Dysorientation in the ER
Found this pic in the Library of Congress collection.
Perhaps this was a “Nurses Week” gift: a ping pong table in the break room!
This looks like a combination of ping pong and marital arts (Tae Kwon Pong?).
Either way, who plays ping-pong in their cap?
Nurse Ratched has discovered the same LOC collection.
Not that I have to use them before she does….
But it’s more fun if I do!
********************
Change of Shift is up at The Muse, RN! Many thanks to our “muse” for hosting a great edition!
The host for May 27th will be Nurse Teeny at The Makings of a Nurse.
Submissions can be sent via Blog Carnival or to “nurseteeny at gmail dot com”.
********************
Congratulations on your new job!
For the next six weeks (or so), you will be center stage, in the spotlight.
The play is called “Employment”, the audition is called “Orientation”.
You may embark on a long, successful engagement, or you could go dark on opening night.
Your audience decides.
Your audience = your colleagues.
*****
Let’s face it: orientation is all about evaluation. Your actions directly affect whether or not you are successful in keeping your new role. I’ve seen many an orientation turn into a “dys-orientation”.
How can you tell a successful orientation vs. a “dys-orientation”?
- Orientation: You’re the first to get up and the last to sit down.
- Dysorientation: You think the night shift is for relaxation and spend the down time texting, reading five-year-old editions of Better Homes and Gardens and snoozing. At the desk.
- Orientation: You realize the only way you will get the routine of the department is to be responsible for patients. A slow shift means you have to take the patients that do come in to get that experience.
- Dysorientation: You pout when it is suggested that you take those patients, even if they are coming in only once an hour with simple chief complaints.
- Orientation: You document your nursing care clearly and legibly.
- Dysorientation: You think scribbling “IV” in the narrative is enough.
- Orientation: You get to know your new co-workers.
- Dysorientation: You spend time trading giggles with the guys/gals in the corner while you have four charts in the rack with orders.
- Orientation: When your work is done, you ask your co-workers if they need any help.
- Dysorientation: When your work is done, you sit.
*****
I see an entirely different attitude toward orientation in younger hires. The focus is less on “how much can I learn during this time?” and more on “how little do I have to do before I can sit?”.
“What can you do for me?” vs. “What do I need to learn here?
It’s the difference between seeing employment as a registered nurse as a “job” or embracing it as a “career”.
Have I turned into the dreaded “old fogey”? T. Rex, RN?
*****
Orientation is supposed to be the time when you put your best foot forward; a time for making a good first impression.
There will be time for socializing or “downtime” activities once you get the rhythm of the department. Time for splitting a slow workload with your co-workers. Time for knowing when you can relax and when you need to be on alert.
Orientation is not that time.
