Nurse Residency Orientation Week 1

I can finally say that I have successfully completed my first week of orientation at my big girl job. To my surprise, it was nothing like I expected. Not even close.


I tried to vlog about my experiences in the car, but keep in mind I am not a "youtuber". I am enjoying making videos so I will keep doing small ones here and there.

So here is how my week went...

Day One: New Hire Orientation
This was by far the longest day. All new hire's for that selected period were invited. Majority of the day was spent going over the hospital's mission and values, important security codes, and preventing infection. Essentially everything you need to know about our hospital 101. The highlight was all the free stuff you get with the hospital's logo on it. lol.

Day Two: Nursing/ Clinical Orientation
The real nursing orientation officially began! I was super excited to hopefully be doing scenarios and getting real hands on experience with the hospital's equipment. Instead, I spent eight hours listening to powerpoints about certain hospital policies and procedures. Surely it is a safety measure that we have to go over this material, but having actual demonstration would really have helped. Policies that we went over were falls, restraints, and the beginning of ceiling lifts. Really dry and boring.

Day Three: Nursing/Clinical Orientation
Second day of actual orientation was filled with almost exactly the same thing as the first, except we had more hands-on. During orientation, I was getting a little frustrated with hearing material I had just learned in nursing school and refreshed upon for the NCLEX. I am referring to the hour and thirty minute powerpoint on medication administration. I just wish they would have focused more on what their policy is and the steps necessary, instead of how to administer a SQ injection.

I was really thankful that we had hands-on time with PT. It was extremely useful to refresh spinal/knee precautions when it comes to repostioning and moving patients. I also got to learn the proper way on how to adjust walkers, crutches, and canes. Prior, I only knew the proper way on how to ambulate with these devices.

Other people who visited us that day was the RD (registered dietician), wound nurse, and pain nurse. We also finished the last part about the ceiling lifts. [seriously, the highlight.]

Day Four: Nursing/Clinical Orientation
Final day of orientation for this week. The first four hours of the day was spent learning the basics of the electronic medical record. I have zero previous exposure to the eMD, so I was very thankful for four hours of it today. The way certain flowsheets are set up is confusing and does not really flow logically. Hopefully so real clinical settings will help me learn the system faster.

The second part of the day was spent going over more policies and procedures. However, this time was focused on IV, drips and lines, and certain tubes and foleys. We did get a bit more hands on with the actual equipment, but still not enough for me to remotely comfortable. I am sure all of this will change with my actual unit experience.

So that is very quick overview of what my week looked like. I am very thankful and proud of my job. I love what my hospital is about and the atmosphere. I cannot wait to continue to grow here.

Stay tuned for more stories!