Each time a nurse starts a job in a new setting or transfers from one department in the hospital to another, they have to be in an orientation period with a preceptor. In my hospital for experienced nurses it’s four to six weeks. For new grads it’s up to 12 weeks.
Rewind to shortly after I had transferred from telemetry to the Emergency Department. I was five years out of nursing school at this point. My preceptor was a baby boomer nurse with 31 years of experience and kids my age. One morning, I approached the nurses station at 0700 and my preceptor was already there. She pointed to a room with a patient on a ventilator with all kinds of tubes and wires connected. She said, “that’s your patient, call report to the ICU.” I started to panic. I told her I didn’t know anything about that patient. She pushed the thick chart across the desk at me and firmly said, “Call report.” I had about 30 seconds to figure out what was going on with that patient but I did figure it out and I called report to the ICU. I made it out of orientation unscathed.
Flash forward to 13 years after that day. My preceptor had since moved on the become a nursing supervisor. I was by that point 18 years out of nursing school. The Emergency Department and its current leadership had burned me out and jaded me. I had already accepted a transfer to my current department and was working my last few weeks as an ER nurse. I remember one day shortly before my departure, my preceptor while on duty as a nursing supervisor made her morning rounds to the Emergency Department. I told her, “I am transferring out of here.” She said she knew. I asked how she knew and she said, “Word travels fast around here.” After that she looked at me and said, “this move will be good for you, you’ve earned it.”
That compliment meant so much to me coming from my preceptor. It validated all the blood, sweat and tears I had put in working there. I had come full circle.
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