I Hate Med-Surg.

It has come to my attention that I would rather not be a nurse at all than be a med-surg nurse.  


Watching the RN's in action, I see an endless cycle of: vitals, meds, vitals, meds, procedure (if you're lucky), vitals, documentation, more meds.  It would be enough to make me puke.  No excitement, no stretching your brain, and rarely anything innovative or medically fascinating.  
Just meds, pee, poop, wounds, and moving people [who are probably obese...], all the live long day. 


I have all the respect in the world for med-surg nurses.  I don't know how they do it. 

Sailing Through the Mid-Semester Slump

The past few weeks have been a bleak attempt to avoid a mid-semester slump, something which I fell victim to quite often during my B.S. degree.  

This semester, I have managed to avoid an academic slump (yay), but my nutrition, exercise/dog walking, and blogging have suffered.  However, I think that I'm back on track now; my fridge and dog thank me, I'm sure. 

Review of the past few weeks: 

1) I've had a several tests in my classes over the past few weeks - I'm happy with my scores, so my motivation is at an all time high. 

2) I've recently finished my Psych clinical.  This is bittersweet.  While it will be really great not to have to drive the distance each week, I'll miss being in the hospital setting on a weekly basis.  I much prefer that to the classroom setting.  

I've also grown to love working there, and have "made friends with" some of the patients.  I have seen some at their worst, and watched them progress to discharge.  I feel their frustrations as they battle their illness, and I am proud of them when they leave.  I get very involved with my patients, and I tend to wonder about them once I get home.  I know that this is detrimental to my own emotional wellbeing, so I'm working on it.  I need to find a balance.  Growing up in the North, I learned not to wear my heart on my sleeve - which is why Southerners may have thought of me as cold, uncaring, and bitchy.  So, when I made my trek below the Mason-Dixon line, I had to modify the way I carry myself, and seriously tone down the sarcasm.  Now, I'm thinking that I've gone soft!  It's time to even the scales so that I'm not an emotional wreck by the fifth year of my nursing career!

3)  I've started a Nursing Therapeutics clinical in a Medical Care Unit.  I feel at home in a hospital.  

I feel like the act of putting on a pair of scrubs is part of my own process of self-actualization.  

In short, I LOVE it.  

I have taken it upon myself to dive right in.  I offer my service to virtually every nurse on the floor, and when there's nothing left for me to do, I observe an NP or MD.  Spending time with advanced care practitioners makes me realize how much more I want out of nursing.  I like the mystery of medical diagnosis; I like to dig around for clues in diagnostic tests.  I like the idea of tackling symptoms and systems, rather than focusing entirely on the human response.  I would like to think that in becoming a nurse practitioner, no matter which specialty I choose, I will be able to find the balance between treating the patient and treating the disease. 

4)  I am in love with my clinical group. They are the best. The end. 

S

Getting Ready for the Big First Day

Over the past few days, I've had to complete hospital learning modules and read through protocol manuals. Mostly, the training was for the computer systems, but some was for codes, restraints, falls, etc.  The online modules for the hospital computer system were pretty disappointing.  I don't know if this is true for most hospitals, but it seems like the charting programs are ten years behind in technology: inefficient, slow, and cluttered.  When I think of healthcare, I think of advancing technology, cutting-edge procedures, and the best of the best.  This system proved otherwise.  Although I am thankful that I won't have to do paper charting, it seems like this will be equally painful.


Nursing school begins in five days.  My anxiety has been resolved, though I really don't know why.  The whole first week of school will consist of orientations for all of the classes.  I don't expect to be terribly busy until week two.  More than anything, I'm ready to meet the girls (yes, all girls) in my clinical group.  I hope that we all have a good chemistry, because that can be so helpful!


So, until orientation begins, I'll be working on getting back into an early morning routine. This will be payback for my puppy - he has woken me up early on many occasions...this will be the first time that I'll have woken HIM up...we'll see how he likes it! ;)


S