Courtesy
of Hal Pham, NurseWeek
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| Chapter
two of our Nursing Odyssey series follows our graduates
through the next stages of their journey, the interview,
orientation and other preceptors. |
Mark had handled five or six codes in the ER so
far. And, as a student nurse just months ago, he had
never even seen a code. But the veteran nurses were
aware he needed experience, so they made sure he was
involved whenever a code arrived. He documented on codes;
he pushed meds. He even had the opportunity to take
a directing role during a recent code. Mark was starting
to feel confident.
It was a busy day: The ER was down five nurses and
no beds were available. "I think I am getting this,"
he thought to himself as he buzzed around taking care
of patients. Then, the "tombstone" arrived.
Mark is just one of a number of people who entered
the nursing profession this summer. He is also one of
a diverse group of new nurses that NURSEWEEK set out
to follow in the first year working in the profession.
When we left our new nursing graduates in the first
chapter of this series, most had experienced a mix of
elation and trepidation (you can access the first installment
of our new graduates' nursing odyssey, "Finding
Their Way," on our Web site at www.nurseweek.com/news/features/02-07/graduates_print.html).
Some pondered the enormity of the responsibility that
nursing held for them and some just couldn't "think"
anymore. Most just wanted to start their nursing careers.
As our new graduates looked for jobs, they kept diaries
to document their interviews, noting what they liked
and disliked. Among the positive items were organization,
informality-such as when the interviewer did not sit
behind a desk-being given scenarios to test their knowledge,
being able to talk with staff on the unit for which
they were interviewing, and being provided with information
about the hospital and the unit.
On the negative side were interviewers who were late,
interviewers and recruiters who did not follow up with
the new graduate, and interviewers who transmitted the
feeling that the interview was an imposition.
One new graduate said: "When I arrived for the
interview, it appeared that I had inconvenienced the
entire staff. Although I had an appointment, I waited
for 45 minutes to be seen by Human Resources. Then,
when they called the unit for me to meet with the manager,
I again was given the impression that I was inconveniencing
them."
Another said that the manager interviewing her brought
up personal information about some of her employees
and kept saying that she (the manager) wasn't the favorite
person on the unit right now. Obviously, in neither
of these two cases did the new graduate take the job
when it was offered.
But although some of the new nurses had bad interview
experiences, others were so eager just to get started
that they worked through their disappointments.
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