Here it is. 2012. Wow. Where did the year go? It feels like just yesterday I was starting my last semester of nursing school. I've been an official Registered Nurse for 5 months. Yeeowsa! The first months of nursing have taught me some very valuable lessons. First, there are NO stupid questions. This has been hard. It takes swallowing your pride, admitting you don't know something or more likely, you just can't seem to access the information from your brain, and asking another nurse who does know. Thankfully, I work with amazing nurses who seem to always answer my questions in a way that never makes me feel stupid. The worst thing in the world is being to proud to ask and without realizing it, you could endanger your patient or your job. Another lesson is when working graveyard shifts, you can never get too much sleep and you never want to work more than 3 shifts in a row. (I shot myself in the foot with my schedule next week and am working 4. I'll let you know how it goes) This is a no-brainer, but wear good shoes. And compression socks. Your feet and legs will thank you. Another important lesson has been- wear layers, so you can add or take off depending of temperature. You might have a patient who's room is a sauna, while another is the arctic. Or, you could end up having thermostat wars with your coworkers- as I do wit Robin. She is always cold and I'm always hot. There's always a battle when we work together.
That's just a quick list. There's probably a zillion more things that I will learn in the coming months and years... Becoming a nurse, for lack of a better word, is a process.
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