Moving on up!

Starting any career can be difficult, and Nursing is falling into that category. When I was still a student I was filled with fear of screwing up, and in general felt completely retarded...but things they are a changing.

I'm not getting over confident, but I am celebrating the small victories!

When orienting to a unit, one normally spends about 2 weeks, or 8-10 shifts with a preceptor to keep an eye on you. I spent over a month on orientation in Pediatrics because I am a new nurse, and I was able to spend 2 nights on the Med-Surg floor while Peds was closed.

Peds was closed on Sunday night, so I thought I would just be on call but a nurse called in so I was headed to my first night shift alone on the Med-Surg floor. A seasoned nurse will take upwards of 8 patients on the night shift, but thankfully I only had 5! The problem was all but one of my patients had been admitted or transferred to the floor about 4 hrs before my shift. It took me 7 hrs to get caught up on my charting and be able to sit down to eat!

But, my major success was when it came to the 9pm med pass. I had a patient that was supposed to receive an EXTREMELY large dose of long-acting insulin at 9, but was also scheduled for short-acting insulin at the same time. I used my judgement, after bringing it to the attention of the charge nurse, and administered the long-acting insulin, but held the short-acting. I then waited til midnight and rechecked the patient's blood sugar, and it was where it needed to be. YEA!!!!!!!!! Had I gone by the schedule I could have ended up with a patient with extremely low blood sugar!

So, I have officially upgraded my status to not completely retarded :o)