Year long New Grad Residency VS Short Orientation to floor? [POLL INCLUDED]

I'm currently a nursing student set to graduate from my BSN program in Dec 2015. I am very interested in working at Ben Taub hospital in Houston largely due to the fact that it is a level I trauma center as well as a county hospital that provides services to a great amount of the under-served/impoverished populations of Houston (Great opportunity for vast experience). I know that I should probably get the ball rolling on applications so that I wont have to wait months and months after I graduate before I start seeing some income, but I'm curious as to what differences there are between new grads who go straight to the floor after a few months of orientation and new grads that participate in a residency program?

I feel as if my nursing program has thoroughly prepared me for the HESI/NCLEX, but as far as TRAINING me to become a nurse??? Not so much.

So, based on your experiences and what you know, which would offer a better transition from Student nurse to Registered nurse; New grad residency, or short Orientation to floor before being on my own?

****SORRY THIS WAS A LITTLE LONG WINDED.*****

Edited Jul 26, 2015 by 2k15NurseExtern4u

First of all, most orientation periods (new grad or not) will most likely be

Secondly, as a new grad resident, I will be siding with the Residency bias. New Grad Residency programs are a relatively new concept.... so, you will probably be treated like the golden child in that particular program. You will also probably be trained in multiple skill sets - meaning you may be required to rotate to multiple units during your residency, learning how to address the needs of different types of patients, each unit probably a higher acuity than the last. This is awesome for a million reasons that I won't waste my time explaining because they're self-evident.

Unless, of course, you feel that you are way ahead of your peers and would opt to just jump right into a particular unit. In which case, I wish you all the best...

IMHO, though, I think it would be wise for residencies to be required for all new grads. I think new grads would learn a lot about what they like and dislike this way, and turnover in acute care (or anywhere, for that matter) wouldn't suffer quite so much.

At face value this seems to be a trick question.

What's tricky about it?

[2k15NurseExtern4u, BSN, RN]

At face value this seems to be a trick question.

I guess what I'm trying to ask is which would have a better outcome for the new nurse; going through a Year long new grad residency OR skipping the residency and just applying for a floor position with an orientation that's likely to last less than 6 months before I'm out on the floor on my own.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN, CNS]

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