Halfway through week 1!!
This week has been crazy but today was a good day! It was actually my first day stepping foot inside the hospital.
This morning I was able to complete all of my remaining modules. YAY, thank goodness!
Then I went in to the hospital for a skills lab/simulation lab check-off. This included restraints demonstrations, PICC line dressing changes, PICC line medication administration, PICC line blood draws (they are serious about their PICC lines), CPR/Chest compressions, ZOLL- defibrillator use, and Glucometer access and check-off. This was a vastly different scenario to all of my other contracts. I was actually able to badge in and use a Glucometer before ever going to the floor… just for reference, in Farmington, NM, I did not get checked off or gain access to the Glucometer until 2 weeks before my END date!
After that, I met one of the peri-op educators and was walked to my home department. She was awesome! Not only did she show me where the department was and introduce me to a few people, but she also got me a locker, access to the scrubs dispenser, and did a short tour of the hospital. This hospital is HUGE! It has multiple ORs and since endoscopy works out of both ORs, the educator walked me to and from the different ORs. On top of all of this, she also showed me where the cafeteria is, the Subway and Starbucks, the outdoor patio if I want some sunshine during my lunch break, and walked me to the best entrance to the hospital from my assigned parking lot. We walked from that entry point to my assigned department so that I could see my route for tomorrow morning! Nothing was verbal, she literally walked me to each location.
I will not be getting lost on my first day because she took the time to actually show me where I need to go! I can not explain how awesome this tiny detail is!
My experience has always been that on my first day of the contract, I just park where I can and go to “this” location where I will be met by someone. Once I have my badge and parking permit, I am then suddenly told that “tomorrow, you will park in employee parking located on “x” street. Even when asking how to get to my department from employee parking, I have always been left with a verbal “take a left here and then a right, badge in here. If you go past the ugly statue, you went too far” (true story). I have always showed up for my first day, parked where I was told and then had to walk around for 30 minutes trying to find any landmark that look familiar. Not this time! I will know exactly where to go and how to get there!
Tomorrow is my shadow day. My first day on the floor is always a bit overwhelming but I am ready to get a few questions answered and to actually see what the next 12 weeks have in store for me. Will I enjoy working for this facility or will I count down the days till it is over? We will just have to wait and see. One thing is for sure though, this contract will be full of amazing sights and adventures!
2 days left in week one and I will definitely keep sharing my first impressions as I take my first week here in Reno day-by-day.
