TurboNurse

So I'm a few days late in posting about my first week but I needed the time to decompress and store everything I've learned.

I'm amazed at how much I do actually know about what I'm doing.  I'm nowhere near proficient because there is still a lot I don't know but as far as the basics go, it seems that I am there.

It's true what they tell you in nursing school......that you don't know what you know.  I thought it was crap when they kept telling us but now I realize that it's the complete truth.

Dealing with the itty-bitties was always my weakest area in school but now it's all coming together.  I'm slowly learning about positioning and different aids that we have to help normal development.  I've learned about breast pumps and a little about breastfeeding and pumping.

Every day I'm getting more and more comfortable dealing with the little guys. For the most part my confidence is increasing every day although I did have one day, it was super busy and it seemed that the kiddos just cried and cried all day.  I was ready to pull my hair out because there was so much going on and I felt like I didn't know a whole lot at all but luckily the next day was much much better and I learned a lot from the previous day.

So day one starts out with me just shadowing and getting a feel for the unit and then I take on one little bugger all by myself.  On day two, the hectic crazy day, I was going to take two little ones but it was so crazy that I had my one little dude and helped everyone else out.

Day three was when I had my own two patient assignment and I thought it went very well.  The morning was a little rough because one little one was hungry, crying, and just overall crabby so I got as much of an assessment done on him as I could, fed him, and then finished my assessment when his tummy was full and he was sleepy.  :)  Then it was on to baby #2, assess, cares, feed.

I was finally able to chart everything at about 9:30 that morning.  Later than I would have preferred but it seems to be the norm so I am going to have to get used to it.

I'm also getting more comfortable talking to the parents.  I still have to ask for help when things come up that I don't know the answer to but the more I do it, the sooner I will learn.  I think next week my goal is to take on 3 babies by the end of the week.  I'm hoping to take only 2 when I come back and then maybe 3 the last two days.

I can't believe I only have 3 more shifts in the step down unit until I go to ICU!  While I'm very very excited to be moving on, I'm quite sad because I really like me preceptor and coworkers a lot.  I really want to keep in touch so I'm going to do my best to make it a point to say hi to them whenever I can.  I hope the people in the ICU part are as awesome as in the ICN!  If so, I'm totally going to love this!

I worked three days in a row and usually when I did that, on the 4th day, it was all I could do to pick myself up off the couch and eat or whatever but this wasn't the case.  Yes, I slept a lot on Saturday night, almost 11 hours!  I was completely exhausted but it was more mental than physical.

Looking back, it's no wonder I had such a hard time on my fist day off after 3 in a row as a tech.  I was mentally and (more often than not) physically tired.

I really like where I work.  I like to say it's the best kept secret in the hospital!!!  The patients are itty bitty and it's fairly easy to calm them down.  Just cluster your cares so you change them, feed them, and then put them back down to sleep and let them be for 3 hours before you do it all over again.  Every once in a while you'll get  a gassy kid who will cry and cry no matter what.  Most of the time, if you put them on their tummies, rub their backs or tummies, or just reposition or hold them, they are OK.  Every once in a while we need to give some simethicone or some Prevacid but not that often.

Most of these little guys have very few meds.  Most common are multi vitamins, folic acid (for anemia), vitamin E (also for anemia), iron, simethicone, and maybe some Desitin ordered PRN.

I like that and think that this experience in the step down unit has been so valuable and will definately carry over to the NBICU part.