New title

This is an interim blog title. I'm having trouble thinking of a witty enough title for me now that I'm not in nursing school anymore. I'm not technically a new nurse yet either, but what the heck. I'm out of school and currently Shrtstormtrooper, BSN. So don't judge me, son. I'll think of something appropriate soon.

Feel free to chip in with title suggestions if you so desire.

Graduation

It doesn't seem real yet.

I'm done nursing school. I went to the pinning ceremony yesterday. I walked at graduation today. I feel like my life has no direction now! Every day for the past 18 months, I woke up and thought, "what do I need to study today? What do I need to read/type/research/procrastinate for this week? And I woke up these past few days and didn't have a dang thing to do.



Of course, I still have to study for the NCLEX. But that's an at-your-own-pace type study thing. And I won't fail anything if I only do 75 questions a day instead of 150. I won't get marked down if I skip a day, either.

It's very strange to not have my life dictated by school anymore. For the past 18 years it has. Now I'm a big girl! With a big girl job!

I'm really excited to move on in life and start working. I've got a job at the hospital I wanted to work at, in the ED like I had hoped for, on night shift like I enjoyed this summer. Everything is coming together perfectly. It still doesn't feel real that I'm a big girl now, but I'm looking forward to it sinking in.

I'll write later on how far I've come since I started nursing school and throw in some nice deep reflections for you, but for now let's just revel in the fact that I'm DONE nursing school and I have a job and I have a career! Hooray!

Shoegate

While this video is sort of shocking, what's more shocking is that someone hasn't done this sooner. I feel bad for Bush though. How embarrassing. And while I don't agree with Bush policies, I do feel bad for him as a person who got utterly owned by a pair of size 10s.



I am impressed at his ducking skills though. Man's got reflexes like a cat!

Activities that might kill me

I've decided, at the prodding of The Fabo, that I will be running a half marathon in March. You have my permission to laugh.

The last time I was actually in shape might just be high school. I played field hockey and lacrosse, and we ran a lot. Funny thing is, I was never good at the running part. Maybe that's why I decided to play goalie; there isn't a lot of running required when you just stand in a small area and hit people with your pads.

I went to college and played Ultimate (a staple of white people games) once or twice a week, and stayed somewhat fit. Then I got lazy. And fat. And unmotivated. And then I decided to go to nursing school. Even if I had the motivation to work out, I found that I'd rather sacrifice physical fitness for an extra hour of sleep in the morning.

But now I'm just about done with school, and I realize that this flab isn't going to run itself off. I need to not be lazy anymore. Thus a half-marathon is in the works! I'm not sure about the whole 13.1 miles deal...that seems like a lot. I think the most I've ever run at one time is 3.something miles. This might just kill me. Wouldn't it be ironic if I drop dead of a heart attack when I'm trying to be fit, Jim Fixx style?



Anyway, I think I'm going to do this. Feel free to check up on my progress and encourage or snark at my lack of fitness.

***
And this might seriously be the coolest grandpa ever.



I'd lose that staring contest, for sure.

It's a family game!

Gee, I wonder why this never caught on?

Ever drunk Bailey's from a shoe?

Because you've seen me. And you know me. I'm Old Greg!



It's worth watching. Trust me.

I can hear the colors...

So I have this psych professor, and she is way beyond awesome. She's so awesome, we call her Doc Roc. She's self-professed ADHD (and I believe it!), spouts off the most random and occasionally awkward of comments (my boyfriend is 20 years older than me, and he doesn't use viagra!), and definitely did a lot of drugs in her day.

We're sitting in class one day, and she's trying to get a video to load up from the internet. When she tries to open it, the file wouldn't play in Windows Media. All she could get was the audio and those weird squiggly acid trip lines. Her response?

"Look at the colors! It's like when I did LSD!"

Man, she's awesome. I wish all professors were like her.

Upgrade!

So I'm obviously aware of the fact that I'm graduating soon. 10 days to be exact. I've got a job lined up, I only have one assignment left to do (which I'm currently procrastinating on), and four classes left to attend. It hadn't really hit me yet though, that I'm going to be in the real world soon...until I looked at this blog.

The title? Nursing School Insanity. Soon it won't apply anymore! Egad!

I'll need to update this blog soon.

THIS JUST IN:

You're reading the blog of a newly hired, Emergency Department RN! WOO!

I got the job offer and formally accepted it yesterday. Now I've just got to finish the last week of class, 3 finals...and graduation!

I'm terrified. But I'm way beyond excited. I've been working towards this for 2 years now, and the day finally came where a hospital said "yes, we think you'll not kill patients. Would you like to come be stressed out and overwhelmed and pushed to your limit every day? Good, you're hired!"

Woo! (The use of multiple "woo"s in this blog signifies that yes, I am very excited!)

JCHAO and chickens

When I entered the world of nursing school, I got a lot of theory and a host of new skills thrown at me. Very rarely did we hear about JCHAO, as they were fondly called back then.

When I entered the world of medical blogging, there was a veritable shatstorm regarding JCHAO. I had never seen animosity levels so high! Why were these nice JCHAO people hated so much? Since then, JCHAO has become "The Joint Commission" and I found that they will get all over a hospitals' case for the stupidest things. Who really gives a crap if supplies are 18" from the ceiling or not? Will that really matter to patients in the long run? Why are they calling themselves a name that sounds like a knee-replacement support group?

At any rate, I'm here blogging because I'm procrastinating an assignment that is due in the morning. It's not that I don't care about classes anymore, it's just that...well...okay, I don't care about them anymore. I have 17 days until graduation, and I'm so full of senioritis it's not funny. But I digress.

I hopped over to the JC website to peruse any info that might be remotely useful for my project. I'm sort of shocked at the website! For such a Goliath of a bully, you'd think their website would look a little more intimidating. Instead it's a nice blue and yellow color, with pleasant looking people at the top and a convenient search bar. Who would have guessed such a tool of an organization could be so deceptively demure?

Eh, I suppose it's the same way some of my fellow students can be deceptively normal looking, but complete morons on the inside. They're like brainless chickens - walk around and look busy and accidentally let your patients CBI clot off multiple times. Sort of like JCHAO, although I bet JCHAO would be able to figure out how to put a bedrail down. Maybe.

***
This is a True Story. All of the aforementioned bad patient care was performed by one GP, a fellow student who might just kill somebody one day. Case in point: She tried to get an ancient LOL into bed without lowering the bed or putting the bedrail down.

Consequences

While working last weekend, there was a multiple car pile up on a bridge a few miles from the hospital. I helped take care of many of the patients, and one in particular stuck out to me.

We just got an email from our professor letting us know that an employee at the hospital where we have clinicals was killed that night. I had spent some time with her in clinical, and it's awful to know that she isn't ever going to be there again. While reading the news article, I recognized the name of the driver who struck her as the patient who stuck out to me. It's weird to know that I took care of him before he knew the full consequences of that accident. He knew she was dead, but he is just now seeing that her husband and young child no longer have a wife and mother.

I wish things like this didn't happen, and I especially wish I could do something more about it when it does.

My thoughts and prayers are with both the hospital employee's family and the patient that I took care of. This is a struggle for all of them.

The ULTIMATE RickRoll!

Just saw this on RT 101's blog. Rick Astley himself showed up in the middle of the Macy's Day Parade today and Rickrolled the entire viewing audience - 50 million people or so. Bloody brilliant!



I want to know who greenlighted this, and I want to give them a hug. Especially since my own attempt at a Rickroll probably suckered what, like five people?

***
And since today is Thanksgiving, I feel compelled to share with you my favorite holiday tradition. Every year, my family sits around and listens to Arlo Guthrie's song Alice's Restaurant Massacree. Clocking in at a whopping 18+ minutes, this song is glorious. Have a listen, and you can enjoy it too. It's worth it!

nursing shortage?

So, I'm a little frustrated. I had been told that a position as an RN would be held for me in the ER at the hospital I want to work at. Since I did my externship there, I had a little bit of extra experience and the administration seemed to want me. So I applied a few months ago, I a few weeks ago got the bad news that there weren't any more openings for new graduates.

Disappointing, but not really a deal breaker. I don't expect the world to revolve around me, and I know that admin will hire more experienced nurses now rather than hire new grads later. It's business.

I got the call from HR telling me about this dilemma, and was set up with an interview in tele instead. I interviewed with tele last week, and it went really well. I was told that I would get a call back this week.

I haven't gotten a call. A friend of mine, who also interviewed on tele, got a call today in which she was told that the unit manager "decided there weren't any more openings after all, and already had everything filled." I'm expecting the same phone call to me at some point today, but it's 3:00 and they better damn sure step on it. If I'm going to be disappointed, I don't like to wait around for it.

This is a bit of a rant, but I'm feeling like this hospital is acting more and more unprofessional. Don't promise a dang job if you aren't going to provide one. Don't tell me you'll call and then don't. Don't have me interview for a position that arbitrarily isn't available anymore.

Even worse is that I've signed a 1 year contract with this hospital in exchange for a scholarship grant. I get 4 grand, they get a year of work from me. I'm starting to see that it's a bit of a tourist trap...sign up, and we'll promise you the job you want and then shuffle you off to med-surg where you'll probably want to kill yourself. I wonder if I have to pay back the money if I accidentally fall down the tube system or something? At any rate, I'm feeling annoyed enough to consider running to Canada with their money. Can't work for you if you can't find me, suckahs.

I've applied other places, but so far haven't heard anything good. I sort of want to crawl under a rock right now, and come out in 6 months when some jobs have hopefully opened up. Meegh. Hopefully I'll hear some semblance of good news soon; all this bad news is starting to make me cranky.

21

A year ago today, Sean Taylor was shot. A year ago tomorrow, the Redskins lost a team member.



We miss you, 21.

The Year of Living Biblically

I bought a new book today, because I have less than a month of school left and dang it, I want some new leisure reading! While perusing the shelves of B&N with my friend KL, I spotted what I instantly sensed to be an excellent book. The phrase "don't judge a book by it's cover?" It applies to many things in life, but often not actually books. If the text was half as good as the cover, I knew I was in for a tasty treat:


I promised myself that I wouldn't read the entire thing in one sitting, like I usually do. I decided to only read the introduction for now. So I'm three pages into it, and I've already laughed out loud multiple times, forced my roommate to listen to passages, and ruminated on possible blog posts. I'm having trouble deciding which tidbit I want to share with you; they're all so good!

I'll share this one, for starters: (Appropriate, since it is the start of the book)

"As I write this, I have a beard that makes me resemble Moses. Or Abe Lincoln. Or Ted Kaczynski. I've been called all three.

It's not a well manicured, socially acceptable beard. It's an untamed mass that creeps up toward my eyeballs and drapes below my neckline...I've suffered for my beard. It's been caught in jacket zippers and been tugged on by my surprisingly strong two-year-old son. I've spent a lot of time answering questions at airport security.

I've been asked if I'm named Smith and sell cough drops with my brother. ZZ Top is mentioned at least three times a week. Passerby have shouted "Yo, Gandalf!" Someone called me Steven Seagal, which I found curious since he doesn't have a beard.

I've battled itch and heat. I've spent a week's salary on balms, powders, ointments, and contitioners. My beard has become a temporary home to cappuchino foam and lentil soup. And it's upset people. Thus far, two little girls have burst into tears and one boy has hidden behind his mother.

But I mean no harm."

This book is going to be excellent. Be expecting multiple blog posts, friend. They will be witty. They will be wild. Oh yes. Get excited.

***
On a very exciting side note, I took the HESI practice NCLEX exam this morning...and scored awesome! I know there is a ton of stuff I need to review, but this was a super duper morale booster. I haven't studied at all yet and still passed with room to spare, so I'm a little less terrified for the NCLEX. Woohoo nursing license, here I come!

And graduation is so close I can taste it. I'm going to be a nurse. Life is good.