Welcome to Paradise

Not sure why I do this to myself. Last week.... 5 12 hour shifts in a row. 1 day off then back for 4. Was I on crack, or was it the schedule lady? How many licks does it take to get to the brain of a work-a-holic ER nurse? The world may never know.


Tired, a bit punchy and ready for this stretch to be over. At least I have Mt Dew and Monster to keep me company tonight. Charge again.... because the last time went SO well. Had a mini breakdown and had to have 10 minutes of "me time" when I was in charge last. That is a story for another post and another day. Right now I just don't want to go to work. I tried to get myself TDO'd to St John's, but to no avail. We must have open psych beds for a change.

Oh well..... back to the trenches for me. Hi Ho, Hi Ho its back to work I go!

Float

I started an 8 hour shift in triage quite literally playing on the computer, triaging STD's and watching WBL sleep at the desk. The coordinator called and said that pedes was getting hammered and could I go help them out a little? (when I flew we had some sick kids) So sure.... I'm up for a challenge. Pedes nurses, especially pedes ER and ICU are very protective of their patients. They don't want just any adult nurse to come take care of them. Even though I have known some of these girls for a while, they were hesitant to let me do more than grunt work.

I'm not one to sit on my butt, even in that situation. I jumped in right away. Grunt work, whatever. The charge quickly saw that I was there to work and that I had worked with kids before. They then started having me starting IV's, medicating kids, discharging.... you name it. I was even taking a patient or 2 of my own after a while. They were so grateful to have the (competent) help. I told them that I have been trying to officially cross-train over there but have been getting the push-back from administration. They wrote down my name and I have a feeling I might have a part-time job offer by the time this week is out.

Do I want to be a dedicated pedes nurse? No. But since I work so much overtime it can help prevent adult ED burnout and provide a new opportunity to learn something. Plus, from a flight standpoint it will look really good if I have Adult ER, Adult ICU, Pedes ER and flight experience. I'm just sayin'......