hi ho, hi ho, its off to work we go

I love being a nurse, I really really do. And for the most part I love the hours - relatively flexible schedule; work 3 days, off for 4, and because of it, you can essentially get a week off without ever taking vacation time. What I do not love is the fact that the hospital never closes. I have worked the last 4 Thanksgivings and tomorrow will be my 4 Christmas I've had to go into work. (Not to mention the fact that I had to work during the blizzard last weekend when everyone else in the DC area was snowed in. They shut down everything from office buildings to public transit to the bars. But obv not the hospitals.) And this year my Christmas schedule is particularly crappy: work Wed, Thurs, Fri (Christmas day); off Sat; work Sun, Mon, Tues. I am just slightly depressed that instead of being at home with the fam and the little cousins right now, I'm alone in my apt trying to fall asleep b/c I have to be up in less than 5 hours to go to work. I just keep telling myself that I'm lucky I have a good job, I have fun co-workers and cute doctors to spend my days with, and for the most part I like my patients. Plus I get 5 days off for New Years. Siiiigh... I love my job. I make a difference in people's lives on a daily basis. I love my job, I love my job, I love my job...

This is where I work

In case you havent heard/seen the news, GUH just finished up a 13-way kidney swap. Yes, if you're familiar with the Grey's episode where they did a kidney swap it's kind of like that. Only this is real life. (I get annoyed when people are like, "oh thats no big deal. they did that on Grey's." Riiight. If they thought it up for some primetime drama then clearly performing the actually surgeries is no big thing.) PSHT.

Anyway, it was originally going to be 16 or 17, I think, but for various reasons a few didnt work out so the final number was 13, which is still the largest ever in the country, and the only one to involve a child. Pretty cool. And yes, I personally have taken care of a number of the patients including the ones mentioned in the article and the ones interviewed in the video, which is also pretty cool. :)

Check out the video of their press conference too. It just warms my heart. :)

doctor love

Instead of writing about how much I hate doctors I thought I'd write about this one doctor I love. Well, actually there are 2 doctors I love:

The 1st doctor (Dr. V) is actually a 4th year and I have known him since he was an intern and fresh out of med school and he's a lot of fun to work with. It amazes me how much he's improved as a doctor. All the other doctors turn to him for the answers and for advice and approval. I had an issue with a patient and when I walked into the doctors' room he was there along with the intern, the med students, and the 2 fellows. No one knew what to do so they all looked at him and he very calmly, nonchalantly just threw out the answer and they all agreed. Then the other day we were in the middle of a code and I was the recording nurse. The code was not very well run and everyone kinda seemed all over the place, plus the medicine resident couldnt get a fem line in the patient. Dr. V walked into the room, calmly asked for an update, and took control. (His confidence makes him all the more attractive.) He got the line in and then took the time to teach the other doctor and give him some pointers. He is awesome and I love him.

The 2nd (we'll call McCutie b/c that name fits him perfectly) I legitimately have a crush on, but for real reasons - not just because he is sooo cute. :) He's sweet, funny, and sarcastic. AND he is so freakin smart and even though he's just an intern he doesnt take shit from the other doctors. But he's not one of those arrogant, condescending doctors. He actually knows his shit and therefore has a right to not take shit from other doctors (which is hot :) ). Plus it doesnt hurt that he actually cares about the patients and has great bedside manner. Whenever I had an issue with a patient I knew that he would actually address situation. One night I had a patient who had a HR in the 130s and respiratory rate of 40 (40!!) while he was asleep but otherwise stable. I told him about it and within 10 minutes he was in the room with me assessing the patient. He's only an intern and already such a good doctor and it makes me sad that he's not on our service anymore. He actually reminds me of a younger version of Dr. V, which means he'll grow up to be a fantastic doctor, which again is just plain hot. :) Siiiigh.

Why cant all doctors be as good as these 2? Or better yet, why dont these 2 just stay on our service forever? :)

ACLS certified!

I finished a 2-day Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) class today which was really great! It basically incorporates Basic Life Support (which is essentially means CPR) and takes it one step further and teaches you what to do in an arrest situations: how to read a heart rhythm, how to treat said rhythm, when to shock, when not to shock, when to give meds, what meds to give, etc. Like a BLS class there's a written component and a demonstration. The demonstration part was kind of intense. Its one thing to read a scenario and decide what action to take based on multiple choice answers. Its completely different when you're given a simulation patient who can talk, breath, provide vitals, is crashing, and you have a team of 3-4 people just waiting for you to give them orders. Its only a simulation, but it still kinda gets your pumped up and makes you nervous. Plus, its not like ACLS is basic stuff; there is a ton of info to know like which drugs to give when, what doses to give in the various situations, when you can and cant shock, at what intensity do you shock, what if you start in one rhythm and your patient decompensates into something worse, what do you do then, etc etc. So you have to keep it all straight. If you dont, your already crashing patient will die. Like I said - intense. But it was really good, really interesting. Now I can put together all the stuff I learned in my EKG class and the cardiac drug class and know how to treat the various rhythms.

...but, as awesome as this class was and no matter how well you think you know your stuff, you'll never really know till you put it to use. And of course you only get better at it with practice. ...so, I kinda want a code situation to happen so that I can see just how prepared I am... As long as I'm certified though, I essentially could run a code! Pretty exciting!! :)

Christmas Songs

Why is "My Favorite Things" considered a Christmas song?

...just curious

thankful

Yes, I know this is a week late, but this is what I am thankful for this year and why. Here we go:

• Family.... who live nearby and I can go see whenever I want, and aunts and uncles who wont stop having babies and continue to give me tons of adorable cousins :)
  
• Wonderful friends.... monthly dinners, late night chats, DC shenanigans, and of course The Ocho.
  
• A (well-paying) stable job.... yes, jobs are hard to find these days so I have been thankful for this ever since last january when I knew that I'd have a job for at least the next 2 years. But I also found out that my aunt, who recently bought a new house, just got laid off... 3 weeks before xmas... So yes. Thankful for employment
• A job I LOVE... because really, how many people can say they truly LOVE what they do? I honestly cant imagine doing anything else with my life.**
  
• My health and the health of my family and friends... not only do I get a daily reminder while at work of how lucky I am that we are all healthy, but 3 weeks ago a girl I was friends with in high school passed away from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. She was 26 years old. 26! (RIP Elizabeth.)
  
• Living in the Washington DC area... fast-paced, great night life, you can always find something to do or see, beautiful scenery - what more could you want?
  
• A great apt in a great location
• An awesome roommate with whom I get along perfectly
• Great co-workers who make going to work that much more enjoyable
• Good doctors... unfortunately, our team currently isnt the strongest we've had, but I am thankful for the good doctors we do work with.
• Shoes... and dresses... and purses... and all the fun things I have spent entirely too much money on the last couple months. :)
• Really good wine... yes, I have abandoned my signature bottle of Andre and am currently exploring wine. Its quite delicious and I'm a fan.
• Movie nights
• Warm, sunny days
• Friendly patients
• Free drinks out at the bar

There are tons more, but right now that is all I can think of. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!


**sidenote in regards to the job i love: keep an eye out in the news b/c yesterday was the start of a 17-way kidney swap that we're doing at our hospital.

One of the many reasons I love my job

There are plenty of days where I just kinda go through the motions of handing out meds, doing assessments, charting and such that I sometimes leave work feeling as though I wasnt a very good nurse. Other days - like today - I really enjoy and appreciate what it is I can do for my patients. Today I was able to help out in my first code, which was pretty awesome, but what really made me feel like a good nurse is all the educating I did for my patients. A lot of people think that all we do IS just hand out meds, do assessments, and chart, but we do so much more. One of the things we are in charge of is educating patients and making sure they understand whats going on. I did medication teaching, discharge teaching, plan of care teaching, activity expectation teaching, diet teaching, you name it, I taught it.

One of my patients was being discharged home today and she needed to take care of her wound. The doctors have been the ones doing her dressing changes and so when she was told she was going to have to do it herself, she had no idea what to do. She had never even LOOKED at her wound (she's a super anxious patient and the thought of seeing staples in her abdomen terrified her). So I had to talk with her, calm her down, and then proceed to sit with her for the next 45 minutes showing her her wound, familiarizing her with it, teaching her about it, and doing wound care AND drain care teaching. I had talk her though it so she felt comfortable enough with her body to be able to handle packing/changing her dressing. When the doctors came in an hour later to try to explain the importance of wound care and that she would have to do it herself, she was able to tell them that she already got teaching, she knew what she was doing, and she felt confident and comfortable doing the dressing changes herself. Successful teaching done! My other patient was going to the OR and was super anxious. You could just see the fear in her eyes (behind all the tears) so I sat on her bed with her and just held her hand for 10 minutes while she calmed down. When it was time for her to go she just squeezed my hand, looked me in the eye, smiled, and said thank you.

Days like today, I feel like I made a difference in someone's life. I reassured someone, I educated, I comforted, I cheered someone up, I taught someone how to improve their quality of life. Days like today are why I love my job. They're why I became a nurse.

My First Code!

I took part in my first code today!! Having worked in the hospital for over 3 years, I've been on the floor during a good number of codes, but now being a nurse I actually was able to take part and really see what happens and how it's run. I didnt run it and it wasnt my patient, but still it was pretty exciting! Ok, I realize that in all honesty, the fact that we had to even run a code, sucks. But being a new nurse it was really intense and really exciting. I've realized though that I def need more practice in order to feel comfortable and confident. (Guess its a good thing I'm taking ACLS in a couple weeks!) I was so flustered when they were asking me for supplies that I felt like I was taking forever. But in the end it all worked out fine, all the nurses were helping out and we all worked together. They intubated the patient on the floor and transferred him down to the ICU. It all happened so fast. We called the code at 1800 and the patient was rolling off the floor by 1825. Intense. I would love to be part of a code response team or even do something like trauma. I find that stuff so fascinating (um, has anyone watched the show Trauma?? I've moved on from Mercy, mainly because the drama is too getting to be too much. But Trauma = awesome! I seriously want to BE Nancy!) But I dont think I'd be very good at it, to be completely honest. As much as I like the excitement, and adrenaline rush, and as much as I love to stay busy, I can get overwhelmed somewhat easily. More than anything I just want the knowledge, capability, and the confidence that comes with working in that field.