Thursday, August 30, 2012

The one where I do my little freakout...again


Only because I'm doing my last day of orientation tomorrow at work, and then I'm on my own.  Free to screw up patients all by myself.  It's a little nerve wracking, but I'll get through it I'm sure.




Just to help ease me in, I spent most of the day trying to finish up my orientation education, partly at work, but partly at home because our stroke module is taking forever!  Seriously, you get tested on stroke scoring for 6 patients that you watch on video, and I've done 3, and it's taken 2 1/2 hours already!

I give up.  It's the last thing I have to have done, and I think I'll do it in stages.

On other fronts, not much is new.  Just canning apples and pears and hanging out.  Actually, there's more canning than hanging going on around here.  And I thought I could have some quiet days off!

Instead, I'm spending them sweating over the stove and waiting for my computer to load each individual stroke check, and wondering if I've still got it at work...

Oh, and listening to Dan Savage talk about sex.  Hubba hubba.


Remember, it's just a ride.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

The one where I apologize for the long silence

Sorry.  There it is.

Just kidding!  Sorry I've been absent for a couple of weeks, but things have been busy; grandkids visiting, the county fair, and let's not forget, work.

Youngest, Fiance, and Grandson came out to visit for 2 weeks during Fiance's break from school.  The first week they were here coincided with our county fair, so we took Grandson to see the animals, and the heavy farm equipment:


Of course, he screamed all the way home after we took him down from this tractor.  He is going to be 2 after all.

We also went on a great hike:




And because our garden is going to run away with us, especially the tomatoes and cucumbers, Youngest helped me make pickles:


Then I got to take a break from all the visiting to go to work and take care of a chronic meth user OD.  And isn't that exciting?  Sure is, listening to someone scream and argue with people who aren't there is the highlight of my day.  Especially when you've done it to yourself.  My favorite line?  "See that fat man over there?"  I turn to look.....no one there.  "He's such an asshole."  Ok then, I won't talk to him.   I hate assholes anyway.  I did tell her the next day after the hallucinations were gone that I was really glad that she saw no one else in the room with me because the day before it was pretty crowded in there!

Other than that, I'm now recovering from my family's 'visit', and sitting down and sewing a little.

Aside from Oldest running over our irrigation faucet with the lawnmower and producing our very own fountain in the yard this morning, things are going pretty good.



Remember, it's just a ride.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

The one where I remember just how much education I have to do

 

Yes, education.  The pillar of our society....well, it should be, but not anymore.  Unless you're in healthcare.

If that's the case, when you hire on, depending on what you'll be doing, there's either a little, or a lot of education that is MANDATORY.  Capital M mandatory.  Capital M masochistic.  If you're a nurse.

Today I spent 7 hours at work reading modules and taking tests on what should be my day off.  These ranged from HIPPA to way to much info on Medicare fraud, to medication administration, blood products, bariatric (fatty fat fat) care, and conscious sedation.

And there's still more.  Tomorrow.

I understand that we have to keep up with changing medicine.  I understand that the feds require a lot of the nonsense education like fraud and billing.  What I don't understand is why it all has to be done in these marathon sessions right after you get hired.  I'm already up to my eyeballs with orienting back into the ICU!

But I know I'll be glad to have them done.  *sigh*


Remember, it's just a ride.