A Day in the Life of an Educator During COVID

A recent day in the life of an educator orienting nurses during the pandemic.

Updated:  

A Day in the Life of an Educator During COVID

The Boss, and it's Urgent

My phone buzzed. It was a Friday night, but it was my boss, so I picked up.

“Beth, please, please, can you come in tomorrow to orient a group of California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Strike Force Nurses?”

“Who? What? Tomorrow...on Saturday?”

“Yes, it’s urgent. They need mask-fit testing and skills validation before we can send them to the floor. They’ll be flying in in the morning, and be escorted straight to Human Resources. Charlene in HR is coming in to do their ID badges. They’re only here for 72 hours, they’ll go straight to the floor from you, and then work Sunday, Monday and Tuesday”.

“That’s it? Seventy-two hours?” It sounded crazy to me, but we were in surge and desperate for nurses. Many of our own nurses were off sick themselves or working far too much overtime. 

The CDPH Strike Force

CDPH had apparently reached out and contacted active and non-active CA nurses to recruit them to work short contracts during the pandemic. They were assured that they would be of help no matter what their background, and that they would be doing a great service in time of the pandemic.

Our hospital was in disaster staffing mode, and nurses were streaming in from all different agencies to be oriented and sent to the floors. My job was to make sure they were competent on our Alaris infusion pumps and glucometer machines, to validate their Restraint competencies, and make sure they could document in our platform, Cerner. It was basically a week's orientation compressed to one day.

Saturday morning I turned up early at 0730 to greet the new nurses. At 0800, a group of four nurses walked in. "Oh. My. Goodness.", I thought. This was a non-nurse-looking group if ever there was one.

Hippy Harry

Leading the pack was Hippy Harry. He walked in wearing a triangular red bandana on his deeply tanned and lined face, like a cowboy on a movie set.  He wore a black T-shirt, khaki cargo shorts, leather sandals, and sported a puka shell necklace. Whenever he talked, his makeshift bandana slipped down off of his nose. I pointedly handed him a surgical mask and he reluctantly stuffed his red bandana into one of his pockets, donning the mask. I learned Hippy Harry had been volunteering in Africa and had not worked in a hospital in 15 years. I guessed Harry to be 73, but he volunteered that he was 68. He was warm and charming with twinkly blue eyes, and he struck me as quite the ladies man.

Geriatric Barbie

Next was Geriatric Barbie, a frail-looking, petite, retired school nurse in a pastel blue matching sweater set complete with a strand of pearls. She had bony hands with age spots and pink painted nails.  Her manner was kind and gentle, and she really tried, but after several attempts, Barbie simply could not bar code scan the glucometer strips. Later, while I was teaching basic computer documentation, she needed 1:1 help with commands such as “right-click” and “re-size your window”.

Dapper Dan

Dapper Dan was a tall man with a chiseled face and artfully trimmed beard, looking as if he’d stepped right off of a GQ magazine cover. I could not mask-fit test him because of the beard and asked if he’d shave it. He stroked his jaw protectively “No way, my partner would kill me”. 

‘OK, well, last I heard we were out of PAPRs but let me check again”.

“Thanks”, said Dan, “and, I’ll need some scrubs to change into. Size medium but medium/tall if you have them. The agency said you’d provide them”.  Right. Let's see if I can get those from Surgery.

Tattoo Tonya

Next was Tattoo Tonya. In the computer room when I was standing over her is when I first noticed the tattoos on her scalp, in between her dyed-blonde cornrows. The tats were black and swirly, vaguely matching the ones on her arms. She had ear cuffs and a nose piercing.  She picked up on everything super fast, and leaned in to help Barbie frequently. It didn’t take long before I saw past her colorful presentation and realized she was the star of the group.

She documented easily in Cerner and knew how to use the Alaris pump and NovaStat strip. I had no qualms sending her to ICU.

Nurse Beth Pulls it All Together

While they were busy on the computer, I started to make preceptor arrangements. I called the ICU Charge Nurse to find a preceptor for Hippy Harry. “Hi Ashley, I know you’re busy but I have a Strike Force nurse here who needs to be precepted from 1400-1930  today.”

“Beth, my preceptors are all so burned out <sigh>, I hate to ask them.  Let me ask  Lindsey...no, she already has someone with her. I’ll call you back”.

Later, Ashley called to say she had persuaded Stephanie to precept Harry. “Ashley, thank you so much! I appreciate it”.

Right about then, Harry approached me. “Beth, I know I’m hired for ICU- and I can do it, don’t get me wrong, but you know- it’s been a while. I think I’d be more comfortable in ED”. He smiled charmingly and all I could say was, “Let me call ED and see what I can do”. After all, they were volunteers, right?

..Update

Monday morning Harry walked into my office, hospital-issued scrubs neatly folded and badge in extended hand. “I’ve realized this just isn’t going to work out. I worked a half shift in ED and things have changed too much. I'm too far behind. I’m sorry to have taken up your time.”  I smiled ruefully. It had truly been my pleasure to meet Harry and the whole group.  Perhaps Harry was a romantic, responding to the plea for help, and seeking an adventure. I wished him the best.

Later, I talked with Karen, the ICU educator. She said Barbie was not assigned patients but kept herself busy by going around patting patient’s hands and smoothing their covers. She was going to work one more shift. Tonya was a superstar as predicted and they were trying to recruit her to stay longer. A PAPR was found for Dan but it was discovered he did not pass his Basic Arrhythmia exam and he had to be pulled from the floor.

Then she confided a bit of gossip. Apparently Harry and Barbie had spent quite a bit of time together in the hotel. Actually, the term “hooked-up” was used. Maybe Harry found his romance and adventure, after all.

7
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Nurse Beth

About Nurse Beth, MSN

Career Columnist / Author

Hi! Nice to meet you! I love helping new nurses in all my various roles. I work in a hospital in Staff Development, and am a blogger and author.

145 Articles   4,108 Posts

Share this post

Share on other sites
Specializes in Programming / Strategist for allnurses.

After the reading the above...

I'm sitting here just thinking of how crazy it is out there for nurses during this time of thanksgiving. The COURAGE is amazing. THANK YOU!

I read many posts like the above in which the writer describes their day. I know it's just a small snapshot of what nurses do on a daily basis but it does help build a better picture of what nursing (or the role) is all about. 

That's why I think A Day In The Life topics can be so POWERFUL. They offer a glimpse of the nursing world. It's a crystal ball into the nursing world. It's like being there.

I'm still looking at Tattoo Tonya's head!

I know these are just small clips of what goes on but can you imagine if we had thousands of similar topics. All sharing the ins-and-outs of the role. People will have a better sense of what a hospice nurse, or a geriatric nurse, or a psych nurse do on a daily basis. (There are so many levels of nursing.)

These kind of topics can help students, parents, and even other nurses who are transitioning into a new role to be better prepared.

Great read Nurse Beth - Thanks!

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in School Nursing.

I must have missed this when it was posted back in the fall, but man, do I LOVE this story!

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment