My (Mostly) Triumphant Life as an RN
Yeah, I know I've only been doing current events here at House Calls®, so I felt the need and burden to extend to you, reader of the blog, the intimate details surrounding my new career as Registered Nurse. I have been in orientation in the Emergency Center (ER) at my hospital since May, and it's been a long road, a rather steep learning curve, and a whole lot different than driving a firetruck (my former job). Then I went to night shift, 7a-p, and the job took another sharp turn. I'm functioning somewhere between vampire and zombie level.
Life As A Nurse
I don't like the word nurse, but I've learned to use it. I believe the appropriate title should be Patient Advocate, Syringe Tech, or (best) NM, Nurse of Medicine because I'm a medicine givin' machine. The motto of a paramedic (also my former job) is Do No Harm. But the motto of an RN seems to be Kill No Patient. Either slogan works. Medicine comes in all sorts of funky little bottles and bags, and my job is to read indecipherable doctor orders and translate that into the correct non-lethal dose. Can you see the stress factor here? The bright side of the job is when a patient's pain is relieved, or a rocky heartbeat converts into sinus rhythm.
Joyful AND Triumphant
The triumphant phase is that I completed orientation/preceptor stage last week. I turned in my final paperwork and clinical stuff, and now it is time to work, and it's fun. Looking back, orientation was immensely frustrating! There is patient care and there is computer documenting to learn. Also, there are other nurses to figure out, doctors to avoid, and staff that hide, making it a tough learning process. The main difference for me: as a firemen, the staff was near 100% male; however, I now work in a largely female environment. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it, and it might as well be me.
Yeah, I know I've only been doing current events here at House Calls®, so I felt the need and burden to extend to you, reader of the blog, the intimate details surrounding my new career as Registered Nurse. I have been in orientation in the Emergency Center (ER) at my hospital since May, and it's been a long road, a rather steep learning curve, and a whole lot different than driving a firetruck (my former job). Then I went to night shift, 7a-p, and the job took another sharp turn. I'm functioning somewhere between vampire and zombie level.
Life As A Nurse
I don't like the word nurse, but I've learned to use it. I believe the appropriate title should be Patient Advocate, Syringe Tech, or (best) NM, Nurse of Medicine because I'm a medicine givin' machine. The motto of a paramedic (also my former job) is Do No Harm. But the motto of an RN seems to be Kill No Patient. Either slogan works. Medicine comes in all sorts of funky little bottles and bags, and my job is to read indecipherable doctor orders and translate that into the correct non-lethal dose. Can you see the stress factor here? The bright side of the job is when a patient's pain is relieved, or a rocky heartbeat converts into sinus rhythm.
Joyful AND Triumphant
The triumphant phase is that I completed orientation/preceptor stage last week. I turned in my final paperwork and clinical stuff, and now it is time to work, and it's fun. Looking back, orientation was immensely frustrating! There is patient care and there is computer documenting to learn. Also, there are other nurses to figure out, doctors to avoid, and staff that hide, making it a tough learning process. The main difference for me: as a firemen, the staff was near 100% male; however, I now work in a largely female environment. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it, and it might as well be me.
posted by stu at 7:51 AM
1 Comments:
I must have the oddest doctor in the US. He has his nurse type all of his scripts. Actually she inputs them to the computer so that it is also in my file and then a nicely typed copy comes out of the printer. Maybe someone should bring your doctors up to the technology??
Oh, by the way, congratulations on all of your successes so far! I have a good friend that is also a RN and has decided that live practice is not his style so he contracts his knowledge out for medical management. (He's also pastoring a church, so he's a very busy man!!)
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