Blessings

I've had a lot to think about lately, in a good way. Wednesday this week I was orientating with a secretary on 6 West Surgical (the floor I am working on) and I was quite discouraged after the day was over. As I was thinking later I wondered why I was so discouraged. I figured out it was because I had no patient contact that day as I was just sitting at the desk putting in orders and answering phones, etc. It was not my idea of a good job. Thursday and today (Friday) were much better days for me. Thursday was a 12 hour day at the hospital and was also my first official day as an RN. My nurse that is my mentor/preceptor is AMAZING. I feel so blessed that I get to learn from her. She is always looking for new things for me to do and learn from. Today I took out an NG tube, a foley and a JP drain! Also, Thursday I started an IV on a difficult patient on the first time. My nurse was quite impressed with me, and it felt good to accomplish that. On Thursday my nurse was just going to kind of have me follow her around and see how things worked, etc. Early in the morning though I think she realized I was fairly competent and she let me do a patient assessment and do everything for that specific patient. Otherwise, I just kind of did random things that day and was not very organized. However, at 3:00 when the other shift left, we picked up 2 more patients. I took over one of those and was able to use my "relationship development" step of the nursing process to form a great relationship with one of those patients. :) It made me remember exactly why I became a nurse. I also learned more of the paperwork and charting that day which was good.

Friday, (today) was an 8 hour shift, and definitely felt much shorter! I took one patient all on my own and it was a good feeling to see my name next to Nurse: on the marker board in the patient's room all on its own! I even ventured to call 2 doctors to get orders for my patients. That was the first time I had done that, and it was nerve racking! I had everything written down that I wanted to say and the chart open by me. When I hung up I realized it was not as bad as I was expecting. Good thing I had 2 good doctors to practice on first. And neither one of them had accents that were difficult to understand!! I again feel blessed and feel as if God is watching out for me and protecting me as I serve Him in taking care of patients.

Another kind of funny story. As I was asking a patient for his full name and birthdate before I gave him medications, he gave me a strange number. I asked him, "that was not your birthdate, what was that?" He replied, "my phone number in case you want to call me later". I literally laughed out loud. He was an 86 year old man. I feel blessed to be able to share laughter with my patients.

Today was also another first. At the hospital, we tape our end of shift reports for the next shift to listen too. I taped my own report on my own for my 1 patient. It felt good to accomplish that! I realized my voice sounds funny on tape though. I know this is a really long post, but I just have one more story. As I was reflecting back on the difference between Wednesday and today I remembered the relationship between the tech's (CNA's) and the nurses. I heard several of the techs complaining or venting about being really busy and the nurses not helping them out. So today, I saw the opportunity to make up a bed for a patient and gave my own patient her shower (which the tech's usually do) and made up her bed with clean sheets. It was amazing the appreciation that I received from the techs. Even just those little things helped them out just a little bit and made their day just a little easier. I feel blessed to share what God has given me.

The last few days have been ones of blessings. I feel blessed that God has placed us where He has and that we have a wonderful place to call home and that God is providing for our every need. Life is good.