Week #1: Nursing in the Stone Age

"Just report to your unit at 6:45am and look for [such-and-such]. She'll tell you where to go from there...." was pretty much the best info I got from my recruiter regarding my first day of orientation. Baptist Medical didn't give any more information than that. Nothing about what I should wear, paperwork to bring, or where exactly I was supposed to go. (ting-ting-ting! Warning bells chime from a distance...)

I arrive at the hospital at 6:40, and found my way to PCU right on time. Leaving my timid inner-introvert in the elevator, I marched up to the nurse's station and introduced myself. "I am supposed to meet Ms [such-and-such] at 6:45. Do you know where I can find her?" Three faces in front of me simultaneously turned glassy-eyed. After a few awkward seconds, one of them said, "[such-and-such]? She won't be in her office until 8:30." A few more awkward seconds. The guy who spoke jumped from off the table he was sitting on and told me to follow him, he'd take me to someone who'd know what to do with me. (ting-ting-ting! The warning bells creep in....)

We take the elevators back down to the first floor, and he takes me to the nursing supervisor's office. I introduce myself and same aforementioned glassy-eyed expression comes over her. I have your name on a list somewhere, she says with a sincere grin. We just didn't know when you were actually coming. After leafing through a few pages in her staffing book, she finds me. She hands me a few papers and a 5-item test. After I was done with that, a 10-item exam to test my competency to use the blood sugar meter they use on the units. She must have seen the what-the-hell? expression on my face (I had never seen that type of meter before), she hands me another piece of paper, with another cheeky grin. "Don't worry - here are the answers. They'll teach you how to use the machine when you go upstairs later. It's really easy." (ting-ting-ting! The warning bells sounding a ominously closer now.)

I was having a gnawing feeling in my gut after I finished "answering" my competency exam and so I asked, "um... are you guys gonna have a classroom orientation?" She then (almost apologetically) says, "no, this is the only orientation day you get. I'll let you spend half the day at CCU and the rest of the day in PCU. We'll put you with a nurse." Part of me was saying cool! I don't have to twiddle my thumbs in the classroom listening to some lady in a suit with 80's hair talking about how "Customer Service is Number One In This Hospital" for the umpteenth time. But then again, nothing can beat twiddling my thumbs while getting paid travel nurse pay. Oh, well. I'd never really done it this way before, but who cares? (New hires usually get 4-6 weeks of orientation to the unit. I get one day. Bring it on!) (ting-ting-ting! Trying to ignore the warning bells ringing in my ears.)

I get to the unit and they pair me with another traveler who had been with them for more than a year. The CCU is brand new, with wood floors and spacious rooms with state-of-the-art beds. Come time to pass meds, she and I have a laugh when she shows me their narcotics drawer. She punches in a 5 digit code and pulls out a handful of plastic zip bags fastened by 3 metal rings. She pulls out the pills she wants and hand-writes the end-count on their narcotics log.

I finish the rest of the day, barely getting through the 12 hours. Partly because I am usually asleep around that time and partly because the job itself was a walk in the park. I got in touch with a few other travelers and they told me that after I look past the little annoyances of working in the stone ages, this hospital was a pleasure to work for. Looking around me, I agreed with them. The staff all worked as a team. The doctors did not prance around like they owned the place. The nurses seemed genuinely concerned with each other's lives. I looked out the window and saw the gorgeous weather outside. (ting-ting-ting! I am in love. )