Work

I do have work to thank for this wonderful adventure, so I guess I should talk about it. When people ask why I chose to start travel nursing I usually tell them I just wanted a change. I loved the VA Hospital where I worked in Madison; the patient population I served was usually fun and interesting, and my co-workers were great. But compared to most hospitals it is pretty small and it definitely started to feel that way. I had been in my same role for about 4 years and there wasn't really anywhere to go from there unless I wanted to start school again, work as an outpatient RN, or apply to work in the same ICU as my significant other. No thanks. With Seattle being on of the more diverse areas of the country, I have had the chance to work with both patients and other nursing staff from all walks of life and have served patients with far different illnesses and problems than I ever encountered in Madison. When we first moved here Andrew started his assignment about 2 weeks before I started mine, so I had some time off to myself. I could have spent the whole 2 weeks eating and hiking my way through Seattle, but decided to take a few days off from that by volunteering at a huge free healthcare clinic downtown. The Seattle/King County Clinic is a four day, totally free clinic that provides dental, vision, and medical care to the underserved populations of the Seattle area. During the two days that I volunteered we helped over 2,000 patients! I signed up last minute not really knowing what I would be doing, but the first day I ended up assisting a doctor doing Pap smears and exams in a women's health clinics. This ended up being a perfect fit since my travel assignment is caring for gynecological surgery patients, definitely a big change from the veteran patients I worked with in Madison. The second day of the clinic I got thrown into a bunny suit to help sterilize dental equipment...picking rotten teeth out of trays of drills and pliers wasn't as fulfilling as working directly with patients, but I guess someone has to do it. Anyway, my assignment now is night shifts between the gyn surgical and surgical short stay units. The first few shifts were a hectic blur of learning Epic charting, their medication admin system, and work flow on the unit. It was definitely a few nights of anxiety and nervous sweating through my scrub tops, but after a few nights of deep breaths and reminding myself that this is the same job with the same goals as I've been confident at doing for the past few years("keep them alive 'til 7:45"...), I finally started to get the hang of it. One of the drawbacks to being a traveler is that most hospitals have a policy of floating travelers to other units before their own staff, meaning that the week of Thanksgiving (my first week on the job) I was floated to 6 different units in the hospital. Needless to say it was a stressful 4 nights, and Andrew and I went out for a pitcher of mimosas on Monday morning. I work with some great nurses and other travelers, and have liked working with the gyn surgery patients, though I admittedly miss and prefer my crotchety old veterans with heart problems. (Photos included are views of Mount Rainier and The Olympics from the Hospital, and my walk home through the Gayborhood of Capitol Hill)