Archives for December 2019

I just finished orientation at my current job.

For any new nurse, being on orientation can be a stressful experience. Your preceptor (the person who orients you) can make or break your entire experience. After going through one orientation on this job and now experiencing another while also taking into account the orientation that I received at my previous place of employment, I’ve come to notice some things and I want to share them with you guys. It’s become something that I’m quite interested in pursuing because it’s a critical time for a new nurse, especially if they’re a new graduate nurse. Programs like Nurse Residency are great but do they teach you how to navigate the intricate relationship that you will have with your preceptor(s).

Fortunately for me, I had a great Nurse Mentor in my educator from Nurse Residency. Her name was Christianna and I’m 100% for sure that had it not been for her I would not have made it through my first year as a nurse. I enjoyed being a nurse, but I hated my job. Psychiatric nursing is not for the faint of heart. I hated working five days a week (rotating shifts!!!), and I absolutely hated my commute into the city. I wanted to quit multiple times, but she continued to encourage me. She met with me and we talked about so many things to help manage life on the job and off.

I had great preceptors when I worked in psych. They were easy to talk to, not into micromanaging, and a great resource for questions that I had. They were also very supportive of the fact that I did not want to remain a psych nurse past my first year. When I switched specialties and moved into Labor and Delivery I was oriented twice. Once when I first started to be a baby nurse, which is where I worked until I could transition to actual labor. And now here we are…

As I stated earlier, there are quite a few things I’ve learned/observed over these past 12 weeks of orientation as it pertains to preceptors:

1. If you don’t want to precept, don’t. I cannot stress this enough!!! It doesn’t do the new nurse any good to be taught by someone who has no real interest in teaching and it will show in how they are taught as well as how they perform without you. You may not see it but others definitely will.

2. Having only one preceptor isn’t always the best idea. A lot of people think that having more than one preceptor is difficult because everyone does things differently. For me, it was eye opening. There are so many things that I learned from my main preceptor that other nurses didn’t do or just did differently. Also, some people are just better at explaining things. So I was able to pick what worked for me and I went back to my main preceptor with a better understanding of certain things.

3. If you don’t think your preceptor (or your orientee if you are the preceptor) is a good fit for you, SPEAK UP. When it was suggested to me who my main preceptor would be – I literally was like 😬 oh no. I agreed to learn from her and while I’m glad I did, it did not come easily. It wasn’t until I got a new preceptor that I was able to appreciate all that I had learned because I was actually given the opportunity to apply it.

4. As a preceptor, know your orientee’s orientation schedule. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like it’s just as much the preceptor’s responsibility to know what you’re supposed to be learning during the week as it is the orientee’s. You both should have a schedule and you both should be responsible for what is to be learned.

5. Know when to let go. This one goes both ways. Preceptors need to know when to let go and let their orientees do the work. Orientees need to know when to take initiative and just do it, especially if you feel like you’re capable. You have to cut the cord eventually (L&D joke). The thing I appreciated most about my preceptors in psych and my preceptor as a baby nurse was that they taught me and then they let me go. They were always close by if I got stuck or had questions, but that was it. They weren’t constantly over my shoulder once they saw that I was confident in my skills. That trust was a good feeling for me and I was comforted knowing that I could always call if I truly needed them.

I think these 5 things are a good place to start for now. There’s so much more I could comment on about my orientation as it regards to my unit as a whole. Myself and a few other girls were the first to be oriented under our new nurse educator who is amazing. But there are definitely some kinks that need to be worked out. It was interesting to say the least and I’m so glad it’s over. ✌🏽

Xoxo,

Ash, RN