Welcome to Work!

It's been awhile since I've posted anything travel nurse related. I get asked about orientation a lot so I figured I could probably squeeze out a couple of paragraphs about it for the curious.

HOSPITAL ORIENTATIONS

This assignment is my ninth one. I've worked in 9 different hospitals including Scott and White and I've had to do orientation at each one. They've ranged from a half a day to an entire work week long and that's just for general orientation and computer charting classes. 

After general hospital orientation, at most, we get three days of on-unit orientation with a preceptor. Most experienced nurses who sign on staff in a PICU get EIGHT WEEKS. That is a lot of info in a very short amount of time. 

So. much. info...so. little. time.

There are not huge differences in patient care throughout the different hospitals. Learning the new policies is generally pretty easy, like how to draw blood from a central line or central line dressing changes. Before I traveled I didn't realize all the different ways you could take off a bandaid, clean, and put on a new bandaid...essentially...but there are so many ways. HA! The hardest part to learn is admissions, discharges, and blood administration. That shouldn't surprise any nurse. At least for me, those are the longest processes and it takes a few times to get it right on your own. 

If the short orientation time is what's keeping you from traveling, don't let it scare you! Even after your 2 or 3 days are over your coworkers will, in my experience, always be happy to answer questions. I usually pinpoint one or two people on my shift that I go to with questions. If they can't answer, I'll go to the charge nurse and if the charge nurse doesn't know, I drag my feet to the computer to search through online policies. Which, I should do first but that's neither the easiest nor the most efficient. And my coworkers have never let me down!

Orientation is stressful where ever you go, so why not just get it over with as quickly as possible! Ha! And follow it up with a frozen beverage!