IV's

My new favorite go-to spot for IVs has been the upper foot.  Something satisfying about a patient with no veins (from illness or IV drug user) and sliding the puppy in.  Obviously we don't use it all the time but when it works, oh, yeah, it's awesome.

Happy Hallowe'en

Tomorrow is Hallowe'en, and tonight, being a Saturday night, the college kids will be out in their beautiful (and freakishly small) costumes.  Tonight is the night of "sexy-pirate" and "sexy-kitty" and "sexy-Icangetawaywithitwithoutlookinglikeaslut" outfits.  This is also the night that the people who are scheduled to work the ED groan and kick themselves for not trading the shift.

Last year I had a horrible ED Hallowe'en experience.  Hallwe'en was actually on a Saturday night, and it was also the time change.  Not only did I have to work an EXTRA HOUR (fall back, remember?) but there was computer DOWNTIME for about 5 hours.  This meant that not only did we have a bunch of extra people (all drunk) in the ED, we also had to do everything MANUALLY.  Manual xray requisitions, manual lab requisitions, faxing lab results, the works.

If you are an Emergency nurse and do not want to babysit drunks, NEVER work Hallowe'en.  I'd rather work New Years Eve then Hallowe'en.

(Shudders)

Preceptor Elaine RN

Yep I was chosen as a preceptor.  Now to start thinking about screwing up their eager minds..... Hahah I'm only joking. I'm looking forward to it.  This is a good way of helping with my enthusiasm and review of the basics.

I'm not perfect, it's a great way to make sure my practice evolves to higher quality.

My friend (who coincidentally also was chosen to do her consolidation in the ED) is helping me relive my experience of being ridiculously excited for Emerg.  It's cute to watch her prepare.  She is way too eager, by doing ACLS already, and an ECG course.  I didn't do that until AFTER I was done nursing school and working in the ED.


I hope she flourishes instead of the ED overwhelming her.

Thoughts on losing enthusiasm

I did a side job as a flu-shot clinic nurse.  Gave over 100 injections today!  Phew.

It's very different from ED nursing, that's for sure, and I met some up and coming nursing students who were very excited about learning- something I've lost.

I volunteered to be paired with a nursing student this upcoming winter, but I'm not 100% sure I'll be chosen.  I think that there are some very-experienced nurses in the department who might also volunteer, which means my 2.5+ years will pale in comparison.

I'm losing enthusiasm for my job.  It's tiring work and I know it's rewarding but I keep finding myself looking elsewhere.  I have put some resume's out there for jobs I'm not 100% qualified for (as I've pretty much done NOTHING with my health-related MSc ) but are a better fit with both the RN and the MSc.  So far no bites.  That and it's hard to think about going to a temporary job (that will be great for the resume) and giving up a full time position (which will most likely not be there when the temp job finishes).  The trouble is that I enjoy being in Emerg- it's the best fit and when things happen I really LIKE it.  I just don't know if I enjoy being there ALL THE TIME.  As I'm sure you know, the real life ED is not as glamorous as it sounds like it could be.  I knew this going in, but once you're really entrenched (and almost literally up to your eyeballs in shit) you REALLY know.

What is keeping me from applying to those temp jobs is that I want the 5 years nursing experience that I'll need to do ANY nursing job or nursing leadership position.  These jobs aren't specifically nursing-related although still within the health care field. Without that nursing experience, I would not be able to advance further in hospital-type jobs... at the very least it would be extremely difficult.  I'm not saying I'd want to completely be a clipboard nurse but SOME clipboard action may be nice.  Haha. I'm sure some of my hero nurse-bloggers would scorn at the thought of being a clipboard nurse :P  It is a romantic idea to scorn leadership, keep it only about the patients and the patient-welfare without thought of politics or administration.  However, some part of me, even when I wasn't in nursing, thought I would like being a health administrator. Unfortunately in my town it does not host governmental type jobs in health admin except at the hospital level.


All in all, I guess the grass is always greener on the other side. I have a friend who was casual but working full-time hours, who moved to the next town to work as an physician office admin.  However, that job fell through (through no fault of my friend), and now she's straddling 2-3 jobs as a casual just to make ends meet.   She would be furious if she found out that I gave up a permanent full time position to go to a temporary job.

 I really don't know what the right answer is, or what's the best fit for me, but I'll keep pressing on and try to keep my chin up. 

Happy Emergency Nurses Week

As you can tell by the title of my post, it's Emerg Nurses week this week.

The management has done their due giving us lunches and having draws for prizes.

I know it's a ruse to boost morale, but after the summer we've had, I have taken the bait and am a bit happier.

Mmm I love free stuff.  Too bad it can't equal more pay or more staff.