With half my contract already in the past, I am starting to adventure into my last 4 weeks of this journey. My schedule will now include A LOT more call than last month and my anxiety level is sure to go up along with it.
Although I am no stranger to call, there is a difference between being alone when you’re familiar with the hospital than being alone in a strange foreign hospital that you have worked at for only 4 weeks. My first week day call came this past Thursday and there is no such thing as breaking me in slowly!
There have been multiple times in the previous weeks that I was asked by the charge nurse to stay past my shift to help other call nurses finish out the cases. Having cases that run way past closing on the day I am on call, I was left abandoned by the unit staff, trying to finish the day with multiple cases left to go. I was incredibly grateful when I saw the other Travel Nurse still there offering to help recover the previous patient so that I was able to continue on with procedures and not be delayed. It made me feel a part of a community (of Travel Nurses) that looks out for each other. His help finishing out a very long day was not asked of him, but he did it anyways. He later told me that he “knew what it felt like to be abandoned and dumped on by this group and that he didn’t want me to feel that way”. I will one day repay the favor to either him, in the event it happens in the near future, or to another Traveler on a future assignment.
He is a true representation of the Travel Nurse community and I couldn’t be prouder to be in his company and his temporary coworker! Thank You T.V! You gave my the gift of your time and I couldn’t be more thankful for you!
