I worked my first shift at the new hospital last night. The jury is still out on what I think of it. There are pros & cons - but I suppose it's like that everywhere. I love the computer charting, not so crazy about the eMars. Well, I like the eMars, I don't like dragging in the entire computer system into the patient's room to scan their arm band each & every time they need a medication. They should have a handheld scanner or a scanner in each room, but I doubt that will happen. I did get to see the "robot" in pharmacy pulling the medications & putting them in envelopes. That is pretty neat actually. Amazing the things they come up with.
Gina & I got to go on a hospital tour in the middle of the night. This is a for-profit hospital, so most of their money is invested in the cardiac portion of the hospital. The baby suites are beautiful also. We got to see a few of the newborn babies...sooo adorable. The doctor's lounge is beyond nice - talk about spoiled! I'm thinking they need to have a nurse's lounge <g>.
I had a patient last night that for some reason, decided to get a tummy tuck done in the Honduras - NOT a good idea. The surgeon did a shoddy job, she never saw him again after the surgery & she said they gave her no pain medication either. Needless to say, she developed an infection & had to go for surgery again yesterday. She was still in quite a bit of pain, but we managed to get it under control.
The floor I'm on is more of a surgical floor, some medical, some telemetry - but a lot of it is surgical patients. It will be a learning experience because over in PCU, we don't get that many post-surgical patients. They are telling Gina & I that if we can make it on this floor for 6 months, we can make it anywhere. I'm not sure really how to take that - is this a nightmare floor? They are already talking about cross-training & eventually moving us into the ICU. It's my first day...slow down!
Anyways, it isa much different environment than my other hospital. They seem to have 3 techs on the floor - which is very nice. The only time you really need to pick up a pen is to write down something on your own report sheet or to redline. No more handwriting your entire assessment 3 times a night or even having to write in the vital signs, I&O's, nurses notes - doesn't sound like much but when you have 5 patients, that's a lot of writing. There is no charge nurse watching over us at the new place. In fact, we don't even give report to anyone other than the day nurse - that seemed rather odd. And red-lining, you don't redline with the day nurse. You just look at the chart when you get a chance & redline by yourself. Then the next nurse comes along & reads it when she gets a chance & redlines it. Seems so weird to me that they don't redline together.
One of the nicest pros to the new hospital - you can have drinks near you. Ahhhhh, doesn't sound like much, but at the other hospital, you can only eat & drink in certain limited areas. I don't care about the eating, but I like being able to drink water or diet coke when I feel like it without having to go into another room behind closed doors. Speaking of eating & drinking - I'm hungry. See ya!
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