Starting out in a new office is always an adjustment, and working in home are is no different. Because I'm in orientation I've been spending a lot of time at the office, desperately trying to learn everyone's names. I'm constantly being told to "give this to Deana" or "go ask Carol". It's not helpful that there are two Carols at this office. Learning names was hard enough, but last names too? Double the work!the. There's Maureen and Monique, and by the time I learned the difference, I found out that  Monique was resigning. What a waste of brain cells. Of course now I can see that Maureen is clearly the one who has long red hair, pictures Irish clovers hanging over her desk, and a last name of McSomething. Silly me.

     I didn't end up doing the start of care on my own because the patient canceled. I see that being a nurse requires more than compassion and the ability to look at blood. It calls for patience. A lot of patience. Patients don't pick up their phones when you're trying to schedule a visit, they don't have their meds together and spend half the visit scrambling to find them, and they shove pictures of their grand kids in your face when you're trying to take their blood pressure. So being a good nurse means you schedule extra time in the visit to help them gather their pill bottles, and smile politely and tell them that yes, it is definitely the cutest kid you have ever seen. Because that's the proper way to treat people. With the dignity and respect I would want a nurse to treat me when I get old. 

I'm doing my first starter case today! Starter cases are the admission cases, when the nurses from the agency go to the patients' house to introduce them to the agency, get them sorted out with medical equipment and medications, assess their ability to adjust back to being home. Often times patients come back with a new diagnosis, a shopping bag of pills, lists of instructions from the doctor, and are feeling very overwhelmed. Yesterday the patient we saw had to learn all about how to take her blood sugar and administer Lantus every day. It really is going to be her husband's job, and I could see the worry in their daughter's eyes, wondering how her parents were going to manage on their own. I want to be the nurse that sits down with the patient and their family and tells them that it will get easier, that they'll eventually be able to list all their meds by heart, that taking their blood sugar will be something they can do while reading the paper. But getting a diagnosis of diabetes when you're over 70 can be something you never get the hang of. That's why I want to be the nurse that helps make everything seem just a bit easier to manage.

My preceptor told me she's going to have me go through all thr consent forms, look over the medications, and do the physical assessment. This is whole job is a big step, not just for me but the agency as well, because they never hired a 'brand new' nurse before. And trusting me to handle something as big as this really gives me the confidence that I'm getting the hang of things.

I'm excited. 

Yesterday was my first patient visit. I didn't go solo of course, which made me feel a little better, because i think there's always a part of you that's nervous whenever you start something new. It kinda felt like the first day of clinical all over again. I mean I've done vital signs on countless people in the last three years, but I still felt my heart beating a little faster as I listened to my patient's heart and lungs, felt a little shaky as I took his blood pressure. And though I've felt for countless pedal pulses (on the feet), I still found myself praying that they'd be easy to find (which they were). I was supposed to see a couple, but the next patient wasn't available and the nurse I was with got a flat tire so she sent me back to the office where I'm waiting to receive my second PPD shot. Tomorrow is my weekly meeting, and then off to see more patients. So far I'm doing well! 

I went through a lot of changes since I first started my blog. From Frum College Girl to Frum College Woman (because you automatically become an adult when you get married), and then to frum college mother. When I last blogged I was frum graduate girl, looking to the future and wondering what it would hold.  It's been over a year, but the next chapter in my career has begun. I am now an employed nurse. 

It's funny how life has a way of turning out in ways you weren't expecting in really hoped to get a job in a hospital and eventually work in the emergency department. But getting into a hospital was harder than I imagined it would be. Even moving (and taking my mother's only grandson away from her) didn't help much. So I readjusted my expectations and just when I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever find a job, I found a long term home healthcare agency looking to hire nurses. They were hesitant about hiring me as I have no experience, but it must have been my overwhelming charm that won them over. Or the fact that they're looking to hire. Either way, I started orientation here a week ago, and after waiting for human resources to determine that I'm medically fit and don't have an incriminating criminal record, I'm ready to go and visit patients, with a preceptor. It will be slow going at first, until I get then hang of all the paperwork, but I'm looking forward to the challenge.