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Getting travel RNs on the right track with fast-track

Nurse Leader Weekly, January 14, 2005

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Travel nurses at Beaufort (SC) Memorial Hospital (BMH) are now on the fast track, says Trish Deems, RN, BSN, Med, director of education at BMH.

Fast-track orientation is an abbreviated version of the organization's new grad-based, 12-week program, says Deems. The program offers experienced travel nurses an accelerated yet thorough orientation to the hospital. However, Deems clarifies that not all travel nurses are created equal and says fast-track orientation helps to quickly weed out those who may not perform to BMH's standards.

Fast-track is also used to reorient past employees, says Deems. For instance, if a registered nurse (RN) has left the hospital for at least three months but has not been gone longer than one year, he or she receives fast-track orientation.

To fully understand how fast-track works, Deems explains the steps travel nurses take:

Step #1: Meet with a liaison. Upon entrance to the hospital, travel nurses meet with liaisons from the administration office. The liasions work with the agency and are the travel nurses' first point of contact. The liaisons then give the RNs fast-track orientation checklists to fill out and have verified by the appropriate people (e.g., a human resource representative or instructor). Some of the checklist information includes proof of licensure, immunization records, etc.

Step #2: See employee health nurse. After receiving the checklist, orientees go to employee health nurses for evaluation.

Step #3: Visit the HR department. The new RNs then go to the HR department to take care of necessary paperwork and other procedural matters.

Step #4: Visit the education department. The orientees' last stop is the education department where they receive clinical education and training. Instructors meet with the travel nurses to get a feel for how they will best be trained. The travel nurses' education consists of self-study for common topics and policies. Their competence is also tested in many areas and inventoried with a checklist. Travel RNs also undergo eight hours of training for BMH's electronic documentation system, says Deems.

Fast-track orientees work with preceptors for two days. Preceptors educate and train them on both clinical and procedural practices. "This is also the time when [travel RNs] review the hospital's many policies on the intranet," says Deems.

Source: Adapted from Competency Management Advisor (January 2005), published by HCPro, Inc.

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