Life as a GN, BSN at St. John's Hospital

Well, it took a few weeks, but I'm just about done with all the formal orientations and meetings and trainings. I had mini-orientation, then the full 2 day system-wide orientation, 1 day of nursing orientation (I still have to go to the second day next week), three days in the classroom with the nurse educator, three days of Epic training for the computer system, CPR certification, and First Touch class. I have a couple more days with Carrie the nurse educator to go over disease process stuff, day 2 of nursing orientation, then a dysrhythmia class on Monday. And I thought I'd be able to relax once school was over...

But I have spent a couple days with one of my preceptor nurses on the floor this week and it's been going really well!! I'm excited!! I think I've done a pretty good job, but the two patients that I took were pretty easy and didn't require a lot of stuff. My nurse did tell me that she thinks I'm going to be a good nurse, but I might need to toughen up a bit....we'll see what that means. :( I'm really glad to be working on the floor finally and treating patients!

Last week I went as a leader on the middle school mission trip for youth at church. It was kids grades 6-8...and in case you forgot, there is a BIG difference between sixth graders and eighth graders...most of them that is. It was a really great experience and we all had an awesome time getting to know each other better and serving the people in Noel, MO (about 1.5 hrs away). There were like 35 kids I think and 11 adults, so at times it was CRAZY, but other times I knew that the youth were just getting it and understanding what we were doing and really why.

My group and a couple others did landscaping/gardening work and cleared out a (practically) forest in a couples' front yard. The woman had been diagnosed with brain cancer a year ago and they had just started a big yard project, but then had to stop because she was undergoing treatment and he had to work more to pay the bills. This lady loves flowers and wanted their yard to look nice, so the church that we were working with set us up to work at her house. It was hard work, especially clearing out the forest area! There were so many fallen leaves and overgrown weeds and trees that you couldn't even tell there was dirt under there. But we got it done and the youth did a great job! The second site was painting a house for a mom and her 3 yr old daughter. This mother and her husband were living in the house when they were starting the adoption process to get their daughter. Then her husband passed away and she couldn't afford to live there anymore, so she went to live in an apartment and continued going through the process to adopt her little girl. Now, the church is trying to get Carla and her daughter back into the house so that the little girl can have a yard to play in and a real home. The youth did a great job of scraping and then painting that house as well! It really was a life-changing week for a lot of these youth and myself!