Blending in

Good day at work today. Started at 6 am, like usual. I went in back to start mixing bicarb jugs and string the machines. Then we found out our charge nurse had missed her alarm, lives across town, and won't be in until after 7. Oops! Usually there are two nurses and a tech and me. But today it was two techs and me. They called our supervisor and she asked me to take report on the patients. Okay, not a big deal But I was really excited to do this! I got to put my license to work, taking report like a real nurse. The only hard thing was not getting too many details. Since I don't know all these regular patients, I wanted to ask more about their history and current stay, but the other staff knows them so well it's not necessary. It was nice to feel really useful- I saved the team 20 minutes for when the other nurse arrived and we were rushing to get the patients in the door.

Right now I'm still only qualified to set up machines, assist in getting the patients connected (though not breaking skin or connecting catheters myself), returning blood and terminating treatment, removing needles, and cleaning up.

Tomorrow is computer training. I get to sleep in a tad, but probably work later in the afternoon to make up for it. Monday I did my orientation at the hospital. I'm very happy to have my official hospital badge with access to break rooms and utility rooms. I don't have to sign in at the front desk on the list of employees who "forgot" their badges. People don't overt their eyes, searching my person for a name badge, when they see me. I also bought some scrubs in the official colors for RN's at the hospital, so I REALLY blend in.