer) so he took the immobilizer OFF and let him bear weight on both sides. no WONDER he could ambulate the pt without her help. he took the immobilizer off his left leg and let him put weight on his right leg with a fractured pelvis.

back to the point....i had to meet with my nurse manager over the "argument" that happened between the nurse and me. when i told my manager that the nurse had basically called me incompetent, she pointed out that people might think, "well, she's worked here for a year....so she should be able to do X....but in reality since i was PRN i had only worked the same amount of time as what someone who was full time might work in a few months....so they might be "better" than me.

of course, after i explained that the "good aide" had let the patient walk on his non weight bearing leg and without his immobilizer, she agreed that he wasn't the "good aide" in that scenario...but her point about me being viewed as 'having worked for a year' when in actuality i had what amounted to three months experience was well taken.

by the way, i ended up telling my manager that i felt her nurse didn't care about the well being of the patient (i.e. if he put weight on his fractured pelvis and immobilized leg) as long as someone took him to the bathroom and back without bothering her for help. it was the "don't ask, don't tell" policy IMO.