The Nitty Gritty on the Job

Since I've been here almost a month, I thought it was probably time to update you on the work side of things. It's been chaotic to say the least.

My first two weeks were spent with a Sponsor. It's my understanding that the Sponsor is supposed to get you through the in-processing, help you find a car, and a house and just simply help you settle in and get all the paperwork completed.

Unfortunately, my sponsor (god love her...she tried), had NO idea what I needed to do! So, we spent the first two weeks running around in circles. Go here to do this and find out that you can't do it until you have something else done first...get lost trying to find the other thing and finally find it to see that they are at lunch for the next hour. This was the process during the ENTIRE first two weeks....uggghhhh!

There isn't any sort of support or distinct processes for the civilians coming in and I have made this my own pet project to improve. I hope that those coming in after me don't have the frustrations that I have had. I have been fortunate to connect with two other civilians that came in the same time as I did and we have tried our best to support and help each other.

I'm on week number 4 now and I think I have most everything done and am ready to start focusing on the work aspect of the job.

Completed:

In-processing paperwork
Bought a car (been lucky that it's still running)
Obtained Auto Insurance (super easy)
Opened a local Bank Account (cant do much here without a local account)
Got drivers license (this was a process, failed the first time).

Wow! When I write it down, it certainly doesn't sound like I've done much.....

To Do:

Find Housing (need to get this done SOON)
Sign up for benefits (have to hurry on this as it's due by the 30th)

I still have two BIG items to complete and I'll be officially DONE!!

The Job....

I've been very lucky on the floor that I was placed on. The staff are great! They have all been welcoming and helpful. I already feel like part of the team (at least on the day-shift).

Most of the nurses on the floor have less than 2 years experience and I can see already that I will probably be a resource on nursing issues.

I'm slowly learning the 'chain-of-command' and appropriate protocol.

So far I have seen the following types of patients:

- appendectomy
- gunshot wound to hand
- ski accident resulting in broken femur
- septic shoulder wound
- s/p IED blast w/multiple trauma: LBKA, R Disarticulate Hip, trach,
- kidney stones
- s/p IED blast w/pelvic, sacral and RLE trauma
- Pancreatic pseudocyst

The nurse:patient ratios are some of the best that I have ever seen (although this might be because we are slow right now).

We have our two trauma patients on 1:1, and the rest of the nurses have no more than 3 patients at a time. It's a slow speed and will probably take me some time to get used to.

I'll try to update more soon....