hi fruit shoot,
the transition was good for me i have worked in the UK med/surg, ortho and ICU and high dependancy to name a few i was assigned a fantastic american nurse on arrival and she was my mentor in the UK on nights i had 12 pts minimum on surgery here i work on a heart lung tele unit that specializies in lung transplants and have 4 pts max at first i thought OMG transplants but really enjoy it, even though you only have four pts i am kept going most nights so to speak but find theres not that running around like the UK the biggest difference i found is the checking and correcting the med sheets etc i initialy was on orientation for 12 weeks but found that to be to long and i cut it down to 6 weeks. The shift goes as follows i arrive at the hospital at 1830 sign in at the staffing office go to my floor find out my assignment i then sit down look on the PC for their notes and vitals etc any impending test etc then at 1900 find the RN and get report on the 4 pts then go around introduce myself to my pts listen to their lungs, heart check for bowel sounds and do a quick nearo assessment (this takes approx 10 min) on each pt, in the mean time the PCT does the vitals when i go back i check the pts notes for any change of orders and get the MARS (wardex) and double check doses times ect or any that have been discontinued and alter or add accordingly then fax new sheets to pharmacy etc then i chart my vitals on PC write a brief note on each pt. Then its usualy around 2100 when the 1st meds are due, themeds are retrieved individualy per pt from a machine called an omnicell i go and administer each pts meds after i go round make the pts comfortable etc in my unit they do somthing called hourly rounding were during my shift i go back into the pts rooms and check on the 3 P's as thye call it pain, potty and position all this is documents in the PC at midnight pharmacy send the new MARS and you sit down and go through them again double checking yours orders are correct pts go for CT Xrays and other test and procedures during the night the RN is responsable for filling our the consents etc in the morning in my unit RNs do line blood draws from PICC lines and porta cath and any blood test that involve a needle stick the lab techs come up and do them 0600 morning meds are due and given finish PC charting and then the day RN take over. So as you can see the night ticks over nicely, i find that 99% of the time im off well on time unlike the UK were i was mostly of late. I hoppe you find this helpful
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