COWman's Corner of the Web

I am going to have to get used to only working 3 days a week. It seems like I have waaaaaay to much free time. I realize that I am actually working full time by working 3, 12 hour shifts, but that is a huge change from working 5 days, and going to school most of another day. It will be better once I am out of my training period, and I can pick up some extra shifts (cha-ching!), but until then, I feel like I am cheating somehow.

I can see now why people work contingent at second hospitals. My next goal is to go back to school and work on my masters. I still might look into it, even while going to school. We will have to see how much time classes take up, and how many extra shifts I am working.

Of course, all these plans may be upset by the Spousal-Equivalent. He is applying for a couple of jobs up in suburban Detroit. Not exactly my first choice of places, but if that is where his career needs to go, then we go. One of the good things about nursing is that I can get a job just about anywhere in the country.

Well, I am off to work tomorrow. Hopefully by the end of the week, I will actually feel like I am starting to have a clue as to what I am doing around that place.

It is funny what makes you actually feel like you've finally achieved a goal. For me, it is the fact that I can access the Pyxis (the medication station pictured above for you non-medical folks out there) on my own.

For those of you not in the know, the machine shown above is what holds the medications for a unit. The screen above is a touch screen that you use to look up patients and medications. There is also a keyboard and a fingerprint reader. You sign in with your ID and then scan your fingerprint. After that, you look up your patient and medication, and it opens the drawer and/or door and tells you where in that drawer the medication you requested is. All in all, a kind of cool process.

Of course, as a student, we are not allowed into the system since there are narcotics and other fun drugs in there. So we always had to find our instructor or a nurse to get stuff out of it for us. Now that I am a real life nurse, I can get my own medications from the system. It is a little weird that I can just walk up and get things out. Of all the things that come with getting a new job as a nurse (the big RN embroidered on our scrub tops, the letters on my ID badge, the 2 weeks of nurse orientation, etc), this is what actually makes it feel real. Like I said, it's the little things that matter sometimes.

Of course, I would LOVE it if our Pyxis was all out in the open like this one. Our medstation is crammed in the corner with a set of shelves right behind it so that you can barely get the drawers open all the way. And our supply station is out in the hallway so that you're in danger of getting run over when you are standing there getting supplies out.

Well, tomorrow is my first day on the unit, so I am just a little nervous. Instead of having butterflies in my stomach, I think they are a tad bigger. Probably something along the lines of these critters, only they don't have quite that much space to move in.

I am trying to stay positive about things. I know that 1) I will not just be thrown to the wolves/patients and expected to survive, and 2) I have the knowledge and skills to do the job, or else I would not be there. I will have a preceptor/mentor for as long as I need it, I just have no idea what she is like. Hopefully we'll get along good, because I would rather not go through the hassel (and interpersonal fallout) of getting a new one.

Oh well, I just need to go to my happy place........

I'm off to cook some dinner and try to unwind....... More as it develops.....

Okay, I realize that I'm just starting out as a nurse, but shouldn't the people in this picture actually be doing something with/for that patient?

I am finally getting around to doing another entry here. I didn't quite realize that it has been quite this long since my last update. But, until recently, I have not really had much of anything to tell.

The good news, is that I am finally working as a nurse! Woo woo wookie wookie yay! I got a job as an ER nurse at a community hopsital not too far outside the city. It's a bit of a drive (about 30 miles one way), but I will be traveling against traffic, and my shift will be at odd hours (compared to rush hour at least), so that will not be too bad. I will probably start looking for something a little closer, with a few more opportunities in a year or so, once I have worked off the "new grad" label.

This week has been nothing but orientation. I still have not set foot in the actual ED yet, other than my interview. I still have another full week of orientation before I get "let loose". Hopefully, after next week, I will actually start having some interesting adventures. I am already a little tired of classroom work. Let me at the patients!

Well, on second thought, maybe I don't want to be near them just yet...........

More to follow (hopefully).........