Designing Nursing Orientation

This binder and CD-ROM walk you through each step of a well-run orientation program so you can incorporate field-tested, evidence-based practices at your facility. Use this resource to evaluate your program outcomes, fulfill Joint Commission orientation requirements, train new graduates, and meet the needs of a diverse workforce.

“Chapter to chapter, I was able to deepen my understanding of process and concepts in ways that will strengthen the professional development of any nursing team.” –Heather E. Norman, MBA, MSN, RN, NE-BC, CNL, CCHP-RN Chief Nursing Officer, Wellpath “Staff Educator’s Guide to Clinical Orientation provides an insightful look into the onboarding needs of our healthcare environment . . . This guide would be a fantastic resource for a new or established onboarding program.” –Veronica Gurule, MSN, RN, CCRN Pediatric Intensive Care Nurse Cook Children’s Hospital “Staff Educator’s Guide to Clinical Orientation is a must-read for anyone who is involved in onboarding new, experienced, and temporary staff nurses in a clinical setting.” - Paula Levett, MS, RN, CCRN Former Nursing Practice Leader Pediatric Intensive Care Unit The University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital With all the changes in staffing in the past few years due to the pandemic, a high-quality onboarding process is even more important for retention and ensuring a new nurse’s success. In this fully revised third edition of Staff Educator’s Guide to Clinical Orientation, authors Robin Jarvis, Amy J. Word-Allen, and Alvin Jeffery provide readers with all the tools they need to successfully develop a nursing and healthcare workforce. Whether someone is new to leading orientation efforts or a seasoned nursing staff development specialist, this book will help readers: · Understand the role of the preceptor in clinical orientation activities · Incorporate regulatory and legal issues · Understand and use the ADDIE model · Analyze, design, and implement an orientation program · Evaluate an individual’s competency · Conduct surveys and focus groups · Manage orientee errors and personality conflicts TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Important Considerations for Onboarding and Orientation Chapter 2: Analysis and Design of an Onboarding Program Chapter 3: Developing and Implementing an Orientation Program Chapter 4: Evaluating an Individual’s Competency Chapter 5: Working With Orientees Chapter 6: Evaluating an Orientation Program Chapter 7: Temporary Employees and Students Chapter 8: Regulatory Considerations Chapter 9: Practical Tips for Staying Organized Appendix: Essential Orientation Materials for Your Office

This guide presents fundamental competencies to direct the orientation process for new staff. The information can also be used to evaluate existing staff. The competencies are designed for RNs and other staff as regulated by their practice acts and job descriptions. Readers are encouraged to integrate the concept of competency in designing an orientation plan. This publication is a valuable guide in this endeavor.

Graduate registered nurse transition into the workplace continues to be an arduous experience for most new nurses. Unrealistic job expectations, inadequate initial socialization, and increased work demands result in lowered job satisfaction and higher turnover among new nurses. Extant literature on graduate transition has identified "best practice" principles that can ease the transition, and foremost among them is a formal precepted orientation. This study used a quasi-experimental survey design to assess the effects of a formal precepted orientation on the self-perceived transition experiences of new graduates hired into a 140-bed rural county hospital. Perceptions of graduate registered nurses hired into hospital units that possess a formal orientation are described along with those of their counterparts hired into hospital units without a formal orientation. The convenience sample of new graduates (n = 10) found that both the control (n = 5) and experimental (n = 5) groups reported a positive transition when they had a supportive work environment and preceptors. This implies a supportive work environment may be as conducive to a positive transition as a formal precepted orientation. For the nurses in this study, a supportive work environment might have been established prior to hire, as many of the new graduates had spent time in the hospital during nursing school clinical rotations. Graduates' level of personal stress in transition was unaffected by a formal precepted orientation.