Work memory

I know it's been a while - I recently joined the smartphone world by getting an iPhone & I just installed the blogger app so I'm hoping posts (even if short) will be more frequent. 

I just wanted to share & remember a lovely encounter i had with an 81 year old patient last night. I had been taking care of him for 3 days and was letting him know thAt I'm off today and hopefully, for his sake, I won't see him on Tuesday. He said a few sweet words about me as a nurse and that he will see me Tuesday, ending with "and I miss you already". And he is now known to me (& Brian) as my "81 year old boyfriend"...love patients & moments like that! 

Earthquake on the East Coast

Last night I was at work, sitting in the nurses' station working on some documentation when all of a sudden I felt an earthquake...the computer monitors were shaking a little. It was SMALL, compared to my usual California quakes! I immediately went to find some other people to talk to, thinking everyone was going to be freaking out because that was so unusual for this area, however most people either didn't even feel it or didn't really know what it was. I guess it was a 4.0 earthquake in Maine. It was quite a conversation topic for everyone last night - kinda a big deal for New England. Just thought I'd share this story with my fellow quake-experienced Californians. :)

Gronk!

How could I forget to include meeting Gronkowski in my February post?! The Thursday after Super Bowl, when Patriots lost to Giants, Rob Gronkowski stopped by the VA to say hi to the patients. I was supposed to leave at 4pm that day, but decided to stay and help for overtime. He showed up around 7ish (glad I stayed!). I didn't recognize him (especially since I didn't watch the super bowl since I was at work), but someone asked me if I wanted my picture taken - I thought it was for the newspaper or something, so I said no (it was a long day and my hair was a mess - HA!). But then people were saying "You don't want your picture taken with Rob Gronkowski!?" Then I slowly figured it out and asked a bunch of co-workers to get in the picture with me. And here it is! He was very tall, quiet, and nice. My co-workers in the picture, from left to right, are Craig, Lauren, Ilia, & Merideth.

Nursing Fun

Last night was a crazy night at work! I think it was somewhat related to the fact that today is a holiday, but it was also due to us being very busy with almost a full census. If I haven't mentioned it before, I work on a surgical floor, although we do take medical patients occasionally too. Many of the patients we see recently had surgery on their heart, lungs, abdomen, or an amputation. We encourage the patients to walk and/or get out of bed as soon as they are able to, so I offered to assist a patient in a little walk last night. He walked earlier in the day, but I thought it would be good to get him up and he was willing. So I got him set up with the walker and out the door he went. The doctors were in the hallway reviewing each patient's care, and they were all happy to see my patient up walking. He walked about 3 rooms down to the nurses station and then turned around. He started to turn toward the first room or a wheel chair, so I asked him how he was doing. Unfortunately, he doesn't talk much and has difficulty formulating words, but when I asked if he needed to sit he nodded. As I was pulling the wheelchair up behind him, I notice him getting really weak and looking as though he would fall. So, I grabbed him and lowered him safely to the floor. It all happened so fast, but I was thankful everything was ok. The 4 doctors in the hallway ran over and helped me get the patient into the chair. I took him back to his bed, which he barely made it into, and thankfully my patient said everything was fine. It was my first "near fall" incident and it sure made my adrenaline rush!

Next, I had to transfer one of my patients to a different floor. Since we were really busy, I figured it was going to be difficult to get some help moving the patient, so I decided to just do it myself. The beds are pretty heavy and very hard to maneuver, especially all alone. I had to push from the head of the bed but then the foot of the bed would hit the wall, so I would go to the other end and straighten it out and then go back to pushing. As I was arriving to the new floor, there were two nurses in the hallway gossiping - not only were they in my way, but they didn't even offer to help. Another road block was a cleaning cart in the middle of the hallway, that I had to move out of my way....it basically was just one thing after another, all with no assistance. I was so frustrated and irritated because with 2 people, it should have taken 10 minutes to transfer the patient, but instead it took me about 40 minutes, really setting me back in the rest of my evening duties.

In addition to these issues, it was just one of those nights where nothing seemed to go right. I ended up staying till 1am, but there was another nurse that left at that same time and the another nurse left 20 minutes earlier, so none of us left on time (which would have been 12 am). Anyway, I am sure I could share more about last night, but these were the main things and I felt like this was one night worth documenting. However, I would like to note that this was not a typical night for me, and I think every challenge is an opportunity for growth.

Some other work related things I can share are the neat technologies around the hospital. I included some links to pictures of them:

• We have robots - I haven't seen these anywhere else, but my guess is they are probably becoming more popular. I can only imagine how expensive these "tugs" are and how many (human) jobs they are replacing. We have 3 - their names are Roxie, Fenway, and Lola. I am pretty fascinated by them and how they sense people/objects nearby, get in/out of elevators, and they talk. :)
• We recently got these really neat hand washer/sanitizers - you just stick each hand in a barrel and it spins around putting soap and water on your hands, lasting a perfect 10 seconds. I guess Americans are lazier than we thought - we can't even soap up our own hands!
• I recently discovered we have a drinking fountain with a spout for filling water bottles - so cool!!
• Thankfully, many of our rooms have installed overhead lifts, so that we don't have to strain our backs. It makes it so much easier to get patients in and out of bed (although perhaps more time consuming). These are very wonderful to have around.
• Hospitals are aiming to become paperless, but the VA is one of the first I have encountered that really is! St. Jude in Fullerton was pretty close - when I was there 2 years ago they were computerized with minimal paper records, so maybe now they are. I learned in my orientation at the VA that the barcode medication administration was first implemented by the VA. I am very thankful for it!!

Alright, that's enough nursing stuff for now. :)

Summertime!

At the Harpoon Brewery

WOW! I just realized I haven't posted anything in almost 2 months!! It's definitely time for some updates:

VISITORS - 2 of our groomsmen, Ed & Eddie, visited us for a week in August. Unfortunately I had to work almost every day, but Brian was able to go out exploring and touring with them. On my day off, we drove down to Newport, RI to see the Newport Mansions there, which were quite amazing. Here is a little slide show of their visit:

Then, the weekend after the guys left, our good friend Joe stopped by to visit. He was on his way to Bermuda for work, so he stopped here for the night and met us for dinner. We went to the North End for some amazing Italian food. :)

OUT & ABOUT: We went to the Harpoon Brewery with some friends a few weekends ago. That was my first brewery experience (Brian has been to the Sam Adams brewery twice now) - neither of us are big beer people, but it was still fun to sample and learn about/see the process. My favorite was probably the raspberry beer or cider, but they also had pumpkin and several other beers.

After the brewery we went to watch a cliff diving competition that was being held in the harbor. They were jumping off of a high building (the Institute of Contemporary Art) and landing in the harbor. It was very impressive! Here are a few pics from that event:

WORK - things are going very well at the VA and it is looking like they are going to be hiring us all (new grads) on full time! That's wonderful!! I have been working independently for about 2 months now and it has been such a wonderful, challenging experience. I am still working my per diem mental health jobs whenever possible, but that isn't too often. I usually work 5 8-hour (evening) shifts a week at the VA, which keeps me busy enough.

SCHOOL - Brian took German this summer - he has to learn how to read German and French (the latter will be next summer's course). He is anxiously awaiting for the semester to start after Labor day...such a good student. I love that he loves school/learning so much. :)

Work Life

I have been working at the VA for a month now and things are going great. I really love the unit I am on, which is a surgical/telemetry unit. Everyone is so nice and helpful which makes all the difference. It is a full time job and has been quite exhausting. The past few weeks I have been on day shifts, but next week I will start on evenings. Because I won't get out until midnight, we needed to get a car so that I can get home safely. So, on Saturday we went car shopping with our friends Angel and Dan, and we got a 2011 Subaru Legacy. It has all wheel drive which was what made us so interested. We wanted a sedan with AWD, but they are hard to find (especially ones within our budget). Brian picked the car up on Monday while I was at work and it was such a great feeling to drive it to work on Tuesday! I am able to sleep in an extra 1.5 hrs and get home 1.5 hrs earlier - I was taking 3 different buses to/from work! So, the car is going to make working much easier, especially with my 4 jobs.

Last weekend I was off from the VA so I worked at Whidden to start my evening shift orientation. Therefore, tomorrow will be my 11th day of work in a row!!! That's insane in my book. (Although, I think I did 12 in a row a couple months ago). I really like having the variety of nursing experiences among my 4 jobs and I am trying to keep them all for the time being. Soooo thankful for these opportunities!!

4 jobs?!

We've been so busy - Brian's working on papers for the end of the semester and I have been working a lot. I started orientation at Whidden Hospital in Everett on April 4. The first week consisted of classroom style nursing orientation to learn the computer systems, policies and procedures, etc. After that week, I began orientation on the unit and have worked 4 days there. I am orienting to the unit with a nurse named Dawne and she is a really great, fun nurse.

There are some similarities to the Arbour Hospital, but also a lot of differences. From what I have seen the Whidden population seems a little bit less acute than what I see at Arbour, but I am sure that varies. The nurses at Whidden get about 8 patients and we have about 13 at Arbour. So far the commute to Everett hasn't been too bad either.

I've only worked 1 day at Arbour in the past couple weeks because I have been busy with orientation at Whidden, and I am working shifts at Bay Cove here and there when I can.

On April 5 I interviewed for a summer full time paid externship at the VA Hospital and I got it! I didn't prepare at all for the interview, which probably was helpful actually because I was way more relaxed. So, my externship starts May 9 and will be on a surgical floor (in neuro I think) - I am really looking forward to it (especially for the hands-on experience)! They hired 15 new graduates and there is a possibility of being hired at the end of the externship (maybe per diem or part time, depends on what's available).

So, things are good and I am very grateful for these job opportunities! I am going to try my best to keep the 3 per diems while doing the externship, hoping to work maybe a couple per diem shifts a month just so I don't forget everything I just learned in my orientations - haha. We will see how it all works out. I continue to put this all in God's hands!

I was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed on Monday after my first day orienting on the unit at Whidden. I had thoughts of letting that job go since I had just started, but I really like that it is part of a hospital and I can move to other units later on as an internal employee. I also really like the staff I work with, which is huge. So, I am going to stick with it, but while I was on my way home, feeling overwhelmed, I decided to pull out my Lenten prayer book and do my afternoon prayer, which was this:

"Living God, I don't know why it keeps surprising me
that I can always endure more than I thought possible. ...
God, my friend, let me understand that - to live -
I must break myself up, or be broken, to share the pieces."
from More Daily Prayers for Busy People by William O'Malley

I felt it was so perfect for me that day and it reminded me that God has me right where I am supposed to be. And even though I have been wanting to have just 1 full time job for ease and convenience, God has provided me with 4 jobs to allow me to share myself with them all. :)

Work life and other updates

Wandering around downtown near Frog Pond

We are doing well over here on the East Coast! I've been really busy with work which is very exciting! I've pretty much been working full time between Bay Cove clinic, Arbour hospital, and babysitting still. Since I haven't written in a while, I should let you know that I didn't get the job at MGH, but that's okay. Of course I was bummed about that, but I know God has a plan for me. I have been enjoying my jobs at Arbour and Bay Cove, and I will be starting orientation at CHA Whidden soon for their psych unit. Hopefully I can keep track of all my jobs! haha. I also just submitted an application for a summer paid externship through the VA, so we'll see!

Arbour life - I have worked 5 shifts on my own now, on 4 of the 5 units. The last two shifts were on the less acute unit and I was looking forward to a slighter easier day, but that definitely didn't happen. My first day I stayed 2 hours late and the 2nd day was 1.5 hrs, but the past couple shifts I left in less than an hour after the end of the shift. Not bad ~ I'm improving! However, when I work the evening shift (3-11:30pm), Brian likes to meet me there so we can take the buses home together. But since it is a locked facility and way past visiting hours, he has to wait outside in the cold...and the waiting lately has been about 45 minutes or so until I finish all my documentation. Another bummer about the evening shift is that buses don't run as frequently at that hour and the last ones are around 12:45am. Last Fri night, I got out at 12:30am and we took a cab home instead of waiting in the cold. I am working 4 evening shifts this week and it is my goal to be out by 11:45 or 12 at the latest! I am definitely learning time management skills...

Just a couple stories for you:

• My first day I was on one of the acute units, had 2 discharges (the first being one of the most impatient people I've seen yet!), and 1 patient who fell 4 times throughout the day requiring wound care the last time which ended up getting him a visit to the ER at another hospital (which means paperwork!). I finally discovered that he was falling on purpose (he wanted to go to the hospital). Note: some of his falls were on/against toilets - ouch!
• On the other acute unit, there was one patient who called me every other name but Theresa - at least he tried I guess. He kept saying he was going to sue us for $85million because that's what his sister has, but then later he asked me (I wasn't even his nurse that day) to get him his 85million clozaril tablets. Hmmm...I think he likes that number.
• I have heard 3 code blues called in the past couple weeks, but I thought I heard someone mention that there were only 2 code blues in all of 2010. Interesting. (Code blues are much less common at this hospital than one might see/hear in a normal hospital.) Although, the first code blue I heard and responded to was a drill. It was so awesome to see how fast everyone got to where they needed to be and how seriously everyone took it even with a fake torso on the ground.

Us with our friends Deb & Kevin near the North End

Other Updates:

• Spring is around the corner! We are looking forward to more sunshine and warmer weather. And the birds are back!! I didn't even realize just how much I missed them until now. Love listening to them :)
• Brian is no longer dog walking Baxter and Millie. I guess they were still going to the bathroom in the house even after their walks, so it wasn't really beneficial anymore.
• We did, however, take on a new housesitting gig not too far from BC. We watched 2 new Beagles, Lily and Molly, for a night (Brian and I had to share an extremely loud and squeaky twin bed with the two Beagles - let's just say it was a very tight fit). Their house was really close to a lake and also had some of the neatest chandeliers - take a look:

• My nursing school friend, Eula Mei, was just here with her boyfriend JP for a graduation. We met them for breakfast at Metropolis - It was SO great to see and catch up with her.

• Also, about a month ago, my cousin Ian was here visiting his girlfriend who is at BU. We went out for a nice dinner and then they came over for dessert another night. It was so fun to spend time with family here. :)

• We went to our first BC Hockey game - they played Northeastern (a local school), so it was pretty crowded. It was a lot of fun and ended up being a tie game 7-7!

• Lastly, we went ice skating at the end of February. After having just been to the hockey game I was amazed at how easy hockey players make ice skating look. I can hardly skate forward, but they can skate in every direction, carrying a giant stick, chasing a puck and ramming into walls. I was impressed!

I think that's just about all the updates for now. I know this was a long post, but thanks for reading!!

I'm Published!!!

I was so happy last Friday when I came home from orientation and saw that my thesis manuscript has been published!! The last version was submitted around the end of August and I knew it was going to take some time, but it is done! :) Such a cool feeling!! Here is what comes up from a google scholar search: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2702.2010.03501.x/full
Let me know if you are interested in reading the full article. :)

Job Updates

Bay Cove

I oriented at Bay Cove Treatment Center (a methadone clinic for heroin addicts) for about 2 weeks and then worked my first shift on my own on Valentine's evening. It went well! I am scheduled to work 2 more shifts this coming week too. I really like it there. All the nurses are per diem and work other jobs in addition to this one. They want the nurses to work 5-6 shifts per month (which is about 20 hrs a month), so it was really nice when I got paid for 33 hours of orientation.

Arbour

Valentine's day was also my first day of orientation at Arbour Hospital, where I will be working as a per diem psychiatric nurse. Note: Arbour is a free-standing psychiatric facility with 5 units - they have to send patients to nearby hospitals for any medical issues. They let me leave early Valentine's day so I could work at Bay Cove, but I had to commit to 2 full weeks of orientation (so I had to cancel a shift at Bay Cove). Yesterday was the end of the 2 weeks, but they are asking us to orient for one more week so that we can see each unit twice. I have already signed up for 2 shifts at Bay Cove next week, so one day I will leave early and the other day I will work an evening shift at Arbour. Thankfully they are flexible and willing to work with my schedule.

Anyway, Arbour orientation has been going extremely well! I really like it there and everyone is so nice, including the manager who hired me, Nancy. She is always saying how happy she is to have me there. :) With me in orientation are 2 other RNs - one for full time and another for per diem - and also 1 mental health associate (MHA). The 2 nurses are in a program like mine and just got their RN licenses recently and will be getting their Masters as Nurse Practitioners (in Psych) from Northeastern University here in Boston. Therefore, it is great being around other new grads/nurses and I am happy that the manager is so excited to have us there! Although, Arbour doesn't know what is coming - the 3 of us have so many great ideas and plans (i.e., smoking cessation classes, new grad program, Arbour jackets/polos for casual Friday, renewal crisis prevention courses - just a few of the things we've talked about lately - haha).

This week: Tuesday was computer training all day; Wednesday I oriented on the adolescent unit, which was a fun unit and brought me back to my Youth Ministry days; Thursday I oriented on the acute adult inpatient unit (the really "crazy" people). Not too many stories to share at this time, but there was one patient who was swearing and saying mean/hurtful things to some staff the other day - something that happens often that I am going to have to get used to and of course not take personally. There was a patient who told me "God has truly blessed you", to which I said "thanks" and went back to work. There was one patient who only spoke Spanish and I was so proud of myself when I told her to do something in Spanish (using one word- haha). And Friday was our safety/restraint class - crisis prevention, where we learned various techniques for deescalating a patient, holding them (a "physical hold" restraint), and, if necessary, how to take them down to the ground (and probably put them in "mechanical restraints", such as tying to the bed).

The medication administration is completely different than what I am used to. It is very old-school, but I actually like it and am glad that I am able to see how it was done before computers. Overall, Arbour has been a great experience and I am so happy that everyone is so supportive - it makes such a difference! Yesterday the nursing supervisor gave us our schedules for next week and said that it would be totally fine to have a few extra days of orientation if needed, which is wonderful. I love that they are so flexible and low-key. I'm excited to get started there!!

Massachusetts General

Saturday, Feb 12 I had an interview at MGH for an oncology new graduate program - it is EXACTLY what I've wanted! It starts March 7 and runs through August, where I would be full time Mon-Fri going to classes and orienting to the hospital/unit. There were over 100 candidates interviewing that day and there are about 20-30 positions available (which is actually a lot more than I thought!). They said that they would get back to us withing 2 weeks (which would be today), so I was expecting the call by yesterday. I haven't heard from them though. :( I guess that gives me permission to call them now - so maybe on Monday I will do that. They really aren't giving us a whole lot of time, since the program starts a week from Monday!! MGH is an impressive hospital and I would LOVE to work there. I know this program would be an exceptional experience, but I continue to put the situation in God's hands. If I did get this job, I still plan to work at Arbour (probably on weekends that are available, and Bay Cove when possible [it would be hard to work there since I would only be able to work on weekends, but Bay Cove weekends are taken by certain people]). (Side note: MGH and Bay Cove are about an 8 minute walk away from each other). So for now I am just waiting to see what happens.

Whidden

On Monday I got the call from Whidden HR (my first interview) extending an offer for employment (for a per diem position in the hospital's psychiatric unit). I asked the HR rep if I could have a few days to think about it and she told me to let her know by Wed am since she has another candidate waiting. I was REALLY hoping to hear from MGH before having to call Whidden back, but of course that didn't happen. So, I called Whidden on Wed am leaving a message accepting the offer (for job security in case MGH doesn't work out). The next step for Whidden is setting up a pre-employment physical and will be trying to squeeze that in sometime soon. I haven't signed anything yet with Whidden, so if I do end up getting the job at MGH I can let go of Whidden (which is the job farthest away and with the highest starting wage).

Summary

It has been very stressful this week for me not knowing what is happening with MGH. Everything is up-in-the-air because of it and I hate that feeling. As I mentioned, MGH would be an amazing experience and I would love to be part of a new grad program where they really ease me into nursing (and I would get chemo certified). (Oh, and of course I love that it would be full-time + benefits!). However, I have really been enjoying my psychiatric experience and would be happy doing the 3 per diem jobs for now too. I am just so incredibly thankful that these opportunities have come along and can't thank you all enough for your prayers & support during my unemployment period and frustrations of job searching. Stay tuned as I wait to see what God has planned...

Job News

Back in December I saw an ad in the Massachusetts Nursing newsletter for a new program they are starting called Career Connections. I signed up to get a nurse mentor and I was paired with the Nurse Executive at the VA. Brian and I went to meet her - her name is Ceci and she is incredibly nice!! She gave me lots of great ideas and knows a lot of people in the nursing field, which is just what I need. Her soon-to-be daughter-in-law, Luz, is a psychiatric Nurse Practitioner and she also started getting my name out there. Well, not long after did I get 2 phone calls for interviews from referrals by Luz. One was at a hospital a little over an hour away for the inpatient psych unit and the other was for a clinic downtown, both per diem (as needed) jobs. I also had another interview the following week for another hospital psych inpatient per diem position about 45 min away. Of course it snowed on each of these days (but not any of the other days during that week), so it was quite interesting getting around without my boots on and my hair was hardly curled by the time I got to the interview, but it makes for fun memories.

Today was my first day of orientation at the clinic and I am going to start observing the nurses this week to see what I will need to do. It seems like a really neat place to work, with a lot of great perks for benefited employees (not me). I haven't heard yet from the other two jobs, but it is possible that I might get them both as well, which would be great. We'll see what happens! If not, I definitely can keep babysitting and dog walking in the meantime.

Job Search Continues

Every day I have been checking the website at New England Baptist Hospital for the position they said they would post in "late September" for their new grad RN program. Since nothing still has been posted, I decided to call them and the woman told me that they are actually postponing the program until Spring (rather than Winter). I guess I have to check back around January. Bummer since I was really hoping on this one!

I talked to someone last week from Mt. Auburn Hospital across the river and she said that they will hopefully be posting new grad position in late Fall (like October-ish). So, I am of course going to look into that one, and in the meantime just keep on looking and applying to what I can.

Official MA Nurse

I received confirmation today that my Massachusetts RN license has been issued. Too bad I didn't have this information 2 days ago when I submitted my first job application (to Massachusetts General). We will see what happens!

Nursing Honors Society Induction

On Saturday, I (along with many of my classmates) was inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honors Society! Very exciting!! I got the nice purple and white cord that I will wear at graduation in a few weeks.

It was so great seeing many of my friends from nursing school, several of which I haven't seen in a long time so it was a mini reunion! So much fun. :)

Several of my nursing buddies

(minus the girl on the far right - we have no idea who she is)

Another group shot

The ceremony was at the Nixon Library right down the street from me and my guest was my lovely mother! (Brian was speaking at a conference for LMU that same afternoon). After the ceremony, we were able to tour the grounds, so my mom and I walked around a bit. Here are some more photos:

My mom and me outside in the garden

The house where Richard Nixon was born

The bed where Nixon was born

The bathtub!!

The view of the garden - beautiful!!

My weekend

I had to work night shift on Sat night - how horrible is that?! You basically lose your entire weekend due to sleep! I feel like I wouldn't mind it so much if that (work) was my life, but when I have a bunch of other things going on, it is really hard to lose my weekends. Anyway, one nice thing that came from working was that I was able to watch the sunrise on Sunday! I was in my patients room and saw the sun rise behind the fog, creating a pinkish purple sky. It was lovely!! I was really excited, but I don't think my patient was as excited as I was. Lol.

Also on Saturday was a baby shower I hosted for Julie, my close friend from nursing school. Here are a couple pics:

Julie & Me

Della, Julie, Stephanie & Me

The weather was amazing this past weekend - it was just too bad that I had to sleep through most of it! I was driving to the hospital and looking at all the people out walking and I was wishing I was doing the same. Oh well. Anyway, that was pretty much my weekend! I hope you had a great weekend though!!

Manuscript

I found out today that my manuscript will need (major) revisions before being completely accepted, so I will be getting back to work on it now. I just had to share the news with you and will update you once things are finalized.

ACLS

Today I took ACLS - Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support and I also renewed my Basic Life Support certification as well. It was a fun class, but there is SO much stuff to know! I took it with 8 friends from school which made it much more bearable and also made it fun. :) I don't need the certification at the moment, but it doesn't hurt to have it and add it to the resume! So, I am glad it is done and the place was really awesome (thanks Tiff for telling us about it). :)

The course is an all day thing and at the end you have to lead and play various roles in a "megacode" - scary! At first I was the time recorder and thought "phew! I got the easiest job first" HA! It was much harder than I thought!! I had no clue what I was doing as the recorder! Then, we rotated and I was the leader! Boy was my heart pounding when I put the "Team Leader" badge on!! Thanks to Anna and the others around the patient who gave me hints while I stuttered! ;) It definitely is about teamwork and I sure had a great team. Luckily the instructor was really nice/chill and we all passed and got the certification!

It was really interesting to learn about this right after witnessing a MET call the other night. I was really able to imagine what it all would look like in real life (which was nothing like the videos they showed today). Even though my patient's scenario was different than those in class today, there were some things that took place during the MET call that were similar to what we learned today (experience makes learning it easier). Overall, it was an enjoyable (yet stressful) class, but I am thankful I took it and got it out of the way.

Work last night

Yesterday was a weird day for me, trying to figure out when to go to church, when to sleep, what to eat, etc all in preparation for my night shift that night. I ended up going to church at my usual time, 5 pm, and then just headed straight over to St. Jude's. I was not really looking forward to working last night, but I really want the experience so I went. It was a good night and I did almost all the charting on all 4 of our patients, so that was good. Around 3 am or so, I was getting REALLY tired and couldn't think of anything else but my bed. I just wanted to be home sleeping! Anyway, the night was pretty uneventful except for right before my shift ended.

I gave report to the day shift nurse and then saw one of my patient's was calling in on the call light. I answered it since no one else was and it was the nursing assistant asking for the nurse. I let the day nurse know and next thing I know it the Medical Emergency Team is being paged on the overhead for this patient! This was my first experience with anything like this, so I immediately ran over to the room (along with almost all the other staff on the unit). My heart was pounding. It was of course a learning experience - one of the nurses was walking me through everything, letting me know what goes on and what I would do as the nurse. It was very helpful. I am thankful that I was able to stand back and watch before actually having to be the nurse during it all.

So, looking back, I am very glad that I went in last night; although I could hardly fall asleep by the time I got home because I was so full of adrenaline!

Flu Shots

So as I have mentioned before, I am a volunteer for the OC Medical Reserve Corps (MRC). I signed up to help give flu shots at the OC Health Care Agency on Monday and I really enjoyed it. I was one of 6 volunteer vaccinators for the seasonal flu, and there were 4 vaccinators for the H1N1 that were hired to work from an agency. Most of the people that came in were there for the H1N1, so we were pretty slow. I think I gave about 50 shots all day and then 7 flumists (in the nose)...and I was there for 9 hours (1 hr lunch)! Oh, and I was the youngest vaccinator there. We must have given about 300+ seasonal flu shots and there must have been almost 1000 there for H1N1. There was almost always a line of 15+ people for H1N1.

Whenever I did not have a patient, which was quite often, I would prepare/draw up more shots, label vaccination cards to give patients, or chat with the nurse sitting at the table in front of me. Her name was Pam and she is an oncology nurse (pretty neat since I have been working in Oncology). She also grew up on the East Coast, so we talked a little about that too. I felt really comfortable asking her questions and I really enjoyed talking to her (but I also had fun with some of the other nurses too - especially the ones who stayed till the very end with me because Pam and 1 other vaccinator left after lunch). I feel like Pam and I talked about so many different things, which was great and she was so sweet - having her there made me more comfortable and my experience more rewarding.

Many patients would make comments about us being bored, but even though it was a little boring at times, I thoroughly enjoyed it! I loved the conversations with people, even if they were pretty brief. I was happy to be able to volunteer my time to help do that and it was a really good experience. I definitely feel great at IM shots, but the screening part is where I get confused. About a month ago, I also volunteered to give flu shots at a school, through the MRC, but when I got there they had me help a nurse screen the patients beforehand and later I helped draw up medications (I think we vaccinated over 1500 people that day!). The screening is so confusing because we have to ask if they have received any vaccines lately and/or in the past, if they have any allergies/asthma (especially if allergic to eggs), if pregnant, any medical conditions, etc. Then, people between the ages of 2-49 can get the flumist if they want it, pregnant women have to have a special vaccine, over age 65 may not need H1N1, children have to come back for a second dose (depending on age), etc. You can probably see how this can get overwhelming! I have definitely learned a lot from it all and, like I said, it has been a great experience. I enjoyed it so much that I might sign up for another shift next week. :)

For my nursing friends out there - if you live in OC, you should join the MRC too!! Maybe we can sign up for events like this together! :D http://www.ochealthinfo.com/mrc/

Update

Wow! I cannot even believe it is November already! Where has the time gone? I am sorry it has been so long since my last post, but here is an update for you:

• School is good - things have calmed down a little, but it is still keeping me busy. I registered yesterday for my last semester!! I can't even believe I only have one more to go! Sooooo exciting! I am really glad that I stayed full time in our program - out of the 65 students who started with me in August of 2007, only about 15 are due to graduate in May!! Crazy! A lot of people started working in January and some are still taking classes part time. I just know it is going to be one heck of a celebration when this is all over in May (hoping I pass all my classes, of course). :) Oh, and my externship is going great! I really love my nurse, Kelly, and I am learning so much! I feel this is such a great transition for me and it is really helping to prepare me for when I get my first official RN job. I am getting used to the nights as much as possible, although some weeks I get very little sleep (mostly from all the assignments and other things going on) - that plus the constant stress do seem to be taking a toll on my body sometimes.
  
• Brian is also due to graduate with his master's from LMU in May and right now he is working on his applications for PhD programs. As many of you probably know, he is looking at schools in Chicago, Boston, New York, ...and other East Coast schools. So, we are preparing ourselves to move around August of next year, but we won't really know until probably March or so. He is applying to very competitive schools, so we will see where he gets accepted and who has the best offers. I am getting excited about moving - some days I wish I was moving now!! I need a break from OC I think...
  
• As for wedding planning, we have most of the big stuff done. We decided on a caterer at the end of September and we are excited about who we went with. We also finally met with our florist and are still deciding on bridesmaid dresses. We feel really good about everything and where we are at now. :) Oh, and the honeymoon is pretty much booked - flights, hotels, etc. We are flying into Barcelona, then going to Lourdes, France, and then to Italy! We are SO excited!!
• As for my family, everyone is doing really well. October events:
  --We celebrated my mom's birthday by having a picnic at Irvine park. We had sandwiches, played games, went to the zoo, and had a potato sack race. It was a lot of fun - brought back some childhood memories!
  --My sister and her family moved into a condo right around the corner from her old apartment and it is really cute. By the time I went to check it out (about 2 weeks later), it looked as though they had been living there for months...or even years! They (Luis) had painted the entire house (many different colors) and everything was in place. I was impressed!! Here is a pic of me and my sis:
  --My dad's birthday is on Halloween, but we celebrated a week early at my sister's new place. We had dinner (Luis' yummy enchiladas) and played some Wii together, which was fun!!
• Over summer, I signed up for a little side job - it was mostly in case my externship didn't work out, but I decided to try and do it even with my current school load (of 16 grad units!). I am doing obesity assessments in kids. I work with registered dieticians and we go to preschools, elementary, middle and high schools to assess kids for obesity. We measure height, weight, blood pressure, waist circumference, and sometimes there is a doctor there to do physical assessments. The doctor may decide they need a referral to their primary care physician or they will be referred if they are overweight or have a high BMI. I wasn't scheduled much for September and October, but I really enjoyed the experience doing it! I never went to a high school - I think the oldest class I did was 6th grade - most of the kids I assessed were preschoolers. This program is through St. Joseph's and during Nov-Dec, the RDs go and teach the kids about healthy foods and habits and then we go back in Jan-Feb to assess the kids again. Then the next couple months I think they do kickboxing or some fun activity and then in May-June we go and do our final assessments. I just got my first paycheck yesterday, which was so exciting. Although it wasn't much (especially since taxes weren't taken out and they don't pay for gas), I still am happy to have a little job...something I can add to my resume!
• Since I am not busy enough (haha!!!), I am a volunteer for the Orange County Medical Reserve Corps and I have been signing up to give flu shots/nasal sprays (seasonal and H1N1) at schools and clinics...but I haven't done any yet, since the shipments haven't come in. But this Saturday I will be giving them. More experience!
• In addition, I have been taking any other side jobs that I can. I have had the opportunity to watch an elderly woman and help prepare her meals. She is so sweet! It is nice because I am able to get some schoolwork done when I am there too. I am still babysitting whenever I can and of course housesitting as much as possible. These little jobs help me pay my tuition (which went up a lot recently) :( , so I am thankful to still be able to do these!

I know this was a long update...and long overdue, but I am glad that I finally had time to post something. I hope you are all doing well!