This Fourth of July marks the final weekend before I start my big kid job in this big wide world. I'm so excited, because I don't know which way my life is headed--and that's awesome. I don't feel like I'm going to be stuck in the same rut forever. The world is wide open. All because I decided to start in the ICU.
Don't get me wrong, I was just as excited to start on the surgical unit. But when I thought about it, I was confused about how long I should wait before I tried to get into either the adult or pediatric ICU. I want to travel nurse, but didn't know if I necessarily wanted to travel nurse with a med/surg unit, but if I waited too long, it might not be feasible anymore. I just feel like everything has changed and...opened up, if that makes sense.
I know it's going to be harder, that my new co-workers might not be necessarily accepting of the fact that I've got no experience, for all intents and purposes. But that's okay. It just pushes me even more to prove I'm competent. I hate stupidity as much as the next person, and so I'm determined to prove that I'm not an idiot. At the risk of sounding like a cocky ass, I know this is something I can be good at. I just need the opportunity to show you.
Our final day of undergrad, we wrote ourselves a letter about where we expected to be in 6 months, things we hoped to accomplish, the whole she-bang. This little pick-me-up will be opened 11.11.11, and I'm already excited about it, because my life is already entirely different than what I expected and wrote about in the letter. The biggest part to wrap my head around, is that I'm going to be on orientation for 12 weeks. So let me spell that out for you. I won't truly be on my own until sometime in October. And that's probably okay.
So, with that profound blog, I'm going to go swelter in the 100 degree weather outside. I'll try and keep you updated on this "new nurse." I'm willing to bet, as with most anything else I do, it's going to be entertaining.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
The Waiting Game
Well, friends, I've got some updates from last time, and I'm actually pretty excited about all of them.
The running thing is actually going quite well. I can now run 2 miles without wanting to die. I really feel like I could go farther, but don't want to up it too soon. So after two more times of successfully running two miles, I'll probably bump it up to 2.5 and go from there. I've decided the goal (for now) is 5 miles. After that, who knows. I actually kind of enjoy running, now that I know I can go farther than 20 feet. I also think it helps that it's beautiful summer, instead of me, inside on a treadmill, wishing I was anywhere but there.
I got my ATT for my boards. I was so excited that I quickly went to schedule it and found out that if I wanted to keep my original start date at work, I was going to have to take boards the very next day. I actually thought about it for awhile. I get such crazy test anxiety (usually for no reason) and surprising myself by going to take boards in less than 24 hours would leave me unable to freak out as much and get them over with. In the end, I opted not to, because I didn't have everything done with Kaplan. And while I know the chance of me failing seems to be miniscule, I want to make sure I've done everything I could. So if I do fail, I get a refund. Or, my parents get a refund. Either way. So, boards are in less than 3 weeks. Thank goodness. Time to move up and move on.
I then talked to my manager at work to let her know my start date was going to have to be pushed back. She called me back when I was unable to get to my phone, and she said we would work with what we had, and she didn't mind. So I'm feeling just fine and dandy, and ready to hang up, since that should be the end of the said message, when she says, "Oh, and the ICU called. They wanted to know if they can steal you from us. If you want to work there, just let us know. We want you to be happy."
Again, my initial thought was ABSOLUTELY NOT. I had already told them no once, I had my mind made up, and I didn't want to rehash that. But then I thought about it. And by 'thought about it' I mean I talked to about 5 different people about what I was feeling. In the end, we all came up with the exact same answer.
I need to start in the adult ICU.
My boss told me it was an exciting opportunity, as well as talking to my parents, Lindsay, Rachelle, and Laura. And that's only this time around. Both Christa and Gongoll had already told me they thought I was crazy to pass this up last time. My instructor had also told me that she wouldn't recommend me if she didn't think I could do it. This just makes sense. I want to be a flight nurse. If the ICU is willing to put time in and train me as a new graduate nurse, and I know that I will be good at taking care of an ICU patient since I spent all practicum doing it...what other choice do I have?
So Donelle at work is going to get in contact with the ICU and tell them that they can have me, and get her in contact with me as well. I am soooo excited. But trying really hard to not, just in case this doesn't work for some reason. The initial offer was two weeks ago already. The ICU has 7 open nursing positions posted online right now, so I would imagine they still need help. But still. Trying to be cautiously optimistic. I'm hoping to hear from the ICU tomorrow. But we all know how well I wait.
The running thing is actually going quite well. I can now run 2 miles without wanting to die. I really feel like I could go farther, but don't want to up it too soon. So after two more times of successfully running two miles, I'll probably bump it up to 2.5 and go from there. I've decided the goal (for now) is 5 miles. After that, who knows. I actually kind of enjoy running, now that I know I can go farther than 20 feet. I also think it helps that it's beautiful summer, instead of me, inside on a treadmill, wishing I was anywhere but there.
I got my ATT for my boards. I was so excited that I quickly went to schedule it and found out that if I wanted to keep my original start date at work, I was going to have to take boards the very next day. I actually thought about it for awhile. I get such crazy test anxiety (usually for no reason) and surprising myself by going to take boards in less than 24 hours would leave me unable to freak out as much and get them over with. In the end, I opted not to, because I didn't have everything done with Kaplan. And while I know the chance of me failing seems to be miniscule, I want to make sure I've done everything I could. So if I do fail, I get a refund. Or, my parents get a refund. Either way. So, boards are in less than 3 weeks. Thank goodness. Time to move up and move on.
I then talked to my manager at work to let her know my start date was going to have to be pushed back. She called me back when I was unable to get to my phone, and she said we would work with what we had, and she didn't mind. So I'm feeling just fine and dandy, and ready to hang up, since that should be the end of the said message, when she says, "Oh, and the ICU called. They wanted to know if they can steal you from us. If you want to work there, just let us know. We want you to be happy."
Again, my initial thought was ABSOLUTELY NOT. I had already told them no once, I had my mind made up, and I didn't want to rehash that. But then I thought about it. And by 'thought about it' I mean I talked to about 5 different people about what I was feeling. In the end, we all came up with the exact same answer.
I need to start in the adult ICU.
My boss told me it was an exciting opportunity, as well as talking to my parents, Lindsay, Rachelle, and Laura. And that's only this time around. Both Christa and Gongoll had already told me they thought I was crazy to pass this up last time. My instructor had also told me that she wouldn't recommend me if she didn't think I could do it. This just makes sense. I want to be a flight nurse. If the ICU is willing to put time in and train me as a new graduate nurse, and I know that I will be good at taking care of an ICU patient since I spent all practicum doing it...what other choice do I have?
So Donelle at work is going to get in contact with the ICU and tell them that they can have me, and get her in contact with me as well. I am soooo excited. But trying really hard to not, just in case this doesn't work for some reason. The initial offer was two weeks ago already. The ICU has 7 open nursing positions posted online right now, so I would imagine they still need help. But still. Trying to be cautiously optimistic. I'm hoping to hear from the ICU tomorrow. But we all know how well I wait.
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