Saturday, November 10, 2007

6 months into the RN experience

Well, nothing that exciting, really...

(KK, this post is dedicated to you.)

I started out in a Rehab Dept (after 2 mos of being in a nursing home, that is). Big hospital, 45-50 minute-drive but it is worth it. Very pleasant environment, where I get the respect, and none of too much expectation. I am quite frank and humble about my limited nursing experience, anyway.

Rehab nursing offers very little opportunity for learning nursing skills outside of giving meds, occasional IV therapies/insertion, occasional special wound treatment. In other words, it is not TOXIC (a term med students/residents coined in PI for duties that really drained your energy). Boring, if I may say, but, as I told my manager, I am past the stage of wanting to immerse myself in "toxicity" as I have had that during my medical clerkship/internship. Do I miss it? Not really, especially during this period of my life when I have a family to attend to, and wanting enough time to enjoy life with them.

My penchant for computers came in handy during the transition to a new computer system. Needless to say, learning the old system on the job was a breeze, but the new system we have is Windows-based (and you may guess that, like Windows, it has a lot of garbage that came with the package, and a lot of holes that needed patching). Since I was one of the very few staff personnel with ease in using computers, I was chosen among the "superusers." Higher rate, less back-breaking job, more interesting, but that is a temporary phase. As soon as everyone gets more comfortable navigating the system, I won't have much use as a superuser.

Back to being a Rehab RN, the best thing probably is seeing the patients progress from debilitated to fully functional (within their limits) status. I get to know them better as well. However, most of them label us nurses as "pill nurse" and sometimes I am being asked whether I am a CNA or an RN.

I do have some thoughts of perusing USMLE-review books...