This is my journey from S.N to R.N

I feel it coming on. The mid-semester slump. My house is messy, my books less organized, my mind is foggy. It’s awful. Spring break is [thankfully] only a week and a half away.

And then, I can pull my life together I hope.

How about you guys? When you’re about halfway in, does your energy dip a little?

Any cures? Fixes?

Blahhhh.

Hope you’re having a happy Tuesday. Clinicals tomorrow = fun stories to come.

Love,

Laney

PS- Looking back at old posts, I found this- which leads me to conclude that dealing with medicine makes for a tired nursing student/HUC/NA. Le sigh.

Let’s be honest, the layout of hospitals is crazy. After making the hospital my second home, thanks to work and clinicals, I don’t notice it too much. However, if I have to go some random area (mail room? Occupational health? HR?), it can get a bit confusing. Even with the signs everywhere!

My PNA application was due last Friday and I had been waiting on a reference meaning I wasn’t able to turn it in until the due date on the dot. But I work Fridays from 8am-8pm. Meaning I had to enlist my wonderful, amazing, fantastical husband to drive out to the hospital and drop it off for me. When we got home later, he told me about how difficult it was for him to navigate to the depths of the hospital to the Human Resources office.

Here’s his tale verbatim:

“So I get there and there’s this old, 85 year old lady sitting at the information desk talking to even older lady. I’m standing there and waiting, and I hit the little thing. Bing! She looks up at me and says ‘Oh dear, can I help you?’ I tell her ‘Yes, I was looking for the HR office.’

She says, ‘Sure sweetie. See these stairs here, you’re gonna go down these stairs and then make a left.  Go all the way down past 1^st double doors and then make a right and then pass another set of double doors that look just like the first set you just passed and go all the way through them and then you’re gonna make a right. Don’t go to the first elevator  but carry all the way down until you see a window and then make a right and then make a second right and then its gonna be on your left.’ These were just the directions to the only set of elevators that went to the HR office. There were other sets of elevators all around me…and none of them went to the right place! So I had to find this one set of elevators.

So I wander around and get lost and end up in oncology unit. There are all these business people with nametags- no patients, just people in offices. I pass this lady and she’s looking at me, who doesn’t have a nametag, and says ‘Excuse me?’ I look back and she asks, ‘Can I help you find something?’

‘ Yeah I’m looking for HR’.  ‘Oh okay, well you’re gonna go all the way down hallway, pass the elevator and  make a left and then go down and make a right and then you’ll make a left.’

I guess I was near it but in a different area. But I finally find it and go to second floor. There were other directions the oncology lady gave me for once I got to the second floor, but I didn’t remember so I walked around and ended up in Environmental Services. I knock on door and there was this older black man with papers all over and dust. Papers on the floor, the desk, the keyboard- it was crazy looking!

He says, ‘Can I help you?’ I was like, ‘Yeah I’m looking for the HR office’. So, he walked me to the end of the hall and said make a right go all the way down and make a left and there will be signs. And then I found it.  I handed the lady the application and told her, ‘Man, it was a chore finding you.’ She just laughed at me.”

Poor husband- I had to thank him a million times over the weekend. I appreciate it! But seriously, hospitals should be a little easier to navigate, right?

Love,

Laney

As some of you know, my mom is an Operating Room Nurse. Which is pretty darn cool if I say so myself. She’s actually training to be a preceptor now and got promoted to the next clinical level yesterday!! So congrats Mom!! I’m super <strike>jealous</strike> proud of you.

=]

So I’ve decided to ask her about some of the pros and cons for the next installment of When I Graduate. I’m talking with a bunch of nurses in other units too (Mental Health/Psych coming soon, I promise!) so keep a look out. We’ll find the perfect nursing units to work on soon!

Sidenote: If there is a unit you’d be particularly interested in laying out the pros and cons for, lemme know! I’ll push it up in the list.

With further ado…here are the pros and cons from the mouth of an OR nurse.

Pros-

Get to see some cool things other people don’t get to see, one patient to focus on and advocate for, making a huge difference in the quality of someone’s life whether it’s by improving the quality or extending that patient’s life, it’s a whole different world- it’s like it’s own little world and everyone is like family, it builds up thick skin, working with the latest technology, a lot of fast thinking on your feet- use that brain, flexible, if you’re not a big people person- your patient is knocked out half the time and you don’t have to deal with families and poop.

Cons-

Sometimes exposed to a lot of chemicals (bloodborne pathogens/bodily fluids), dealing with temperamental surgeons at times, view from others sometimes that it’s not real nursing (but you do work hard and it’s very physical work), can be difficult if you don’t have thick skin, if you aren’t strong this isn’t good for you because you have to lift heavy trays and case carts (ie-40 lbs or so ), not for shy personalities, need a strong stomach or else that’s awkward, you don’t get to spend a whole lot of time with that patient because they get knocked out, may lose some bedside skills from school BUT you gain a whole other set of skills

I asked her if it was cold in there (because I like to stay warm) and she said surprisingly it isn’t that cold because you’re moving around so much!

She also wanted to let everyone know that it’s getting harder to get into so she recommends going into a residency program. There are specialties within OR nursing (ex: she’s an Ortho nurse) AND you can go anywhere in the whole wide world with it. There’s a huge need for OR traveling nurses.

“I love it and I wouldn’t want to do anything else”- Mom

Thanks for answering my questions! I don’t care what she says though…on my OR rotation, I was cold. Con. But I liked being able to comfort that person in what is potentially one of the scariest times of  their life. Pro.

Add more if you got ‘em!

Love,

Laney

On fetal attitude: “Oh my yes, they’ll have an attitude before they even get here”