So many orientees, not enough mentors… what to do?

It seems the time has come where we have made lots of room for new nurses! There’s just one big problem… the veteran nurses left to make room.  So now what?  We’ve got only a few nurses take these nurses under their wing and help them become strong, independent nurse WHO DON’T NEED NO MAN!  (Sorry… that sentence got away from me) But truly, we need to make these new nurses coming in strong and independent… somewhat quickly.  So how do we do that when do don’t have a ton of people to orient them? Spending a year in this black hole has taught me a few things… and I’m going to share them with you!

1.      Start recruiting new mentors! Don’t let years of experience get in your way! Talk to your nurses.  Maybe they just need a little mentor class?  (see our Making of a Magnificent Mentor class!)

2.      Communicate with your leadership to spread out new nurses coming in.  If you have 5 nurses starting in May, see if 3 can start one week then 2 others start a couple weeks after that. Remember, this doesn’t always work, especially when all of these new nurses just graduated and want to work.

3.      Look to sister units to cross train.  Even if you are a specialized unit, your nurses still need to learn the basics.  Let them go off for a week or two and learn some new things with a good mentor from another unit. 

4.      Go back to nursing school.  No, don’t actually go back, but think back to what your nursing instructors did.  Look at splitting up an assignment and having a couple orientees in that assignment with one strong mentor.  This is asking a lot of the mentor, so make sure they have clear expectations of the day and pick an appropriate assignment.

5.      Check in frequently with both your mentors and orientees and make sure everyone is on the same page.  If you have a mentor come to you with any issues, a meeting needs to be had to discuss those issues with the orientee.  Do not be the middleman and not talk to both parties at the same time. 

6.      Have trust in your mentor.  If they are giving you reasons to believe the orientee is not meeting expectations, you need to discuss this with both mentor and orientee. Defining clear expectations is key when keeping the new nurse on track.  Depending on your specialty, you should have an idea within 4-6 weeks of the new nurses starting orientation if they will be successful on your unit or not. 

7.      Thank your mentors.  Thank them with breakfast, snacks, cards, any appreciation is important, so your mentors know you are thankful and grateful for them!