Back to work

Hi, hi! I hope that you are all doing well. Sorry for the long silence – I have actually been working. Can you believe it? I come to this beautiful place and they make me sit inside for hours on end listening to people talk on and on and on about hospital policy. Ugh. :)
A lot of people have been asking me about the hospital and about the job in general. I’m going to break this into two entries – one tonight with a general update and then I will write in the next day or two with more specifics about the hospital for those who might be interested. Let’s start with a picture, though. This is what I should have been doing when I was stuck indoors all that time…

So how’s the job?
The job is fine so far. I have just been on orientation, so it’s not really a true indication of what things will be like once I get on the floor. First of all, let me say that there is a group of nurses in orientation with me who are all traveling and we have banded together into a nice little support network already (more about that later). One lives in my resort and four of them live one mile down the road. Then there are three others scattered about. We are all going out for Thanksgiving. So if any of you were worried about me being alone on the holiday (or was that just me??), you can relax and chow down knowing that I am in the company of my new acquaintances.
Regarding orientation, let’s just say that this is no well-oiled machine. It’s hard (impossible?) to get a clear answer on what the schedule will be from day to day. This is not the place for type A personalities. One has to just relax and go with the flow. The hospital staff have been very nice and I am looking forward to getting to know them better. The food in the cafeteria is good. Apparently, the cafeteria is known in town to be one of the best values, so lots of islanders come there just to eat.
My first day on the floor is Friday, although I got a tour today. It’s a 21 bed surgical unit. I will be on night shift, where they “try to keep 3 nurses” on duty. Before I finished having my panic attack about trying to take care of 7 patients, I was told that “we are hardly ever full. We usually have 13-14 patients.” Amazing. At UVa we are always full & have patients literally waiting at outside hospitals for days for a bed to open up. The patients are all surgical in nature. Except for trauma patients, I don’t think the surgeries are that major (for example, no transplants, no open heart surgeries, etc.). Because we do get trauma patients who are sometimes shooting victims, stab wounds, etc, we are a locked unit. I think it will definitely be a learning experience and I will be sure to let you all know how it goes once I really get started.

Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I do want to take a moment to thank you very much for staying in contact. I love the email, texts, and phone calls. I am also so glad that you are checking the blog and I appreciate comments on it. I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again – I am truly blessed to have you in my life. I wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving.