Shadow Shift

I shadowed at the clinic I'm going to be working at today. When I think of clinic nurses, I admit that I thought their job was easy. It seemed that all they did was vital signs. Oh my goodness, it couldn't be farther than the truth. You would not believe how many phone calls and the amount of paper work they have to do. They have to do pre-authorizations for insurance companies (this is a very hated task) and call pharmacies for prescriptions. They have to return all phone calls that come in from patients but can't leave any information on answering machines, so there's a lot of phone tag that goes on. This is in between checking patients in and collecting lab tests, doing x-rays, and helping with procedures.

It's a very small clinic. There's one doctor and one nurse practitioner that work there. There are a total of three nurses, which includes me. :) One of the nurses came from the ER, one came from adult rehab, and there's me, with NICU experience. The ER nurse just started in August and the rehab nurse two weeks ago, so it's kind of like the blind leading the blinder. I'd be lying to say I wasn't a little nervous. I've floated to post-partum, but that's the extent of my adult experience.

I really like the other two nurses, which is good because we'll be working a lot together. I like the feeling of a small unit. I think we will get to know each other really well. The NICU has 120 nurses, so you can imagine the difference between the two.

The doctor and nurse practitioner are very patient which is awesome because there were TONS of questions asked. They didn't get mad or frustrated at being bugged all day.

I'm so excited for this job! Both of the other nurses love it there. They couldn't say enough good things about the job. The only downside for them is figuring out the computer charting and ordering. But, that will come with time for all of us!

I'm going to shadow a couple days next week and then start the formal training. I think I'll get a couple of weeks of orientation and then I'll be on my own. Wish me luck!