Begins with live General Orientation (GO) – all-day live class held every Monday for all new CH staff (run by HR). Held at Administrative Regional Training Center (ARTC) at 144 Genesee St. Buffalo, NY.
Continues with RNO (RN Orientation) – RNs working in the acute care setting attend a multi-day class to introduce them to the orientation process, review key nursing concepts, and become familiar with Catholic Health policies and procedures. Classes are taught by a variety of nursing education staff members and include classroom lecture, hands-on skill training, and patient care simulation experiences. Those nurses with at least one year of experience in an acute care setting can attend only the first two days of class. All other RNs should attend all three days. RNs are registered by clinical education with input from managers on how many days they should attend. Classes are held every other week at the ARTC from 8:00 – 4:00. Students may wear business casual or scrubs.
Epic Training – Live virtual classes to teach RNs how to document using Epic. Students are registered by their managers who select dates, times, and locations. These classes are held at the sites and are overseen by the Epic education team, not by the clinical education department.
Preceptorship – RNs then begin their orientation on the units. They will work closely with a preceptor who helps guide their orientation. New nurses are gradually eased into the role of an acute care nurse. They begin by shadowing their preceptor who will then give them progressively more opportunities to engage in patient care until they are operating independently by the end of orientation. The length of orientation is at the discretion of their manager, but is usually 12-16 weeks for inexperienced RNs. Site educators will periodically check in with the orientees to assess their progress.
RNs working on units with cardiac monitoring will either attend the two-day class “Basic Cardiac Rhythm Interpretation for RNs” or may test out of the class by successfully passing a test of cardiac rhythm knowledge.
Competency-Based Orientation – As nurses move through the orientation process, their preceptors will keep track of their progress by checking off items from a list of required competencies within HealthStream, our online education tool. All new nurses are assigned a series of curricula covering topics such as fluids and electrolytes or gastro-intestinal disorders.
Once a new nurse has demonstrated competency with these particular skills or concepts, their preceptor will mark them as completed. The goal is for the new nurse to complete all of the items that comprise their competency-based orientation checklist by the end of their orientation.
