Friday, June 27, 2008

when the night shift snows you

We got report today, and went to check on our patients. We found Mr. N with resps of 40, heart rate 110, fever of 102.7, sats 70% on room air, A&O x 1. We came close to calling rapid response, but we got his sats up and his resps down, notified the service, and gave a tylenol suppository for the fever. Then we felt the "rice krispies" over his anterior lung fields... that was the first time I ever felt crepitus. Cool... I mean for me, not for him.

By the time we got all that worked out, we were way behind on morning meds. We asked for some help, but we still didn't get lunch until 1:30. I got to watch a driveline dressing (next time I'll do it) and dress a stage 4. So a good learning day. I got a headache at the end though.

My nursing school friend, C, started on the floor today. She was nervous, but I gave her one of my "brain" sheets for organization and told her she'd be great. It feels strange to be ahead of her.

I took my EKG test yesterday, and passed with only two points missed. I feel pretty good about EKGs now. Two of the new nurses who are orienting in my group failed. It sucks for them, but I hate to admit that I felt even more proud of myself because they didn't pass.

Wednesday I made up for my absence on Tuesday. When I got there, I saw that I was orienting with none other than the nurse educator, the one who is strict and who I've never felt liked me (or many other people). All the other nurses kept telling me "good luck" sarcastically, with doom in their voice. I was nervous as hell, but I told myself "maybe I can impress her and win her over". And I did my damndest to do just that. By the end of the day I felt like I'd been a success. She didn't criticize me and even told me 'good job' a few times. I felt like I'd passed my NCLEX... awesome!!! I think I made a good impression on my hardest sell!

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