A HodgePodge of Streaming Consciousness (The Scoop)
added by geena on March 8, 2004 at 9:10 PM
I'm feeling random.
Work has been all kinds of fun lately. I've had new hours since January. The new ratio law states that not only should one nurse only have 2 patients, but that nurse should never ever have any more than 2 patients, ever. For lunch breaks, we usually have the charge nurse relieve us (he/she typically does not have patients), but sometimes, we have other nurses relieve us. That can give one nurse up to 4 patients for 1/2 hour or so. So new positions were created around the hospital to take care of this.
I'm now the "break nurse." I work M-F 11am-7pm and my job, when justified by our census, is to provide breaks for other nurses. It's had some kinks... sometimes we don't have enough nurses on to have the luxury of a "break nurse," sometimes the census doesn't support it and I take patients, sometimes I start out being break nurse, but then have to take patients midway through the shift. It is certainly an exercise in flexibility :-)
I've been thinking lately about taking the CCRN. It's a certification exam for Critical Care Nursing. I guess it means, "Well, if you're an RN who works in CCU, you must know your stuff... but if you have passed CCRN, then... well, then I guess you have 4 more letters to put after your name." Or something. I've heard it's terribly difficult. Bring it on! I just bought a review book. Books are so boooooring though.
On an unrelated note, I'm in the process of organizing all of my photos. All the digital photos that we've ever taken just got imported into iPhoto. Despite what it says on the website, my iPhoto was NOT blazing fast, and I "only" have 2,500 photos! (Okay, some of those are Photoshop files, but I don't think it should make a difference.) How do you organize photos? I've got actual prints from film and a bunch of digital photos. I'm trying to put the prints in albums, but it's kind of difficult to manage all the pictures when they're in two different formats. Do I leave the digital on the computer and enjoy them that way? Or do I have prints made from them and put them in an album? Decisions decisions.
Progress Notes
The CCRN is a snap. Snoozed my way through the first time. Look at the review book and see how much of it you already know.
added by Alwin Hawkins on March 9, 2004 7:35 AM
Oh, re: iPhoto - have you updated to the most recent version (the one that comes in the iLife pack)? It *is* blazing fast, much faster than the previous versions.
added by Alwin Hawkins on March 9, 2004 7:37 AM
Ew. 'Break nurse.'I would officially hate that position. I like to know what's going on and get a handle on my patient. Actually, my favorite place to work is triage, but at least there I'm the only person who has cared for the patient so I generally know what's going on. But relieving someone for lunch and then having the shit hit the fan - I hate that.
added by Kelly on March 9, 2004 8:22 AM
What brought me to the hospital today? I'm considering a career change to get the hell out of software. Nursing's a strong possibility, so being a geek I went searching for nursing blogs. Hi!
added by Chris A. on March 9, 2004 11:44 AM
Wow! Same reason as Chris A! I'm thinking about going into nursing and getting out of IT!
added by Richard on July 14, 2004 4:24 PM
An Excellent site! Nice to see nurses getting into the feel of blogging! By the way, this is my personal blog address: johnpaulaclan.i.ph
added by JP Aclan on July 17, 2005 11:58 PM
So, what brought you to the hospital today?