Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Orienting around the hospital

I'm getting some orientation in other units so that I can float during my break from school. I went to ATU and med-surg and bariatrics so far.

Med-surg was so boring, and I had to keep asking for things to do. I felt like an albatross around the neck of the poor lady I had to shadow becuase she really didn't have much to do. By the time the shift was over we had gone from 5 patients to 2 patients because they were discharging to home left and right. One of the remaining patients was in surgery, so there was really nothing to do. I helped out everyone else. They probably think I'm awesome but I just hated doing nothing at all.

ATU and Baritric were much more interesting. I like the idea of getting to try out different areas in the hospital. It might help me settle on where I'd like to be when I graduate. I will go to the joint center tomorrow, then my regular shift in the CCU on Friday.

No really interesting stories from today, unfortunately. The patients I met were nice - three of them were recovering from laminectomies (sp?). I took a lot of vital signs. I met an 87 year-old man who had been married to his wife for 67 years. They were both in very good shape, although he was recovering from pneumonia.

At least I kept busy.
Posted by HypnoKitten at 6:09 PM
5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:34 PM  

You're orienting on other floors as a tech, or are you doing some sort of residency thing?
I'm a tech on a general med floor, and we got no orientation to other floors--we're lucky if someone points us in the direction of the assignment board.

Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:35 PM  

whoops, forgot to sign my name!
Jen
http://jensn.ceejayoz.com

Blogger HypnoKitten, at 6:48 PM  

I am an actual tech in CCU, thats where my shift is. I must say that I have a bit of an advantage because the first job I had in the hospital I bugged the ER manager (for 5 months!) until she gave me a job down there, and so I have all that extra ER training as a med-surg tech (different than a PCA(patient care assistant)/CNA - a lot of EMT grads become ER techs). When a day shift opened in CCU, my ER manager said I might want to try that, and I had to agree that a day shift (2 days a week) that was scheduled around my days off school was an awesome deal. I was working 11pm-7am weekends in the ER. Now my new manager is letting me orient anywhere else in the hospital I want, so that I can pick up extra shifts on my vacations.

Blogger HypnoKitten, at 6:52 PM  

I sort of wish there was a residency thing, because I'd probably be able to do more assessments and pass meds, etc., but I get tons of other experience in CCU, so thats a good thing.

They'd probably want the residents to be on the med-surg floors anyway, rather than the CCU or ER, so I guess it depends on which environment you prefer.

Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:42 PM  

Nice orientation! I'm jealous.

Hypno--there may be a residency where you live. I'm doing one through a local hospital(the one I work at, actually, though all of them here are doing it). It's not school-related and I won't get credit, but I understand they pay well. Call your local hospitals and ask their nurse recruitor or H.R. if they've got any programs.

-Jen SN

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