Sunday, February 11, 2007

The first 5 - clinical

Well I have sucessfully completed my first week of actual nursing. Oh my what a thrill. It has been a turbulant week, with more ups and downs than a rollercoaster, but all in all I am very exctited to be 'on my own' next week with my own patient load and things to do.

I was boosted by how well I was able to get stuck into the work this week, and I was also touched that so many patients commented on how thoughtful, caring and nice I was.

I was able to nurse such a variety of patients this week from respiratory distress, to cuts and bruises, tetanus shots, abdo pain, chest pain to terminal cancer patients. It has been such a learning curve but I am confident that I handled myself well.

The only negative thing I have to say about the whole week is that some staff still insist on treating the new grads poorly. We were called students too many times to count, and were even referred to as left overs on one occasion. I know it is small stuff but these are times of very high sensitivity and feelings of inadequecy. - I can only hope that in time they will come around. I hope too that we will all learn to just let it go without taking it personally.

Looking forward to next week!!!

Friday, February 02, 2007

The First Five

I have just completed the first five days of work as a registered nurse! Yeah!

We are now fully orientated to the workforce and have yet to see a patient. The department looks fantastic and over the next few months will be expanding dramatically. There are 9 graduates in the ED so the undertaking for all involved is huge. I have to say that the in house educators and clincial facilitators so far have been amazing. At the beginning of the week my stress levels were very high. All the paperwork and competencies that we have had to undertake this week along with the modules of work that is to be completed over the coming year really is overwhelming at times, but to their credit the hospital has put together a great team and we are all off to a great start.

I have leart a lot this week and my brain feels like mush. Most nights I have come home with a headache and a very high stress level, but now that it is all finished I feel excited to get into the real work next week. But for now at least I plan to enjoy the weekend off as it will be the last available for a while.