First Day

It went pretty well actually.

There was much agonizing over what scrubs to wear (not the Snoopy ones), whether or not I should wear make-up (I didn't), what to put my stuff in (plain school bag), etc, etc.

I had an orientation shift today and I have one again tomorrow. I don't know if I just caught the unit on a slow day, but it was incredibly chill. My NA took a 45 minute coffee break and an hour long lunch. (Day shifts are from 0700 - 1515, but we get paid for 7.75 hours). And there was a good chunk of time that was spent just sitting/standing around.

I felt rather guilty cause I wasn't doing very much. Most of the patients were independent, so I passed time by filling up oxygen tanks and stocking supplies.

I got an official ID tag - employee number and everything.

And the best part is...

That it looks a million times better than my student picture. :D

Workaholic

So, starting tomorrow, I work 11 straight days. Thursday-Sunday at the market. May 9th-11th at the hospital. And four more days at the market. Followed by the regional orientation on the 16th, which isn't work but attendance is mandatory even though I don't want to go because it will be super boring.

I've probably never worked that much in my entire life.

Oh well... Money :D

I guess I'll have to go to bed early.

Let's see how good my time management skills are...

NA-ing Cont.

Well, I got a whole bunch of congratulatory-hiring-welcome emails from the unit/health region. I'm officially hired, but it still feels so surreal!

My first day is going to be May 9th, but I also get to go to a general Health Region Organizational Orientation on the 16th. It sounds like it will be dreadfully, dreadfully boring... but attendance is mandatory and I really have no say in the matter.

Oh well.

I went out and bought my first pair of scrubs! And some extra tops.

I must say, at the official uniform stores, they are crazy expensive.

I'm talking $35 for scrub tops, and $45 for scrub pants. There was a fairly good selection to choose from, but it was hard to find ones that fit me. There were many Ls and XLs and even 2XLs! There were some Mediums (too big) and some XS (which fit, but were kind of tight). Of the few smalls, I found a cute bright pink top. And I found some really comfy bottoms.

They had Grey's Anatomy scrubs, but I opted out of buying them. They just didn't look good on me :(

So my first real set of scrubs were pricy, but I feel it's okay for me to indulge a little.

I stopped at Walmart after that.

I was trying to avoid patterened scrubs, because this is my first real job, and I want to look mature and competent... which I feel I'd be better able to achieve with solid colors... but I simply could not resist a white and pink top with hearts, flowers and little Snoopys on it! It's adorable - I squeal (internally) every time I look at it.

I'm going to wear it on my first day, maturity be damned :D

So,

Remember that crap interview I had last week?

Well, I woke up this morning, and look what was in my inbox:

Hi Katrina

  Thank you for taking the time to visit and interview last Monday. We have decided
to move forward with your hire ... as a Nursing Attendant. We would begin your
orientation on Unit __ acute Orthopedics. The Manager there is ....

Suffice it to say that I am beyond estatic. I told my parents and everything!

Except I am a bit sad that I may have to quit my market job. They have been really, really good to me and I like working there. (Even though this last week was crazy exhausting.)

There is a small chance I'll be able to do both jobs... Though I am definitely not holding my breath.

I'm getting my foot in the door to the health region, which is incredulously exciting because it is supposed to be really difficult to find jobs as a nurse right now. NA experience is going to give me a real leg up.

Though, the main reason I'm excited is that I get to wear pretty scrubs! Yayay!

And I am done.

2/2! No more exams!

I'm technically an SN3 now.

Scary stuff.

Two more years and I'll be out working!

But in the mean time....

Bring on the TV shows, movies, books and partying!

Goodbye Nursing of Families

I won't miss you.

At all.

One exam down, one to go.

All-nighter tonight?

Not likely.

Lol.

I need my sleep.

Though I do admire people who are able to pull them off.

Adult Health Theory, prepare to be taken down :D

And thus...

My dreams of being an Orthopedic Nursing Attendant (NA) are shattered.

Luckily, it was only my dream for about 3 days, and I actually have very little interest in orthopedics anyways.

So, for those of you who don't know (which is pretty much everyone except 5 or so people) I went around the hospital last week, dropping off resumes in search of an NA position. I wasn't expecting to hear back from any of the units so quickly, but I got my first interview call on Friday (thankfully after I was out of hearing range from the Beer Gardens!) and we scheduled my interview for today.

I suppose this counts as my first "real" job interview - as in, this position will help me in my career as opposed to just being a paycheck like all my other jobs - and while I didn't expect it to go perfectly, I didn't expect it to fail either.

(Okay. It wasn't a total fail. I'd say it was ... a 70% fail.)

I got hints from other students, so I was prepared for questions like:

- Why do you want to be an NA? / What does being an NA mean to you?
- What do you think an NA does?
- Why do you think you deserve this position?
- What are your greatest strengths? Weaknesses? Etc, etc.

And while I was asked some of those questions, I got grilled on topics like:

- The exact repositioning(s) of a patient with __(insert random, very specific fracture)___.
Seriously. He asked me where I would put the pillows, how many I would use and why I put them there.

- How to gown/glove/mask up when going into an isolation room, and the order in which to take those protective barriers off when leaving.

- What my mom would tell me to do if I sprained my ankle at home. I think I did well with this question. I said get myself onto my bed or the couch, put the injured ankle on a pillow and ice it. The unit manager said that is what they do on the unit!

- What I consider to be "abnormal" vital signs. Luckily this has been drilled into my head forever, so I got that one no problem.
- Signs of infection regarding a surgical site.

- A step-by-step description of how I would get patients up to shower or how I would go about doing a sink/bed bath. Seriously. Step-by-step.

- The mechanics of how to work the patient beds

- The mechancis of how to work lifting devices

I know there were others, but I can't quiet remember what else he asked me. But, those are my hints to anyone else going to NA interviews.

So, I'm fairly certain he won't hire me, but at least I know what to expect for next time. Fingers crossed for more interviews.