Remember back when..

I don't have to go way back to remember when I first started because I've only been at this for 14 months, but still...

I know one thing I did that helped me alot was that every day I came home and researched anything that was completely new to me. For example, on one of my very first days on Level III orientation, my preceptor and I had an assignment of two babies that had Twin-to-Twin Transfusion - I had the big kid and she took the little one. That night, when I got home I spent probably 3 hours reading everything I could find on the internet about TTTS, just so I would have a clear understanding of the possible outcomes for these babies and expected morbidities, etc.

Of course, I (being a total book nerd) tend to want to research everything, so it's almost more of a hobby for me...but I've learned alot about the specific population doing my own research than in school - because we just don't hear about so many of these things in nursing school.

I also made "cheat sheets" with quick notes on unit guidelines (ie. how often to change IV tubings, discharge requirements for a term baby vs. preterm, critical lab values, procedures for administered iNO, feeding guidelines, etc.) and these are still helpful and I use them every day.

I used to read-up on each pt./or new case in the unit: in the most recent book of info I could get my hands on.

Within a year I trained to transport. That was a wonderful souce of info.! But I would now recommend waiting at least 2 years before training for transport.