And then it hit me.... :-)

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

I recently started my first NP job as a hospitalist in a large teaching hospital. The first few weeks have been mostly rotations to follow the consulting groups for a couple days each to get an idea of the flow of their work and to get some feedback on what they think it most important for the night cross-covering NP to know about their patients. 

The other evening I had my first chance to do the cross coverage role in person. After nine years of nursing, schooling, clinicals, board exams, etc. here it was. A patient on my list was having a CT scan to rule out malignancy. Then radiology calls with significant findings of multiple PEs and pneumonia with the potential for a malignancy. My precepting NP moves away from the computer and says, "Okay, what are you going to do now". My first thought, which I'm glad stayed on in my head was "Well, I've got to tell someone about this!" Then I realized I AM the someone, and I was just told. Ha! I swear if she had casually asked me 30 minutes prior what I would do if I have a patient with a diagnosis of PE overnight, I could have rattled off a bunch of things, but she asked what my next steps were and I so eloquently said "Uhhhh............." and then managed to muddle through some orders, patient exam, etc. When I saw my name and title on the Significant Note, it all became so real. Looking forward to really getting into the training and becoming more comfortable, I was just a little surprised at the total "Aha" moment. Thought you might like to share my laugh.