Nurse Megan!!!

Wondering where I have been? I have been saving lives as a brand new nurse! I got a job at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center on the Medical, Renal, Progressive Care Unit (long names, I know). Our top three diagnoses that we take care of are renal failure, stroke, and drug overdose. However, as a medical floor we pretty much take anything. I work three times a week, 6pm to 6am. Many people have asked me how in the world I am able to work throught the night. Well, when I get home I try to sleep 8 hours as much as possible. And the day before I work I try to take a 2 hour nap. And I just have had to get used to it. It really isn't so bad only 3 days a week.

And the number one reason I am able to work at night is because I LOVE BEING A NURSE. I don't care what time of day it is, if I am nursing I am happy. Plus if my night is busy (which most are), I don't have time to be tired. Here are some patient quotes that might help you see why I like this so much:

"I'm so glad you got me instead of some other little old lady"
"{long, dramatic, depressed sigh}" (after telling the pt I wasn't coming back the next night)
"I'm not sure if I feel better because my meds are working, or if it is because you are being so nice"
"We can tell you got in to nursing for the right reasons"
"I know I need to call you if I need something" (as opposed to "I'm so sorry to bother you"
"I'm starting to feel happy"

How can you not like a job when you hear things like that every time you come to work? I even saw in the break room today my name showed up on the first thank-you card from a patient. What an honor. I just feel so lucky to be able to come here and make people's horrible experiences in the hospital a little less horrible. And more than that, I am lucky that I even like what I do. If anyone knows me, the last option on my list of careers was anything in healthcare, and I didn't even know what was included in a nurses job description until I was over halfway done with the program. How I ended up diving blindly into something that turned out to be so perfect for me I don't know. For those who don't know, a brief synopsis of my desicion:

After my first year of college I figured I was pretty close to getting an associated degree in something, so I visited a college counselor. He told me all I needed was a health class to get an AS in general studies. He looked at my transcript, scolded me for having no focus in my classes, and told me I should go into healthcare, specifically nursing because I had good grades. I was extremely offended by this, as I had fainted several times just looking at needles, and went queasy if anyone even said the word "blood." I came home and whined to my dad about this incompetent counselor. He asked me why it was so outlandish to consider such a career. I said "Dad, you know me! I couldn't handle it!" He calmly, simply said, "you would get used to it." I remembered a story he told me about when he passed out in medical school. So within the next minute, I decide I would apply for nursing school at UVU, as I had heard it was a good program.

I spent a year on my prereqs, got in my first try, and here I am. Nurse Megan. I am by no means highly competent in my clinical knowledge. That will come with time. I have to ask multiple questions every shift, and stumble on the phone when I talk to doctors (especially the mean ones). I still have to look up all my meds before I give them because I hardly recognize any of them, and don't even know what all the procedures are for. Doesn't matter. I look things up, I ask, and I will learn.

Gosh I love being a nurse.