The new year is here!

Happy New Year! 

I rang in the new year checking in my, what seemed like, 100th ambulance of the night. Not as many drunks as I expected. Lots of car wrecks though. Sad thing is that the sober victim usually gets the bad end of the wreck.

Sorry for the lack of posting, my schedule for the holidays was rough. I ended up working 6 out of 8 days. When you do 12 hour shifts, that tends to be a bit hard on the body and mind. By the end of the last night, I was out of energy and well, out of everything.

Holidays in the ER is not for the faint of heart. People tend to not take as  good of care of themselves with all the holiday plans, so chronic illness flares up. Also, offices are closed and people have no where to turn when they are sick. Throw in RSV season, and well, you have a hospital that is full of people and no where to put them. I did have some rather sweet and fun patients. I actually got to tell people that they were a pleasure to take care of. Thing is, if a nurse tells you that, she/he truly means it.

My last night was New Year’s eve and we had been so busy lately I was running out of steam. Full hospital means that you get to be ER nurse plus ICU, med/surg, etc. all in one. After running around for over 8 hours, I get a patient that starts ringing the call bell, over and over and over. My co-workers are just as busy as I am and we have no tech to send to see what the problem is. My co-workers stop the non-stop dinging and let me know what room. I plan to go in there as soon as I get my other patients medication finished. After a few minutes, I stop by there to see and find out the pt. needs to use the bathroom. This conversation could have went nicer, but when I poked my head in to check, I get a pt. that is rude and hateful because we turned off the call light. I explained that I had other patients and made it as quick as possible. To make a long story short, the pt. continued to yell at me for not coming quick enough, someone turning off the call light, etc. All the while, grabbing stuff in the bed and throwing it around. This is the first time I have ever just walked out of a room. I made sure the pt. had a way to use the bathroom and just left. Pt. was still yelling at me as I entered the nurse’s station. My co-workers, knowing that I am the type that usually does not do that, asked if I walked away. I told them that I had to. I said I refuse to be talked to in that way. Plus, I know that if I had stayed, I would have lost my professionalism. But, after some cooling off, and a new med order for that pt. I went back to the room, gave the med., offered the pt and visitor something to drink and updated them. I try not to hold a grudge.

That situation and some current articles I have seen lately got me to thinking. You read about nurses being uncaring and lazy. People have complained to the hospital that we were eating in the nurses station and laughing. Patients and their families come to the nurses station and yell at us because their family member has been there X amount of hours and we are sitting. I understand where it comes from, I have been the family member of a patient. But, let me take you on a tour of this side of the curtain for a minute…..

Here is how my day works.  I get up at 3:00 p.m. to pick up my child from school. I come home, eat breakfast/dinner or whatever it is that us night shift people eat. I get ready for work. I drive an hour to make it there by 6:45 p.m. I bring a large drink with me because I know that I may not make it to a vending machine for quite some time. I also use the bathroom when I get there, because, well, I do not make it there much either. I get report on my patients, usually there are 4 to 5 that I am responsible for. I know before I go in the rooms which ones I really need to watch because some are sicker than others. There are many things that ER nurses can do without a doctor’s orders, but many things we can not do. I can not give a pain medication if a doctor has not ordered one, or even been in to see the pt.  yet.  There are many things that we can not do until we get lab results back. Lab is a world of its own. Lab gets all of the orders from the ER that are stat plus all the orders from the whole hospital. If someone comes in with stomach pain and we have someone unresponsive in the trauma bay, the unresponsive patient has their stuff done first. Seems to make sense see one is breathing and talking and one, well, isn’t or may not be in the next few minutes. CT scan will not give contrast without certain labs. If my pt. labs are not back, scan will not take them. CT scan will also take the person from the trauma bay before they will take my patient, no matter how long they have been there. Also, CT results are not automatic. Someone has to read them. That someone is reading results for many patients. While my pt. is waiting, I am calling report on pt. that are staying, discharging those leaving and checking in new patients as they room them or as ambulances bring them. I have orders to do on all of my patients. Now, at some point in the evening, I begin to get a bit hungry. But, I can not just leave and go eat, esp. if I have someone that is needing to be watched closely. I have a couple of options. I can eat in the *gasp* nurses station, or I  can leave my pt. and their care in the hands of a co-worker who is carrying 4 to 5 patients and having the same situation as me. Many times I do not see food for 12 hours because I ate before work. I forgot what it is like to have a cold drink and warm food. Many times, we opt to send someone to get us food and usually it sits on the desk for 30 minutes or more before we  get to touch it. Many times I have finally sat down at 3:00 a.m. to eat my cold food when I get someone waltzing up to the station to tell me that they have been there X amount of hours and they need to be home at whatever time to do whichever thing it is. All the while glaring at me for *gasp* sitting and eating.  See above about labs, CT scan, etc. Believe it or not, I am not wanting to keep the patient there for my own fun. I would love for you to go home too. If you go home, that means my pt. is doing ok and all is well. I have had family members walk up to me to ask a question or complain as I am getting report from the EMT and my new patient is still on the stretcher from the ambulance.  The next shift comes in at 6:45 a.m. If they are late, I leave late. If my patient has stuff ordered at 6:45, I do it before I leave. If an ambulance comes in, I check them in before I go. Then, I drive an hour home, take my child to school, shower, eat and go to bed for 5 hours or less. Get up, and repeat. Sounds lazy to me.

We have also got in trouble for laughing at the nurse’s station. I am sorry, but some times we say or hear something funny. It is hard not to laugh when that happens. Most people laugh at work, why should we be any different? It is good to laugh. We need it. With the increasing violence against us, sometimes we need to blow off steam. Just the other night, I had a pt. that was a nurse from my hospital. She had been assaulted that night, by a patient. When I went to talk to her, she cried every time she tried to tell me. So, I joked with her, got her to laughing and smiling. Yes, as nurses, we were laughing. I just hope that I made things a bit better for her.

Point of all of this? I just ask that the next time you hear something about how mean or uncaring the nurses were and they were eating, talking and laughing at the nurse station that you remember a bit about the way things go in the hospital. Maybe inform the person that the nurses can not always make things go faster and should not have to go 15 hours without food, drink or fun because they chose a profession to help people. Because, if you take away our food, our laughter and our ways of dealing with stress, then there are going to be less of us to take care of patients when they are sick.

Reply to comments….

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply. It has been a little crazy lately.  But I wanted to reply to the comments I have gotten recently.

OCB….I miss you too! You know I love you girl!

Amber….I hope that you have found ways to help with your panic attacks. I also hope that when the ways do not work and you find yourself in an ER, that you get a nurse that understands and helps you. Many doctors and nurses know how scary those situations are, I just hope they remember it.

Ruth…..tell your daughter that I said keep up the good work and I wish her the best. I am glad you two can share the experiences with each other!

Rob….thanks for the nice comment!

Paul…..what were we thinking?!?!    Good thing we love craziness.

Lilianna….I hope that things work out for you and you get the care and help you need and deserve.

Brittany….I hope you had a happy and safe holiday as well.

Donna and Jackie…..I miss you guys!!! I hope you had a great holiday!

Ahh the holidays…

Over the last few months,  I have noticed an increase of certain complaints in the ER. Overdoses, ETOH and anxiety attacks. One of the charge nurses made a comment that years ago, the only time they had ODs was around the holidays.  One of the patients I received report on the other day not only was a possible OD, she also had multiple weapons and a crack pipe on her. Makes me think how thankful I am that time with my family does not cause me that kind of anxiety. One patient awhile back came in drunk and combative. After he had been there for a few hours, his wife calls. Does she ask if he is ok? Nope. Does she come up there? Nope. She wants to know if he will be released in time to go get the kids.  No wonder he drinks.

Speaking of anxiety, I have a soft spot for people that are having a panic attack. I have heard people make comments at work about them and tend to blow them off sometimes. As someone who has had a panic attack and have also seen someone having an MI, I tend to believe the symptoms feel very much the same. I know when I had my panic attacks, I was thinking that I was going to die.right.now. I have also learned it makes patients feel less “crazy” when they find out that their nurse has experienced them. It helps to let them know that all people have their breaking point and that point is different for everyone. Humans, by nature, place a lot of stress on themselves and therefore, they hit their max at some point. Holidays are stressful, life is stressful. Sometimes, we all need a break.

While I am on the topic of stress, I decided to combine all the stuff into one post. To the person that I deleted their comment, I deleted it because I am using this blog as an outlet. Yes, I am a newbie. I am not up for sainthood. I have my off days and I get stressed and tired. But, I provide the best care I can for my patients. I did not feel that the comment helped any thing. I love my job and I work hard at it. Nuf’ said.

To the chronic pain commenter, thanks for not bashing me about the drug seeker post. I do not place chronic pain and drug seekers in the same group. My mother has many conditions that cause her chronic pain. I understand that. I also believe that if you are someone that lives with that, and you are stuck with no way to get access to your medication, by all means, come to the ER. My mom ran out of her morphine. She did not want to “put anyone out” and went a couple of days with out it. Then, she started vomiting and had diarrhea to the point she could not keep anything down. Finally, my dad rushed her to the emergency room where she proceeded to have a seizure. Before the seizure happened, my dad told the nurses that she had been out of her morphine for a couple of days and that maybe that was the problem. It was not until after the seizure someone listened and helped her. Please…never let it go that long. I would rather you come in, tell me you have X,Y,Z condition and need medication. Drug seekers are the ones that come in, continue to yell at the triage nurse because we are taking back someone with sepsis, acute MI or obvious bleeding before them. Then, get in the room, throw their arm out there with the IV and ask “what do you have for me?”  Very different situations.

In life, you have these moments that make you stop for a minute and really think about how great your life is. I am always thankful for a wonderful family, happy, healthy children, a warm home and food. Some nights, as my feet are hurting and my back aching, I get a little cranky and just want to take it easy. I was having a night that my “butt was handed to me for the last 8 hours”. I was really wanting a chance to sit and actually eat something when I am informed I am getting an ambulance. Just as I sit, they arrive. I get report, key words: nursing home, rectal tube and bag. I go to the room and see this woman, who looks young. I get her paperwork and she is just a couple of years older than me. Long story made short, she was hit by a drunk driver, just got out of the hospital a few days ago. Apparently the tube had come out and the nursing home did not know how to put it back in. After talking with her doctor, he decides that it can stay out, since they did not plan to keep it in long term. She is upset and wants to leave. Her sister is talking to me and she is showing me that the woman had been put to bed in regular clothes and that her skin is so dry. So, we change her, clean her up and get her ready to transport back. I call the nurse taking care of her and tell her that she needs to apply lotion to the patient because her skin is dry and she is itching. The nurse tells me that they need an order. I was floored. For lotion? She proceeds to tell me that this is her first time working nights, and first time with this patient. I am thinking…ok…but in winter, when your skin gets dry, do you put lotion on it? I get the we can not do it without an order, have the doctor write one and we can put it on her. Now, I am mad. So, I go to the ER doctor and ask if we can please write a prescription to apply lotion to the patient’s dry skin. I get this look. I explain the nursing home and the doctor writes a prescription for it. When the transport comes, I ask them to please hand this prescription to the nurse taking care of the woman. I know that places have rules, but most nursing homes have plain lotion around that can be used on patients. They go to get her and my eyes start to sting and water. As I am walking off, I am told I am getting a new patient.  I excuse myself to the bathroom, get it together and go back to work. Yes, this year, I have much to be thankful for.

Moments

There are moments that come along in all the craziness that remind you why you choose to become a nurse.

It was a few hours into my shift and I was due to move to another area soon. I get a new patient and on the board it just says to look at chart. I look and the chart shows a possible miscarriage. One of the many sad things about my job is seeing people dealing with this situation. I have seen quite a few. You are never sure how the person is taking the news and I am not sure there is ever the right thing to say.

So, I take the chart and enter the room. Most of the lights are off. The woman is sitting in bed with a friend sitting in the chair. They are laughing and joking around. You can tell she is hurting, because she cringes in between cracking jokes with her friend. For a minute, I am not sure if the woman even realizes that triage thought she was possibly having an miscarriage.

I start by introducing myself and tell her I need to ask her some questions. I ask her about pain, if she was having any bleeding, when it started, etc. Then she starts asking me about how we do things here. I am explaining how things happen and how we usually approach things. I let her know that we will give her something for the pain she is feeling and to feel free to ask me if she needs anything. She smiles at me and tells me I have a calming voice. She asks me about my job, if I like it. I explain that even though most days are crazy, I love being here. That even if I am tired, I get a burst of energy as I pull into the parking lot. She looks at her friend and says “see, I need a job like that. I just don’t feel that anymore at my job”.

She is good at her job, but feels she is missing something. We talk some more and I leave them for awhile. I go to the nurses station where the doc takes the chart and orders some pain medication and says we need to do a pelvic exam on her.

I get the medication and all the things we need and enter the room. She is still talking with her friend and laughing. I explain what I am giving her and what I am setting up. She cracks some jokes about how the medicine is making her feel and we laugh. Her friend tells her that although they are close, she is not sticking around for the exam. She plans to go get some coffee and offers to call the patient’s husband. The patient tells her no, she does not want to bother him, he is away at work. The friend squeezes her hand and tells her she will be back later. I hand her a gown and let her know that the Doc and I will be back soon.

I head back to the nurses station and see that I am supposed to move to another area in a few minutes. I decide at that point that there is no way I am going to leave right now. I need to see this through. She needs for me to stay because it is not fair to have a stranger come in now. The Doc asks if everything is ready and off we go. I have so much respect for this particular doctor because he has to be the most caring doctor I have ever met.

He does the exam, explains to her what he sees. There is no way to save this pregnancy. She gives him a half smile and said she figured that it was. She just needed to make sure that everything was going to be ok. The doctor looks at her, and says “I’m sorry” and tears start to form in her eyes. She whispers thank you and he leaves the room.

I stay to help her get changed and to clean up the supplies when I notice she has many tattoos on her. Her friend comes in and says well, which one are you going to get this time. The patient explains that every time she has a miscarriage, she gets a new tattoo. She said the sad thing is that when she got pregnant this time, she already knew what she was going to get when she miscarried. The biggest one, I learn, is from when she had her one and only child. The rest, were from all the children she lost.

I leave the room to get her prescriptions and instructions, when I come back, she is laughing with her friend again. I know I need to say something, but I am not sure what. So, as she is walking out, I place a hand on her shoulder and tell her I am sorry. She turns and gives me a big hug and says thank you. She fights back some tears, smiles and says “you guys give some kick ass care here.”

That was my first hug from a patient and I will never regret choosing this profession because of patients like her.

Ms. Whispers

You can usually judge how the night is going to go by looking in the waiting room. Some sadist one thought it was a good idea to put the time clock in the waiting area. Granted, time clocks are every where in the hospital, but they want you to clock in on your unit. So, you get to walk to the waiting area and get a good look at what you are in for.

Here are the different scenarios that I have encountered:

1. Almost empty waiting area: Yay! Means that the evening is going to start out somewhat slow and you get a chance to warm up to being at work.
2. Packed waiting area, but the people just look up at you and then continue what they were doing: Means that they have not been waiting long, we must be getting them in and out quick. Yay! Hopeful that the patients and family are friendly due to not waiting long.
3. Packed waiting area, this time the people give you a hard stare, and continue to stare as you walk towards the rooms. You can feel their eyes burning holes in you as you walk. As if it is you that is keeping them from entering the sacred area of the all-knowing: Means that people will be complaining all night, they will want food, want to drink, want to go, threaten to leave AMA (side note: this is not a threat when we are busy), and blame you all night for them having to wait so long.

As I was driving to work, I had decided that no matter what, I was going to try my best to be as friendly and nice as possible.  I am here to help the sick, here to take care of people. I remind myself they are scared and worried and that with enough time and care, they will understand we are trying to do our best. Positive attitude.

Then, I step off the elevator and enter the waiting area. I am hit with scenario #3. *sigh* So, I speed up my steps a bit to get to my area.

This particular area is near triage and you carry 5 patients instead of the usual 4. Also, when people are put in the hall from triage for whatever reason, they can see the nurses station and the doc. Also, this nurses station is..oh about the size of my bathroom. Now, let me give you a visual. At home, when I am in the bathroom, and L. and my two girls walk in, I feel like I can’t breathe. Now….picture a unit secretary, a Doc, 2 nurses, a tech and sometimes a PA all trying to work from the same amount of space. Plus, on the desk/station area, there are 4 computers, 3 phones, monitors hanging from the ceiling, and the x-ray/CT screen. Needless to say we are tripping over each other the whole time we are there.

One time, I slid in the seat behind the Doc to be able to use a computer. I was happily writing away when the doc saw something on his computer that made him jump up. His chair hit me and caused me to go flying towards the counters. Needless to say, after a couple of hours, one begins to become quite cranky.

So, off I go to the mini station. I see my co-worker who says “welcome to hell”.  I reply with “that bad huh?” She points to the unit secretary’s computer and there is a bottle of Vodka sitting there. *eyebrow raise* Hummm.. I glance around and there are bodies everywhere. Triage has overflowed and is taking up our area. And every one of them is giving us “the stare”.

So, I get report and start going about my usual business. One of the triage nurses wheels over a lady on a bed and places her by the even smaller room that holds our pyxis, needles, etc. So, any time we need something in that room, we have to step around the bed to get in there. As I continue on with my stuff for my patients, she begins to start waving people down. We are all running around like crazy trying to get things done, but I stop for a minute, because I am a caring person like that. So, I ask her what she needs. She whispers something I can not understand. I lean forward….”I’m sorry, what was that?” So, she points to the bathroom and then points to herself. Ok…..  So, I go to the triage nurse and ask what is up with the whispering lady in the hall. She replies with “here for abdominal pain”. I tell her that the lady needs to use the restroom. She kinda of sighs and says I will get to her in a minute. So, I explain that I just wanted to make sure it was ok for her get up and go. She tells me that it is ok, no concerns. So off I go.

I walk back over to the lady and undo the side rail and tell her that she can go to the bathroom. So, I start to walk off when I hear her, at least I think, saying something. I turn around and she is pointing to the IV bag, the bathroom, her, the bed all while whispering something incoherently. I walk back over and ask her what is wrong. The above continues. I explain that the bag can be taken off the hook and she can walk over there.  

So, off I go back to triage, while the flags on my charts are being pulled left and right. I am getting behind and I can feel it. So, I approach the triage nurse. “Hey, can whispers walk? Because she is just pointing and stuff.” Yes, I nicknamed her whispers. Because, the triage nurse knew exactly who I was talking about. Before you think I am evil, I did ask what was up with the whispering. Triage nurse replies with “dunno, she was doing it in triage. When I asked why, she said she was hard of hearing.” WTH? How does being hard of hearing make you whisper…ah hell, I do not have time to figure that one out. I explain that all she is doing it pointing and whispering. Mind you, from her bed, to the bathroom, is maybe 15 steps, tops. So, the triage nurse sighs again and replies with “she can walk”. So, off I go back to whispers. This time, I take the IV bag off the hook and show her that she can carry it and walk to the bathroom. She begins to whisper again, pointing at the bathroom, her legs, the bag….etc. At this point, I am starting to get a little peeved. About that time, the triage nurse rounds the corner and sees whispers pointing. So, she walks up and says “what is it?” More pointing. So, we pull the rail back up and unlock the bed and wheel her to the bathroom door. Triage nurse says “do you think you can walk from here?” So, after a few rocking movements, whispers gets up and sits there and points to the door, the bag, the door…you get the picture. In my head I am counting to 10. I mean, really? Triage nurse tells her “I got the bag, just get up and go to the bathroom.” We get her in there and give each other one of those “it is going to be a long night” look and continue on.

A few minutes later, she exits the bathroom, no bag. Begins to point to the bag, the bed, the bag… I am thinking “*@^!%!*#&! So, I go get the bag off the hook in the bathroom, put it on the hook on the bed, wait till she gets on the bed and wheel her back to her spot by the med room door. Finally, time to get caught up.

About 30 minutes later, whispers is waving me down again. Seriously? So, I put my stuff down and walk over. She is getting stuff out of her wallet and asking me to call a family member. I ask if she has a phone number and she hands me a piece of paper, with an address. Being creative, I hand it back, tell her to hold on and look her up in the computer. I get a number and take it to her. She nods yes, so I call and leave a message. I go back and let her know that no one was home and I left a message.

I continue on with getting caught up and I look up later and whispers is gone. I have cleared out some of my rooms and see I have a new patient. Grab the chart and enter the room.

Low and behold it is….holy hell….it is whispers. I envision myself beating my head into the wall. Instead, I put on a smile and enter the room. For the sake of making this post shorter, just picture taking a medical history.

My time with whispers consists of the following:

1. Being asked every 10 minutes for something to drink
2. Having the tech ask me why the woman can not go to the bathroom…all she is doing is pointing
3. Having her ask another nurse if she can have another bottle of CT contrast
4. After whispering for hours, starts yelling because someone has not been in her room for 10 minutes. When I walk in, she proceeds to yell at me saying that she can not breathe. I explain that she can breathe or she would not be yelling at me. She continues to yell that she can not breathe.
5. Telling the Doc she wants to leave AMA because we will not give her “pop”. Doc allows something to drink and she agrees to wait long enough to get the CT scan.
6. Wants me to give her more medicine in her IV line, because it helped her breathe. The breathing medicine was morphine that the doc ordered for her stomach pain.
7. Asking for something to eat even though her complaint was that she had abdominal pain and had been vomiting. Although she did not vomit the whole time she was there.

Finally, I got moved to another area and had to pass her on to someone else. As I was packing up, the new tech was coming out of whispers’ room saying “Can she leave? She said the doctor said she can go……and she is pointing at a cup”

“You have changed..”

According to my other half and my father, I have changed since I started working. I do not see it, but this is how this statement came about.

Early in the days of nursing school, my family was concerned about me and nursing. They all felt that I would be a great nurse….I am caring, compassionate and have this freakish ability to remember things. Oh, I can not remember things such as…what the real reason I went to the store, or why I went to a particular room in the house, or sometimes my age. But, many times I can remember something told to me that I can repeat it word for word, or I can see something and recall much information about the situation.

So, before I decided to be a nursing major, my SO, L. and I discussed my options for a future career. I think the exact statement was “there has to be a job where your caring ability for other people and your freaky memory will work for you” I think it was supposed to be a compliment.

What was I saying? Oh yeah, the changed thing. The first time it was brought up, was a couple months after I was working. I was told that I “talk” different. Had I picked up an accent? Was I speaking in another language? No, apparently, I say things more matter of fact than before. Not that it was bad…it was, just well, different. I explained that perhaps the change has come from me getting in the habit of telling people information in a way that gets the point across. Not much time to sugar coat it. This is how it is.

Then, my loving family ganged up on me. This is how it went down. It is Halloween and my dad came over and was met by a very cranky Nurse D. See, I had put in for Halloween off 2 months in advance. Apparently, so did most of the shift. I love Halloween. It is only 2nd place because of Christmas. So, I was none too happy at the prospect of working on one of my favorite holidays. I recall dad asking me how work was going. I think I mumbled a few things about drug seekers, drunks and stupid reasons people come to the hospital. Took some pics of the kids and my dad dressed up and stomped off to work.

This is when the ganging up took place. While I was gone, L. and Dad had a sit down and they feel that I have become “hardened” since I started working. *raises one eyebrow* I was not even there to defend myself!! *sigh*

So, this is my theory on my “changing”. I feel that Emergency nursing calls attracts a certain personality type. I know that I was attracted to the ER because of the fast pace. It is a place that you never know what is going to come in the door. I work better when I have to think quick. It is perfect for those of us that have a short attention span. We actually have moments that the person is only in the room for an hour. So, you have to be on your toes, running from room to room. You have to be in a room with one person while thinking about your other patients. You need to be ready to anticipate what will be needed next and how to get everything done. You also have to be ready to change your plans with out notice.

Also, you deal with people and situations that are….unpredictable. You can only be nice for so long when you have a combative drunk that needs to be restrained while the family in the other room is giving you a hard stare because you have not got their family member a drink yet, while the drug seeker is asking for another “shot” of pain meds because it has been 10 minutes since the doctor said they could have another one, while your actually sick patient needs to be transferred to the ICU. Oh, not to forget, while this is going on, people are asking you if you are going to be transferring the other patient soon because they need the room, the doctor is asking you to please give the drug seeker the meds, because he is driving everyone nuts and the other family has started following you because, their family member has not had anything to eat ALL day and they have been here for HOURS now! Also, you have patients in the hall, waiting for a room, giving you the evil eye…because it is all YOUR fault they are not in a room.

Ok…so maybe I have become hardened. Just a little. But, hey, if I was too soft, I would have broke a while ago.

First post..new blog!

Welcome!

I decided to start a fresh new blog in a new place because I feel that I needed a fresh start. My old blog was started while completing my basics for nursing school, a few posts during nursing school, etc. Then, I stopped blogging. Ah…I love my old blog, but I needed something new. So, so here I am!!

A little about me. I am a new grad RN, working in a large ER. I am not sure what the time frame is for calling yourself a new grad. But, it has been less than a year, so I think I can still use the new grad title. Although, according to my co-workers, you do not count as staff for the first 6 months. I am almost at my 6 month mark. I can tell a difference in the way my co-workers act towards me now. They know that I am crazy strong enough to stick it out and not give up. Apparently many nurses have not stayed.

In a way, I wish I would have started a blog when I first began working. You know, when I was all wide-eyed and innocent about how nursing truly is. Ready to save the world! In school, I only had 1-2 patients! Whoohoo! Ah….the memories.

Not that I do not remember the days of nursing school and orientation. But, those days seem like such a long time ago. I was all wide-eyed and innocent. Now, I am trudging my way through the craziness that is nursing, esp. in Emergency nursing.

So, I decided to start a blog about the things in my life now. How things have changed! Although I do become cranky and well, disgruntle, I love going to work and I learn something new every day.

So, stay tuned! I have 6 months of stuff to write about! It took me a few weeks to get to the point of posting this first one, but I am sure that now I have actually started blogging again, I will be inspired!