Updates and musings from one momma nurse

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Monday, July 26, 2010

Graduated

It is official. I am done with nursing school! Still waiting to take boards.

I have started my new job, orienting on my unit as a graduate nurse. I have had a couple days with patients now.

Day 1:
-Three patients to start
-One patient with out of control pain, worked with my clinical coach to address her pain. Worked through all the options we had available, then called the doctor to obtain more options. One hectic hour later and the patient was resting comfortably, finally. Rewarding to see the results.
-Overall, felt like I had forgotten everything I had ever learned. Points that were strong in nursing school or even as an aide? Fled my mind when it came to day 1 as a nurse. Overwhelming. But at the end of the day, all my patients were alive, pain was under control, and they were all happy (relatively speaking).

Day 2:
-Three patients
-First 4 hours of the shift FLEW by. The rest went pretty quickly too.
-Got surgery consents signed for one patient who was going to OR the next day. (The next shift can thank me later. ;) )
-Finished up nearly all of my charting on time.
-Kept everyone medicated.
-Stayed mostly on the good side of one cranky patient.
-Got a lot of practice with skin assessment, staging pressure ulcers. Discovered a stage I.
-Survived my first physician call (called to clarify conflicting orders).
-Overall, day 2 was much smoother than day 1. I was able to work more independently (though my clinical coach was always close at hand). I had a better sense of the big picture.

I had been worried about the transition from aide to nurse, but so far it seems to be going well. I have a good sense of what the aides do, and how their work fits into that big picture, and I can appreciate it even more.
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In completely unrelated news, Sweet Pea is suddenly making great strides in potty training. I'm very proud of her! She wears diapers only at night now, and even so, is waking up dry sometimes. Woot!