Orientation Week

So, I am three days into orientation. Of course, day one was llllooonnngggggg and very, um, tiresome. Yeah. We went over lots of basic hospital policy stuff--payroll, insurance, infection control, etc. All geared towards general hospital employees. It went well and that was that...(And can I just say that I love the mission of the County Hospital. Very Inspiring!)

Yesterday and today are what is called GN Internship. We have been doing all kinds of things from listening to lectures on quality improvement (zzzzzz) to learning skills and how to use the equipment (which has been very, very useful!). Today we worked with the hospitals pumps, did central line dressing changes, worked with NG's, crash carts, the pyxis, etc. All good stuff to know as each hospital uses different equip. and we have not been exposed to some of this stuff in school.

Tomorrow is computer tarining and more inservices on policy, etc. Same type of thing on Friday, and then the REAL FUN begins!!!!!! For the next 8 weeks (provided I pass the you-know-what) I have classes two days a week and work two twelves a week!!! I start in Mother/Baby for 4 weeks and take classes on things like introducing breastfeeding, caring for post partum incisions, newborn care, etc, etc, etc. Then I move to antpartum and take classes on things like fetal monitoring, the process of labor, OR circulation for c-sections, fetal demise, blablabla. Lots and lots of class work which is going to be freakin AWESOME. Then if I am up to speed I move into 4 wks of L&D orientation...

Loving it all, very excited and at the same time have the big bad TEST demon circulating in my head...

Havent been studying much for that as I have been pretty worn out. You would think I wouldnt be from sititng on my but and all, but I am. (Stress?)

Honestly, and I know this is just because of the newness and all, I am so happy right now w/ my job choice. And I just dread, dread, dread Saturday.

I will pass. I must pass. And with that--I am off to get the kids from after-school care (got out of class early and came home to change clothes real fast & let the pooch out), order pizza and study.

Here I sit...

(above: the "gouty" king)

My NCLEX books all piled around me, my ATI crap up on the monitor, and a huge glass of Diet coke in front of me--this is my life right now and I am so tired of it.

The amazing thing is how much I DONT KNOW! Seriously people, I know nursing school zooms by, but we didnt learn much of anything, seemingly. Not much I can do about that except work my way through things that are glaringly lacking when I stumble on them.

Case in point: read all about gout and gaits this morning. (Every time I hear about gout I think of King Henry VIII--he had horrible gout and syphilis. YUCK! Imagine being one of his wives. Bet he was sexy.)

So a lot of this stuff is common sense and I feel like I can feel my way through it, but some of the info I am missing is scaring the doo-doo out of me. Like crutches and canes--no, we never went through gaits or anything in school. So today I have been standing up "pretending" to advance my left crutch, my right foot, my left foot and then my right foot (a four point gait)--I probably look crazy. The hubby just looks at me and shakes his head when I do this kind of stuff. (They are off at church BTW while I sit here and obsess.)

Enough of that chatter. The good stuff--

I start my job tomorrow! YEEHAW. I am so excited and totally have my rosed colored glasses on. Some of my classmates are loving their first jobs thus far, and others are having trouble with their preceptors, floors, level of acuity, etc. Ok, so I KNOW I may have some problems when I start, but come on! I made it through school--nothing can be as bad as all that! Yes, it is going to be stressful. But I am going to stay POSITIVE. Really, I promise.

Man, gotta get back to the books. Wish I could play online all day. Poop.

Dont Like Hurst Much

Not too fond of the last review book I bought--but do like all the cool review charts in it--it is the first time I have seen anyone advocate calling the doc in a question over doing an assessment. I'm sorry, but I will likely refrain from calling a doc without vitals in my hands. The conversation would likely go something like this:

Me @ 2AM:
"Hi Dr. Happy, I have your patient Mr BLa in room 219 who is 6 hrs post lap chole. He is complaining that his stomach hurts and he saw a drop of blood in his stool."

Dr. Happy:
"What are his vitals?"

Me:
"Um, well according to a NCLEX review book I once read, I was supposed to call you first BEFORE I assessed my patient. So I, uh, don't have any vitals yet."

Dr. Happy:
"Are you *(*&&^&*)_) crazy? It is 2AM and you call me without assessing your patient? Call me back when you have something to tell me!!!!!!"

Dr. Happy hangs up on me and I have lost all credibility. Now maybe my new little green nursing school mind is mistaken, but the above is not anything I want to do anytime soon (oh, and THANK God I am not in med surg--dislike all that stuff.)

(-from nurstoons.com)

In other news:

One of my friends had a terrible first day on the floor as a GN. She got stuck with a preceptor who didnt know she was precepting and basically treated my friend like her whipping boy (excuse the phrase). This new GN was supposed to follow the RN and get the "lay of the land" and learn some stuff--instead, the preceptor would say things like, "Oh, I have to go hang this piggyback and reinforce this guys dressing--while I'm doing that will you go get so and so on the bedside commode." So my new GN friend changed beds, got people on bedpans, etc and did not do ONE task above that which a UAP could handle (and yes, they had techs on the floor and the census was normal).

Now, let me just get on my high horse for a moment. We have a pretty crappy hospital system in our area owned by a large corporation who likes to see lots of $$$$. They have a hard time recruiting and keeping nurses and they have just built a few new big hospitals. A lot of my classmates signed on with them for 2 yrs for a $6000 bonus.

What do I think of this kind of sign on? Well, if they have to pay you that much money to come on board, they are 1.) VERY understaffed, 2.) having trouble retaining their nurses and/or 3.) have some really crappy working conditions. I refused to even apply there as I know new nurses that have gone before me and been miserable in this system, only to leave 6 mos in and have to repay their bonuses.

So now the horror stories are starting to trickle in--some GN's were told they would be 5:1 ratio and the reality is a 7:1 without a tech. They arent getting as much orientation as they were promised, etc. And the sad thing is , EVERY GN I KNOW WHO HAS DONE THIS HAS SPENT EVERY LAST CENT OF THEIR $6000. Ok, sorry to yell, but they are 3 weeks in, hating life, and have to pay back $6000 to go anywhere. The hospital owns their butts.

Is there something wrong with that picture? *sigh*

Off to have my TB read, get another set of scrubs and study AGAIN for NCLEX. Lets all say a prayer for Aunt Pickle who takes her NCLEX tomorrow--we are rooting for ya, girl!!! Oh, and hello to my new readers-thanks for commenting!

Signed On!

(above: what are they staring at? i suspect they have spotted a fellow nurse wearing her whites and are giggling at how dingy she looks...)

I went and had my physical today--which consisted of the respirator fitting (absolutely hysterical every time) and a brief head-to-toe type thing. Still have to do a drug screen tomorrow and finish up my TB and Flu vaccination stuff...

Signed all my paperwork and will get my sign-on bonus (wasnt sure I would get one or not) for $1000 in my 1st paycheck. Start at 20.50/hr and we didnt discuss shift diff or anything? Hm. So, I am official. Saw a classmate of mine and who starts in the ER and he said he is scared out of his mind. Me too, buddy.

Oh yeah, my hospital also pays 200 bucks towards NCLEX review if I provide receipts so I went out and purchased this book (yes, another NCLEX book):



Have heard good things about Hurst and needed something to liven up my study--there are some MP3's included that sound like fun. Am working on that today and trying to answer questions by system. For some reason I am pissed at Kaplan--they just seem like scam artists. Crazy me. I dont know, people. All I know is that the NCLEX sucks, ok?

(I'm a little testy-trying to diet and just want to eat cake, cake, cake. It's the stress.)

ANYWAY. At work I get my choice of navy blue scrubs or a white uniform at work (well, I get to wear OR scrubs in L&D, too). But seriously, who would wear whites? They get sooooo stinking dirty. Someone in the elevator today had her whites on and just looked rumpled and yucky. Love the blue, so gonna stick with that for now.

Just got a call from the school and my kiddo needs speech therapy. Poor child can't say "R." Still, I'm sick and think its cute.

Last day of 2007

(Above: Nurse w/ New Year babies)

Time to say good-bye to this year, and honestly, I am ready!!! It was good, bad and ugly. Hardy-har. I'm up early to do some cleaning, then off to meet some of my nursing school buds for coffee and to exchange the last of the Christmas/Graduation gifts.

I actually made really sweet little scrapbooks for their grads. I am a bit crafted out at the moment--but want to get my nursing school scrapbook done before I start work. Also I put together some beaded stethescope name tags. Gotta love those!

Everyone has their ATT and is scheduling their exams. I'm not sure when I want to take mine. Some people are going on the same day and I don't know if that will be stressful or supportive? Hm! Honestly, I feel pretty unprepared. I just don't know if there is any way to feel FULLY prepared???

Someone asked in my last comments why I was 1.5 yrs behind in my education. After my 1st semester (fundamentals), my hubby got a job offer in another state--after much crying, I packed my things and moved. Basically it was a total disaster of a move--I was unable to get into nursing school without taking more pre-reqs (about a yrs worth), reapplying and then waiting on several different wait lists. The last amount of time it would have taken me to get back inot school and start all over again was 3 years. I looked into 7 different programs including ADN, BSN and LPN-ADN. NOBODY would take me or my credits.

The situation in our countries nursing schools is pretty bad--the shortage had reduced the # of educators, so less people are excepted which is increasing the shortage. I think I just read somewhere that 60,000? (correct me here) qualified applicants are turned away each year from nursing programs. WOW!

Anyway, after a year things were pretty bad--my husband was miserable, I had decided to give up on school for the time being and homeschool my kids because the schools in the area were so bad, and we were very lonely and sad. We decided to move BACK here after my old school director invited me to return and pick up where I left off...

Ultimately, I learned that I really wanted to become a nurse, and that God is with me through the good and the bad. Honestly, my faith got me through the whole ordeal. It was yucky. But look where I am now!

Happy New Year, Everyone! God Bless in 2008...

Shadow

Tomorrow is my big shadow day at the hospital--should be fun. I get to watch a nurse in action and try to learn as much as possible about the unit as I can in 12 hrs.

Meanwhile, friends have been trying to talk me into buying these clogs:


They are Dansko proefessionals and all the nurses/students I talk to swear by them...They are about $120. So what do I do if I hate them? Guess I am going to try them out--what do you guys think?

the bookcase

(Above: my nursing school bookcase.)

Sat down in front of "the bookcase"--which is dwindling as I sell off some of my books and begin to weed through some of my old school papers--and proceeded to cry. Out of happiness, sadness, I dont know. I am filled with disbelief that I am done with school for now. Mixed feelings surround the whole thing-I hated it and loved it, ya know? Found my long-lost OB notes and OB/Peds Womens Health Pocket Notes and was remembering how I couldnt even stand to walk by nursing books at B&N because they would make me cry (I was so sad to have lost my dream a couple yrs ago). Now I look at the OB stuff with a bit of fear--I am a little scared about my job.

Yeah, so I am trying to clean my house today. Lately, I have been dreaming of school so yes, I am really working through a lot of emotions. Have had the dream where I am meeting a bunch of fellow students at a parking lot so we can drive over to clinicals and we are all late and dont know where to go...and a dream where I find out I need one more semester to graduate. Craziness.

I am getting a lot of rest and honestly just feel physically terrible. The weight gain and stress have me feeling like crap--I am starting to work on a plan for myself in terms of achieving some balance in my life again. I am eating a little better--have discovered veggies again. Going to get back to the YMCA this week and work out--that should feel horrible physically as I am so out of shape but must do it for myself mentally.

As for church--ugh. I am dealing with fallout of not going much as of late--people think I am a slacker I guess. It shouldnt matter what they think but I dont like being treated like a jerk. I am still a Christian though my church attendance hasnt been stellar. Really. I am. So, working through that...

And the relationship w/ my hubby. Boy, I love him, but the stress has really done a number. We've just been hanging on the couch the last few nights looking at each other like, "Now what." He is really excited about my being gone three nights a week when I start my new job. Ha. Got some interesting changes in store for us in the next month--and we've been married 14 yrs on Jan 8th!

Wens I start the big 3-hr-a-day NCLEX study plan. Blech. Have I mentioned I hate med-surg? Yeah, I hate it and want to be done with it...but alas, it will always be part of my practice. Kick me.

Ok, I've wasted enough time. Back to dusting and scrubbing toilets.

Happy Christmas, all...