A week of 1sts

I am now a Registered Nurse :)

Thank you to everyone for believing in me and supporting me through this long and hard journey. It isn't cliche' when I say I couldn't have done it without my wonderful family and friends. You truly are amazing and I thank God for you all daily.

I am now settling a little better into my new role at work. It's taking some adjusting not to jump for the phone every time it rings and when the ED doc tells me to call the hospitalist, I politely remind him that I am no longer a secretary. Now I have to retrain my ears to be alert to the sounds of cardiac monitors and call bells, and when the patient in room 12 is calling "Nurse", he means me.

I don't feel stuck in the middle anymore. Going from graduate nurse to rn has made me feel much more purposeful, like I actually belong in ED instead of just looking on from the outside.

All the nurses and doctors and my bosses have been so kind to me at work. They seem almost as excited as I am with my new position. So encouraging and always looking for opportunities to teach me.

I have had many new experiences this week, some good...some bad. I had my first amputation, that was fun! Now I know you wrap the loose appendage (in this case it was a finger tip--painted nail and all!) in moistened gauze then put it on ice. Unfortunately, it didn't look like the orthopedic surgeon was going to be able to save the tip but she would still have most of her finger.

I had a gnarly old man patient that was trying to get me to come home with him and an anxious woman who yelled at me for not being able to read her mind. I am getting better at my IV starts, I can do them on feeling alone now without being able to visualize the vein at all.

There was also a little boy who got hit by a car that was brought into our ED who was in asystole and I was able to watch from a distance as my fellow nurses and the doctors tried their hardest to keep him alive. They brought him back, ct scanned him, and had him packed on a chopper in under an hour. Sadly the 8 year old boy's injuries were too extensive and he died approximately 24 hours later.

Although the outcome was a tradgedy, I was amazed to see how well the nurses and doctors worked together and knew exactly what to do. I can't wait til I am at that skill level and can help save lives.

So I am doing what I can to prepare myself. Under the advice of my daddy, I am taking a Trauma Nurse Core Course next month and tonight, I bought a book called "Emergency Nursing made Incredibly Easy". I don't see how anything in nursing can be termed easy but we will see if it can whip me into shape!

My goal is to be the best possible ED nurse I can and my dear sister Randi Jean says that's the first step in greatness, wanting it to be so and doing everything in my power to achieve it. I'll have to let God do the rest.