I just noticed that it's been 11 days since I last posted. Wow! Time sure does fly.
Work has been either feast or famine. We go for days at a time, where staff are home on call due to low census, and we're begging for hours. Then we swing to the extreme for days at a time where we are overflowing with pregnant women on L&D, and we're begging for extra staff to come in!
I've taken on a lot of high risk patients lately, due to being one of the "older" nurses who can work with any type of patient. We seem to have more "newer" nurses on the shifts I work. The newer girls are only trained in low risk, so they get the normal births. Sometimes it's nice to have the challenge of high risk patients though. Don't get me wrong - it keeps me on my toes with my assessment skills. I've taken care of several women with outrageous BPs -- 190's to 200's over 120's to 130's. Some scary stuff. You almost expect to see them twitch and seize, but luckily that hasn't happened!!
As you can guess, we do a lot of high risk medications too: magnesium sulfate, labetalol, pitocin, just to name a few. Even some occasional drips like insulin or heparin. You could almost say that we function like an OB ICU sometimes, with the severe acuity we see from time to time. Ironically, even though we recover in our own PACU for OB related surgeries (c/sections, cerclages, D&E, etc), us nurses do not have ACLS training or certification. That's been a pet peeve of mine. We really should be ACLS certified, for the high risk things we do, and the drugs we give. It's not that we have a maternal code that often - but when it happens, it can feel like a real clusterf*ck. Baby codes, we're pretty good at. We do them often enough, and have drills to practice and keep up to date with our skills.
Anyhow, I digress.
School work has been interesting this term. Statistics is totally move at your own pace, and I seem to be keeping a good pace. Leadership has it's own deadlines, and I'm able to keep up with those. I'm waiting on my first Leadership paper (8 pages) to be returned to me. Then it will be 3 more papers for that class.
Lots and lots and lots of scholarly writing. Have I mentioned that? I guess that is what I get for entering a Masters program, right??!?
I can't believe it still...me. In a midwifery program, working on a MSN degree. Pinch me! ::ouch!::
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Roll out the Red Carpet. NOT!
5 hours ago
12 comments:
Good for you! I admire the commitment that you have made to school. Not easy...so much juggling. Awesome! You are a better woman than I!
Oh yeah, the fluctuating census...sucks.
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Wondering where you were! Do they at least let the newer nurses witness high risk labors and deliveries, even if they don't participate? Or are they just thrown in at some point?
I have all my statistics books out in front of me as I write this. I should be writing up the answers to module 2 but I am a little burnt out by it all. The teacher said it would get better. So I should just suck it up and send it in. I still have not gotten mod 1 grade back. Have you?
Work has also been a cluster F. I am working on postpartum today. I hope it will be reasonable. I can hope anyways.
I got back Mod 1 - 100%. I submitted Mod 2 last week, but haven't gotten it back yet. I've been doing the reading for Mod 3. Haven't started the Mod 3 assignment yet though. Doesn't look too hard, after reading the first 2 chapters for that section though.
Joy - after new nurses have been trained on low risk, and have worked low risk for about 6 months, then they are trained on high risk. It's a very intensive, didactic and clinical orientation, where they are paired with an experienced high risk L&D nurse, for about 8-12 weeks. Once competent, they are off orientation, but with a "back up" to help them with high risk on their own.
wow your masters!! way to go...its taking me forever just to get where i am lol...
glad ur back enjoy your post...stop by mine sometime
Did the working full time, graduate school part time thang too. It was a lot of work, but well worth it in the end.
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I just started following your blog.... I cannot believe how much we think alike!!!! It's like you are my twin, separated at birth;) I am SOOOO enjoying you!
I couldn't agree more. I think that the hospital should provide all L and D nurses with ACLS on hospital time provided during their shift with paid training. You guys deal with such high risk stuff it should be mandatory. It's the least they should do for L and D nurses!
I actually think all nurses working in a hospital should be ACLS... I suppose there's some rational for why some of our floors are not. But when something big goes down even if you just have the most vague idea how to help/what to do when seconds count I think the patient benefits.
Interesting... we are taking over our own c-sections (from the O.R. crews), now circulating and soon to be recovering as well, and we were told that we MUST have ACLS & we all got it last year in anticipation of that. The travelers that we get also seem to all have it, if they have done recovery in other places.
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