Life as a nurse

It's been awhile since I have been on here!  I guess that's what happens when you have a full time job =)  Work is going really REALLY well!  I love it actually!  Hard to believe that I'm 4 weeks into it!  The 12 hr shifts seem to fly by.  This week, I have only been on the floor 1 day and I have 2 observation days this week.  I observed yesterday at the cath lab where I saw a patient go in and have a blockage in his left leg opened up with stents.  He had a 100% blockage and was in a lot of pain.  He had already went in and they put 2 stents in his heart earlier in May!  It's amazing that they were able to fix him and he went home yesterday too!!

I also so where they do the stress tests and echo's.  I have sent a lot of my patients down for stress tests and to the cath lab so it was nice to witness the procedure first hand so I can explain it to them a bit better.  I had a lot of fun!

As for the nursing part of it, it's going really well!  I'm getting more comfortable in my shoes but there is still SO MUCH MORE for me to learn.  But I'm taking it one day at a time.  I think I have mastered most of the charting programs and I love my patients!  I had one lady hug me twice and when I came on the next day she was so happy to see me and called me her "angel in disguise!"  That made me feel good!!!  I'm up to taking 3 patients now so that's good!!!  I need to get comfortable taking at least 5 or 6 but I'll get there!  I just keep notes on everyone and cross off my "to do" list that I make to keep me organized!  

I'm also getting comfortable taking verbal orders and corresponding with the doctors.  That was scary at first but I actually like doing it now!  I feel important =)  I had one patient who was in severe pain and was crying b/c her tylenol #3 was not taking her pain away so I talked with the Dr while he was there and was her advocate and he gave me a verbal order to give her dilaudid in her IV!  Wonderful!  So, my patient was no longer in pain =)  It's the small things that you can do for a patient to make their day a bit easier!  I also had one patient who had 3 different Dr's on her case (family Dr, Cardiac Dr, and infectious disease b/c she had MRSA in her blood) and had to relay stuff to each one as they had questions.  

So, things are going pretty well!  My preceptor thinks I'm progressing along nicely and she's so nice with teaching me.  She just kind of throws me out there to learn but I appreciate it b/c I need that!  I have given so many IV push meds, hung a bunch of IV fluids and antibiotics and even gave my patient a unit of blood.  So, I'm getting a lot of experience!!!  I even showed some Chamberlain students who are on our floor how to draw blood cultures from a patients PICC line (a fancy IV that goes from their upper arm all the way to your subclavian right towards your heart).  That was fun!!!  Just to think a few months ago I was still a student and now I'm a nurse teaching the students!

Plus, I successfully started my first IV as a nurse!!!  I had blood going everywhere b/c she was on blood thinners but I got it =)  I need tons more practice so I might go and spend a few days down at the cath lab where they are getting people ready to go.  

So, the next 3 weeks I'm in class for the internship where I'll get more comfortable with cardiac information and really get some detailed education on it!  I have that class with a few of my chamberlain friends so I'm excited to see them!!!  I'll be back working on the floor at the end of the month and then I'll switch to working nights starting the week of June 27th!

I love my job!