Cautiously Optimistic

I have been on the floor for 2 days now. I am now sick because I don't think I have been getting enough sleep. But it has been good.


Vicky-they played Santana at the 10 o'clock hour yesterday to change things up a bit.





Some floor observations:


- All of the MDs are really nice. Most of the MDs are on the staff so they are always there just like us. So it is like working with 5 Dr. Goldblatts each day. I am down with that.





- Each CNA only has 6 patients. I do the first set of vitals and all of the blood sugars. It is fabulous that they have the time to take care of pts really well. I went into one of my patients room to turn him, I was too late my CNA had turned him already each time. They buddy up so another CNA can help with turns, transfers, and baths. That is awesome. I think from my last place and I know all too well after 5.5 years, that PCAs are used and abused there. So this is refreshing and I think makes both parites happier.





- If a med is not in the omnicell (a 1960s version of the pyxis, but that is much more user friendly) I will have to go to the units in the hospital to find it. At least it will tell me which one to go to, but hey I've got time........





- I have learned more about wound care in the last week than I ever have before.





- Pts here don't find it funny when I tell them how lucky they are to have me as a RN. Maybe they already heard it the first 60 days they were hospitalized?





- Paper charting is not amazing. Neither is crossing out everything, writting error, and initial it when your dumb ass grabs the wrong chart. Plus I need to chart everything in black. What will be of all the cute pens I bought?





- 40 of the rooms have cameras in them. A monitor tech sits there and watches them and walkies, "so and so is getting out of bed" or "so and so has his vent tubing in his hand." There goes scratching myself or adjusting my boobs in sleeping/comatose pts rooms. I can only image what would be said over the walkie then.





- Suprisingly pts here are less crazy and confused than the place I came from.





- We use the same glucometers, but you HAVE to scan the bottle of strips before using them. Each time I have taken a blood sugar I have entered the room and started to the process and then have to walk across the unit to get the damn bottle.





Anyway, I am cautiously optimistic about this job. I like everyone, the pts, and the management. Of course I have felt that way before, so I am still holding my breath.





I miss all of my fabulous old hospital peeps. That is really starting to sink in.