M and I went out for a couple drinks and to watch MNF the other night and we made friends with the guy sitting at the bar next to us...
Man: So, wait a minute. You're a nurse?
Me: Yes.
Man: And he's a doctor?
Me: Yes.
Man: And you both work at Georgetown?
Me: Yes.
Man (smirking): Niiiice. How does that work?
Me: What do you mean?
Man: Well you know, is there an HR issue there? Is it awkward?
Me: No.
Man: Oh. I just thought it might cause some drama, you know, a nurse and a doctor...
Me: No, its really not as uncommon as you think.
Man (disappointed): Oh...
It always entertains me how people assume that working in a hospital is comparable to prime time drama (aka Grey's). The sneaking around, the incestual-type hook-ups where everyone hooks up with everyone else, sex in the on-call room, etc etc. Sadly, real-life hospital gossip is just not that juicy. But I suppose that doesnt stop people's imaginations from conjuring up steamy stories. ....Now, if you wanna hear stories about crazy and ridiculous patients, then I could entertain you for hours... :-P
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
patting myself on the back :-p
I'm gonna toot my own horn in this post so I apologize, but this totally made my day and every time I think about it, it makes me super happy. So I'm going to share it. Mr. B is one of our patients who recently got re-admitted to the hospital and I saw him for the first time in about a year and a half...
Mr. & Mrs. B: NIKKI!!
Me: Hi Mr. & Mrs. B, how are you guys doing?
Mrs. B: Well, we've been better.
Mr. B: But at least we got a bed on 6 Bles this time. It was the best news I'd heard all night.
Me: Well we wouldn't want you on any other floor. Mary is your nurse tonight and I'm the charge nurse so let me know if you need anything.
Mr. B: Well look at you! You're charge nurse now? That's great.
.............
Mr. B: I just cant get over that you were a tech the last time I saw you and now you're a nurse. You're charge nurse! That's wonderful.
Me: Yeah, it's really good. I'm loving it.
Mr. B: Well you were great. [My wife and I] knew you'd be a great nurse. We loved when you took care of us. You were always one of our favorites.
Me: Aww
Mr. B: No really. Top 2 or 3. I cant tell you who the others are though. But every time I came back for a clinic visit, I would come up to the floor to say hi and see who was working. I hoped to see you, but you were never working those days.
Me: Oh no, thats too bad.
Mr. B: Yeah, you're a favorite. I'd say Top 2.
During a long shift of having to deal with obnoxious, needy patients, that conversation was a nice reminder of why I do what I do. :)
Mr. & Mrs. B: NIKKI!!
Me: Hi Mr. & Mrs. B, how are you guys doing?
Mrs. B: Well, we've been better.
Mr. B: But at least we got a bed on 6 Bles this time. It was the best news I'd heard all night.
Me: Well we wouldn't want you on any other floor. Mary is your nurse tonight and I'm the charge nurse so let me know if you need anything.
Mr. B: Well look at you! You're charge nurse now? That's great.
.............
Mr. B: I just cant get over that you were a tech the last time I saw you and now you're a nurse. You're charge nurse! That's wonderful.
Me: Yeah, it's really good. I'm loving it.
Mr. B: Well you were great. [My wife and I] knew you'd be a great nurse. We loved when you took care of us. You were always one of our favorites.
Me: Aww
Mr. B: No really. Top 2 or 3. I cant tell you who the others are though. But every time I came back for a clinic visit, I would come up to the floor to say hi and see who was working. I hoped to see you, but you were never working those days.
Me: Oh no, thats too bad.
Mr. B: Yeah, you're a favorite. I'd say Top 2.
During a long shift of having to deal with obnoxious, needy patients, that conversation was a nice reminder of why I do what I do. :)
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Long overdue
There were not very many quotes recorded from Homecoming weekend, but these are the 3 that I have saved on my phone:
- "You need to sit closer to me so I can touch you." --Danielle to me
- "How cute is he?!? He's such a dreamboat!!" -- Mike
- "Well, he's a man. ...So clearly you are the boss." --Mike to me
- spending a lovely relaxing Friday with Chinlund :)
- walking on the quad on a gorgeous Friday afternoon
- Running into Willie and having his gf and her friend glare at us the entire time
- Katie's cheerleading outfit
- Mike trying to convince the parking police to let us keep the car parked
- Matt following us to our tailgate when the game started
- a certain member of the Ocho making out with a certain Sigma Pi at the bar... ;)
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Reasons today rocked
- Bacon egg and cheese on a croissant + coffee
- I precepted today so basically I made H. do all the work :)
- Quality time with K.
- Teamwork --> prepped a patient for the OR in about 15 minutes
- We got our resident to take vital signs for our patients
insomnia
I am awake at 12:45am and I have to be at work in 6 hours. Lately I either barely get any sleep (usually nights/days immediately before a shift) or I sleep 13 hours. I'm not really sure what my deal is, but I guess I'm just kinda stressed about what I want to do with my life. I know, I know. I'm a nurse and I love it and that is absolutely what I want to do in life. Even after some of the shittiest days, when it comes down to it, there really isnt anything else I could picture myself doing. BUT, I do know that I want to go back to school eventually. I dont think I want to be a floor nurse for the rest of my life. I just dont know which direction I want to take my nursing career. As much as I love teaching I dont want to be a nurse educator or a professor; I'd rather be a clinical instructor or something more hands-on, but you cant really make a career out of being an instructor. And I'm not sure I really see myself as a nurse practitioner... maybe... I just don't know. I think the issue is that I still really enjoy floor nursing. I'm not jaded and over-worked yet, so I dont feel the need to find something new. And even if I do reach that point, there's always the option to go to a different unit - another med-surg unit, the PACU, ICU, anything. (Although I dont think I want to be an ICU nurse. I want the knowledge but not the job.) There's so much you can do as an RN. The problem is most Masters programs are being phased out and becoming a Doctorate program. So for example, if I wanted to be come a nurse practitioner (NP) I would be required to have a PhD, not just a Masters. Now, if I graduate with my Masters and become an NP before 2015, I can just be grandfathered in and not have to do the DNP program. Yes, 2015 is still a ways away, but in order to get the hospital to pay for my graduate education, I would have to go to school part-time and work full-time. The NP program is 3 years if its done part-time. So, that significantly decreases the time I have to figure life out. That also would mean I would have to stay at Georgetown for another 3 years, which I'm not opposed to, I just dont know if I want to try someplace else- a different hospital? a different city perhaps?
Anyway, it's now 1am and my alarm will go off in less than 5 hours, so I should stop rambling on and try to get some sleep...
Anyway, it's now 1am and my alarm will go off in less than 5 hours, so I should stop rambling on and try to get some sleep...
Friday, September 3, 2010
Life Update
It's been awhile since I last wrote so I suppose it's about time to post an update... Lets see, August was filled with birthdays (my roommate's and DJ's) and weekend trips. Of course, it started out with my road trip to SC, which apparently I'm going to have to do again soon seeing as 2 of the Ocho now live there!! Woot! The weekend after was my roommate's bday, which was properly celebrated in a drunken state down in Adam's Morgan. The following weekend, C., L., and I flew up to Boston for the weekend. I went to Fenway for the first time (YAY!) which was everything I imagined it would be. Greatest place on earth. :) We went shopping downtown and saw a man shooting up in the street (literally - needle in his arm.) Went to the Harpoon brewery, an improv show down at the north end, Faniuel Hall and Quincy Market. It was fantastic. But I think I'm over the whole 'I totally want to live in Boston for a few years' phase. Dont get me wrong, I loved it and its a great city -- to visit. Being there just made me realize that if I'm going to live in a major city I think it's gonna have to be DC.
Work is going really well. There are definitely still days when all I want to do is cry and/or punch my patients in the face, but I guess that's all part of the job. :-P I had my annual evaluation (my first as a nurse) and everything was really really good. My manager said I'm doing a great job and that I had a really good first year! So yay! :) I am charge nurse capable now, which is pretty exciting. It's kind of nerve-wracking to think that during those shifts I'm suppose to know what to do; I'm the one people will turn to for help/advice. As scary as that may be, I think the hardest part about being Charge is having to diffuse situations and deal with angry, irrational patients/family members. Its so hard to advocate for a patient when they're screaming at you because of a situation you had no control over. Oh well. I am also precepting a new staff nurse, which is also kind of scary to know that I am responsible for teaching this person how to be a good transplant nurse. It's my job to make sure she can realize what's important, knows how to respond to certain situations, anticipate what to do next, and of course make sure the doctors are ordering the appropriate things. But its been a really good experience. You never know how much you know until you have to teach it. Plus I've realized that I LOVE teaching. So we'll see if maybe teaching will have a role later on in my career.
Work is going really well. There are definitely still days when all I want to do is cry and/or punch my patients in the face, but I guess that's all part of the job. :-P I had my annual evaluation (my first as a nurse) and everything was really really good. My manager said I'm doing a great job and that I had a really good first year! So yay! :) I am charge nurse capable now, which is pretty exciting. It's kind of nerve-wracking to think that during those shifts I'm suppose to know what to do; I'm the one people will turn to for help/advice. As scary as that may be, I think the hardest part about being Charge is having to diffuse situations and deal with angry, irrational patients/family members. Its so hard to advocate for a patient when they're screaming at you because of a situation you had no control over. Oh well. I am also precepting a new staff nurse, which is also kind of scary to know that I am responsible for teaching this person how to be a good transplant nurse. It's my job to make sure she can realize what's important, knows how to respond to certain situations, anticipate what to do next, and of course make sure the doctors are ordering the appropriate things. But its been a really good experience. You never know how much you know until you have to teach it. Plus I've realized that I LOVE teaching. So we'll see if maybe teaching will have a role later on in my career.
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