So, my first day was Monday..............

Hi everyone, I'm new here, but I've been reading your posts for a while now. I thought that I would share my first couple of days with you.

I'll start off by saying that I am working in he emergency room of a busy hospital in Dallas. I've actually been working there as a Nurse Extern since last October, so i kind of already know the ropes a little bit. In the ermergency room, we have to go through a 12 week long internship 4 days a week, 10 hours a day. The first 6 weeks are 1/2 classroom, 1/2 floor work. The second 6 weeks are working the floor with a preceptor. There are 12 interns this time around, and 6 of us transitioned from the extern program.

Well, our first day was Monday. Monday was pretty uneventful. lots of classroom stuff, reading job descriptions, doing a seek-n-find (mostly for the benefit of the newbies). Things like that. No big deal. I'm sitting there thinking, "bring it on...I;m ready."

So Tuesday rolls around and we all meet in the classroom at 0700. Our educator never meets us in there. Finally, at around 0800, she shows up, and tells us that they don't have a charge nurse today, and that plans have changed. We will be on the floor the entire day. now most of us really can't do anything yet b/c we haven't taken our boards. So me and the other interns that have worked there forever kind of go off, and do our old extern work.

Then we hear over the PA system "Becca (the nurse responsible for the room) to T1 (trauma room 1), respiratory to T1, paramedics to T1, Annie (or eucator, and the charge nurse of the day) to T1." So I knew that we had a code coming in. I went and got some of the newer interns and we all went into T1. Now our trauma rooms are a pretty decent size, but imagine 11 interns, 2 nurses, charge nurse, doctor, 1 paramedic, & 2 paramedic students all in 1 room. It was cramped. So the doctor calls for someone to start CPR. No one looked like they wanted to, so I went over, and initited CPR. I had done t tons of times before, so it didn't even phase me. Well, anyway, the woman didn't survive, and there were some interns who had never even done CPR but on those dummies in CPR class, so I started calling people over to give it a shot. Afterward, their faces looked pretty shocked. They did a good job though.

The rest of the day was so long and boring. We din't get to do anything that was on our schedule to do. Today is my day off. I go back tomorrow and Friday. Hopefully the day will be a little more organized. Oh, who am I kidding? :)

My first day was all classroom and still is! (M-F, 8-5)! I think starting next week we will have some time on the floor and some in the classroom.....but I have to do classroom stuff until the 1st or 2nd week in August (YIKES!! Thought I was done with class!). Lots of policies and proceedures.......blah blah blah blah blah.....I'm ready to get out there and learn something!!!!!

Lil

My first day was all classroom and still is! (M-F, 8-5)! I think starting next week we will have some time on the floor and some in the classroom.....but I have to do classroom stuff until the 1st or 2nd week in August (YIKES!! Thought I was done with class!). Lots of policies and proceedures.......blah blah blah blah blah.....I'm ready to get out there and learn something!!!!!

Lil

I totally sympathize with you Lil, I have been in the classroom (8-5) since Monday and all we are talking about is policies and procedures and "service excellence". They have been making us do case studies every day so I'm thinking the same thing, I thought I was done with all this stuff. We have our internship till July 15th so at least ours is a little shorter, but its just really boring and I don't feel like I am learning a whole lot, but we do get to go on the floor next Friday so that is exciting. Good luck to everyone and congrats on becoming a new nurse! :)

Hey, aggienurse! I kind of figured this out last week when I saw where you live; we work at the same place! You must not be doing a critical care area.....I am, so that is why my orientation is a few weeks longer than the regular orientation. The "service excellence" was a dead ringer that we work at the same hospital. I will have to see if I can figure out who you are tomorrow.......guess I will just yell out "aggienurse" and who ever looks my way is you!!! Congrats to both of us on our new jobs, hope we both will enjoy them!

Lil

Hey, aggienurse! I kind of figured this out last week when I saw where you live; we work at the same place! You must not be doing a critical care area.....I am, so that is why my orientation is a few weeks longer than the regular orientation. The "service excellence" was a dead ringer that we work at the same hospital. I will have to see if I can figure out who you are tomorrow.......guess I will just yell out "aggienurse" and who ever looks my way is you!!! Congrats to both of us on our new jobs, hope we both will enjoy them!

Lil

Hey Lil and Aggie-

That is so cool that you both work at the same place. What in the heck do ya think the chances are of this happening too often? OMG, it's a small world afterall will be playing in my head for the rest of the day :rotfl: :rotfl:

The place where I am is just the preceptorship. Hope that I get to take my own patient (at least 1) today if not it's going to be a lond day. Hope ya'll survive the P&P stuff the rest of the time and have a great day!

Kelly

I am in the Emerency Department as well, very busy with 60 beds with 6 trauma rooms. My first day was absolutely insane. I told my preceptor that I don't have a lot of experience with peds, so of course my first 5 patients were peds! I am not scared of them anymore though! My fist trauma was a pediatric trauma as well. I just stood in the corner and watched, and thought, how in the h@$$ am I ever going to learn all this. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. I am supposedly going to be on my own in 4 weeks, and a lot of that is classroom orientation, I am not seeing how I will go from where I am right now to where I am supposed to be in 4 weeks.

Anyway, I am very excited to be where I am and I love the facility and all the staff I have met from techs to doctors are wonderful. Compared to many places I have worked the general environment is a positive and supportive one and everyone seems to get along for the most part. I already feel like I am at home after only a week. It helps that my husband is a paramedic so I already knew a few of the staff members through him. Everything is kind of surreal right now, I have been dreaming about this time in my life for the past 3 years and now that it's here I don't know what to think.

Congratulations to everyone and good luck on this last phase of learning to become a nurse!

Grin,

Isn't it weird that Aggie and I work at the same place? I thought it was crazy, however, they are a big hospital in our area, so I guess it's not too strange. I never did figure out who Aggienurse was.........I didn't want to stand up and yell, "WHO IS AGGIENURSE??" b/c I wasn't sure how much privacy she wants to have. Aggie, if you want me to know who you are, you can tell me........if not, that's okay, too. Only a measly 2 days off this weekend; doesn't feel long after just being off for a month. I have to get adjusted to being a "working person" again!

Hey Lil, I just read your post, it is a small world! I am one of the girls that sits in the very back from UT Tyler that is on Ortho. I'm not sure if that helps any or not. :) Are you not super bored with all this stuff? I feel like I am about to fall asleep everyday. Its not that its not good information, its just long and drawn out. That would have been funny if you had gotten up and yelled that, but you know it probably wouldn't have registered with me! :chuckle I'm not too excited about only having 2 days off this weekend either, but I've already warned everyone that if they wake me up tomorrow they are dead meat! :rotfl: Have a good weekend and maybe by Monday we can figure out who each other is! :)