3-13-12 #2

My first day of work at St. Mary's hospital yesterday. It still seems like a nice place. I cannot begin to
describe the thrill that was the drive to work. I didn't even have time to drink half of my coffee.  The thrill was back for the drive home. I clocked out at 7:43 and was home by 7:58.  At KUMed, which is still my beloved, I would have just reached my car by 8:00 p.m.

The nurse that oriented me yesterday has been with the hospital for 25 years. She managed the unit for a while then went back to bedside nursing. Technically she can be put into the old-battle-ax crowd, but she is nice.  She had some bloody, gruesome stories featuring herself as the source of knowledge. None of which required getting help above floor staff and MDs.  For now, I am filing her stories under bragging rights and BS. I can guarantee if someone is puking 'buckets' of frank blood the last thing I am going to do is wait for the doctor to call back.

The nurse I will orient with the most is Robbie, who I will meet next time I work.  She was a combat nurse in Iraq!

The pulmonologist I met was very friendly. Then he turned to my orienting RN and told her that he had given up cussing for Lent. So there. He does cuss. He believes in Lent. He is a physician.  The orienting RN said another MD had given up cussing while charting for Lent. Different deal than KU.

First impressions:

There are hospitalists around. Every one of them seems reasonable and nice so far. This makes me feel like there is some help around for orders when needed.

When I get more familiar with the system, I think I'll be fine.

The panic that ensued with admits yesterday was laughable. Where else are they going to go? Sit in ER while we have a room open and plenty of nurses? We'll see.

This unit has more cardiac patients. Recent heart caths, cardiologists around, chest pain diagnosis types. KU had a whole "heart hospital" so we didn't see much of the specific cardiac cases unless they happened on top of another condition that got them hospitalized. I am looking forward to gaining that knowledge. Cardiologists tend to have a lot of nurse practitioners around.

It is still floor-style telemetry nursing, but I am in the door at St. Mary's, which apparently is no small thing in this day and age. I really want to be where I have the orders, the know-how and the physicians present to address every possibility instead of being a sitting duck on an intermediate level. That means ER or ICU which at St. Mary's is a different thing. It is a small regional hospital not a trauma facility. The nearest trauma facility is Centerpoint near Independence Center. It is HCA, god save their souls.