I am just trying to be culturally sensitive! I swear!

Ok, for those of you at UAB who are used to my weirdness, here is a story just for you! Last week, I took care of a gentleman from Pakistan who spoke no English, only Punjabi. There was no translator available for me, and no family with the man. After trying extensively to look up "medical picture communication boards" and such to no avail, I gave up. The night went pretty good, and the day was almost over..hooray! I was beginning to give report, and my Pakistani friend suddenly decided he needed to get up out of the bed. Like NOW. I couldn't tell exactly what he wanted, but he did not want my help. He had a foley catheter, so he didn't need to pee I thought to myself. Well, I got the bright idea that maybe (maybe?) he wanted to...pray to the east? I don't know...I'm not that culturally aware. So I begin to fold up an extra blanket because the floors are nasty and cold and if he's gonna pray by golly he'll do it on a soft blanket! Are you all laughing yet because you should be! Turns out my friend just wanted to have an, *ahem* bowel movement! Yes yes, I am a total dork. And apparently the day shift nurse who bore witness to all of this told my story around the unit, so now everyone knows what a wacko I am! As one nurse put it, "I don't think I've ever been that culturally sensitive in my life!"

Welcome to Sacramento!

On another note, last night one of the nurses on night shift made us all Baklava, and it was so amazing I just had to get a picture! And then, a view out of my patient's window of the beautiful dawn!

You know you aren't in Bama anymore. . .

. . .When, as you leave work, you see a man doing Tai Chi on the hospital lawn. And your coworkers each take turns taking hour long naps in the break room, complete with pillow and blanket. I am still amazed!

But I will say this: I think I like night shift! I mean, I think my body likes night shift. When I worked days, I would get up really too early, feel tired and awful for about 3 hours, come home after work too tired to exercise, eat and go to bed. Well, working night shift, I go to bed around 8am after work, sleep without setting my alarm and still getting enough sleep to wake up in time to feel great, not sleep deprived, and go work out before work. Is this the secret you all have been hiding? Watch out CCU, I may return to night shift (Report Nazi....ahhhhhhh! Run!!) Well, we'll see =)

Oh, another funny thing. I was passing this nice Italian restaurant on the way to work, and in each of its windows was one of those neon sign thingies. One window's sign read "Casual Dining". The other window read "Health Inspected". What?!! Sign me up!

I don't have much more to say, just wanted to check in with you all. I miss you guys, but I guess it's good I'm working so much because I don't have as much time to dwell on it.

Time to get ready for work! Promise I'll post something vaguely interesting soon.

And thanks for reading (especially all the CCU folks), it makes me feel special =)

A Day in the country. . .

Today I woke up reeeeeally early to drive an hour and a half away to see Kyle and Erin (and Yoda too!!) and attend church at Kyle's church, Eastside Church of Christ. I enjoyed meeting everyone at the church, I must say that I felt so very welcome, the way it should be.

I also enjoyed the drive to Kyle and Erin's house. Driving through Sac country is absolutely beautiful! I passed many vineyards (mental note to go back for wine tastings!), and even some farmland, complete with llamas! I loved the way the sun hit the mountains, and the windmills. I don't know quite how to describe the terrain in California, except that it's very vivid. The greens are greener, the blues bluer, the oranges more orange (or tangerine). It is a beautiful intensity that I could definitely get used to. It's just too far away from family =)

After returning I shopped at Trader Joe's for the first time....what a cool grocery store. Thanks again Steph!

I plan on working extra tomorrow...so this week's schedule is working Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Whew! Though I miss you and want to talk to you guys....please don't call before about 4PM Cali time (6PM Central time) in case I'm sleeping.

Planning my vacations though...Napa Valley, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, San Francisco. I can't wait!

Working the Graveyard Shift. . .

. . . Is completely different from day shift! I usually struggle to stay awake from around 2AM-5AM. I'm pretty sure that's because I'm bored to death! Working in a hospital the size of UAB and then coming to a smaller, nonteaching facility is like moving from a town of 150,000 to 2,000. Just the dynamics of the hospital are different, and my role as a nurse is different. It's very difficult to get used to. Here, I am not allowed to do many of the things I would be expected to do back home, simply because that task is assigned to another discipline. Combine that with the general patient population of my unit here (the acuity is not as high) and working at night when doctors aren't here and most patients sleep, and you are left with me feeling pretty useless. It's easy money, but almost guilty money. I know that by the time these 8 weeks are up I will be ready to be busy again.

Because of this, I am thinking I will be able to pick up a lot of extra days. This week I worked Monday and Tuesday during the day (9 and 10 hours each), and then Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday night. Last night was extra for me.

On the upside, when I got off of work this morning and went to sleep, I actually slept about 7 hours straight, without waking up! Of course when my body gets used to it, I have a few days off! I will admit that I am enjoying very much the lack of a commute associated with this job versus my two hour commute back home. I didn't realize how much of my day it sucked out!! I have been going to the gym everyday since I've been here because I have nothing else to do! Let's hope it pays off!

So for those of you who are wanting advice on travel nursing: I say go for it! I think this will be a good experience for me in that I will see how things are done in other places, while giving me confidence that I have a solid critical care background and can handle anything! Thanks UAB!!

Now I guess I'm going to decide what to do. The laundry doesn't do itself, but I think that it's time I get a gym break!

Love and miss you all!

Today I was a Real Nurse

Gym at 6AM followed by work at 8:30AM. What a great way to start the day!

For the first 2 1/2 hours or so I walked around with the Nurse Educator filling out paperwork and getting passwords and such.

Then I took on two patients with a backup nurse to help me. Now, I am not sure if there is just an abnormal amount of "low acuity" patients on this floor or if this is how this is usually, but if so, this will be pie.

NOTE: The following will be all medically-terminology-like and boring to nonmedical people:

No more than one vented patient at a time. They don't have a CRRT (continuous dialysis) program, and NO SWANS come to our unit. They take them out in the cath lab, and they aren't even continuous CCO swans. Dark ages? I think so! There is a lift team and no lab draws yourself. Wow...what a change. I think I will probably be bored, but we'll see. Did I mention no sheath pulls or post cath patients? What do these people do all day and where do all the sick ones go?

One thing interesting to note: Their IV pumps seem newer than ours, as well as their vents. They have this thing called Voceri, which is the equivalent of our unit portable phones, only it works wayyyy better. Tube system is super old, and you can't tube labs down. But it doesn't matter because the lab comes to draw them anyway, even your type and screens. Cultures? Lab draws them.

Oh, and they are very PICC obsessed. Rarely do they have central lines, but PICCs instead. I personally feel that this is easier for the docs, because the PICC nurses insert the PICCs. They also change the PICC dressings. Crazy huh?!

Tomorrow (Wednesday) I start on night shift. Prepare for super bad jet lag!

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Hello!!! Today started my first day at work at Sutter Memorial Hospital. I, of course, woke up entirely too early and arrived about 30 minutes before I was actually supposed to be there. For the first half of the day, I took competency tests related to various protocols and procedures. This was all very boring, but I did meet a fellow traveler who, unfortunately, will not be at my hospital. We did exchange numbers, so at least there is someone to hang out with (and she brought along the husband, kids, dogs, and cats....I won't be alone!)

Lunch was had outside on the hospital's patio. The weather here is sunny, clear, and about 65ish. Absolutely gorgeous! I am sad to report there is no Starbucks in this hospital, so I will have to get my fix before work.

After lunch, I learned about the hospital's IV pumps, PCA pumps, defibrillators, etc. One of the instructors had a Mickey-shaped ID badge holder, which I let him know I coveted. Once he found out I was a Disney addict, he offered extra tickets for me to use when my family gets here. Did I mention I love Cali?! I also learned that I am working entirely too hard back at my home hospital. Now, I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch, but so far I am amazed at all of the things I won't have to do.

For one, I don't have to draw any labs. None. The lab comes and draws them for me. It's incredible. I don't think I have to draw my own cultures either, but I'll have to see. Now me, I would rather keep all of my responsibilities, but goodness! Without labs to draw. .. .whatever will I do? Secondly, let's say my patient is rather large and I need help getting them from the bed to a chair. No need to break my back....I'll just call the LIFT TEAM! They have a lift team people, this is nuts! And apparently a patient who requires continuous dialysis constitutes a 1:1 nurse to patient ratio. Seriously?!?! I visited my unit (anonymously) and discovered it's set up much the way CCU was set up, except I saw one patient on a vent and the others looked pretty stable to me. Whatever am I going to do with my time?

Oh that's right. I'll go the park! McKinley Park is just a few miles away from the hospital and let me just show you how absolutely gorgeous it is! Full of people walking dogs, doing yoga, eating ice cream, and jogging, it's one place I think I'll definitely have to frequent. I'm not sure what I loved more, the ducks or the flowers.

It was a beautiful day to be here and to welcome Spring in.

Tomorrow is my last day on orientation, and then I will get my schedule. I should get a better idea of what work will be like.

Love and miss you all (but not the weather!)!

***By the way kudos to my favorite sister for teaching me about Flickr and linking pictures!

Erin Goes to Cali

As most of you know, I have just vacated the sweet home of Alabama in favor of a short travel nurse assignment in Sacramento California. What was I thinking?!

No, really, I am quite excited! Since I am here all alone, I figured I could at least let my close friends and family know what it's like and what I'm up to. And it's a good way to post pictures.

How it all began. . .

So Jonathan graduated law school in December, took the Bar Exam, and is awaiting results for his application to the LLM Taxation program at UF Gainesville. In the meantime, we are flexible. This travel assignment came up, and I figured, why not? It would give us some extra cash to maybe take a vacation, buy a car if we need to, or hey! move to Florida! It all happened very fast, and I gave UAB very little notice, but they were gracious to me and allowed me this furlough.

I flew out this morning from Birmingham with a layover in Chicago. I was dreading the layover, but to my utter surprise and pleasure, found a little restaurant in the airport called Potbelly's, which Katy took me to (not the airport one, the downtown one) when I visited her a few years ago. They have amazing sandwiches. So now that lunch was settled, I had a 4 1/2 hour flight to Sacramento. Which was really very very long. And boring. And the book I brought is awful and I must find a replacement soon. But we did in fact land to a sunny 57 degrees, and both of my suitcases were there beside a really cool baggage claim thingy. With one quick shuttle to the rental car place, I was off in no time in my new Nissan Versa that only has one powerport, which makes charging your cell phone and your Garmin really quite difficult.

The hotel is only about 10 minutes away from the airport, and I had a good time exploring a few of the nearby roads. I am excited to report that there is a Cheesecake Factory, Macy's, Walmart, Whole Foods Store, many a Starbucks, Bed Bath and Beyond, Best Buy, Walgreens, and lots of other wonderful stores that I have access to.

I wish I had gotten a picture (but I would've felt like a complete idiot) of the two story WalMart that has a buggy conveyor belt that takes your cart upstairs for you. It was the coolest thing ever! And the tell you to never shop hungry for a reason. I will be back of course because I forgot half of the things I was meaning to get.

So now I'm all settled, see the room?















Tomorrow will be more exploring, and I'm hoping to locate a church (do they have those in California?!). I guess I should probably locate Sutter Memorial as well, since that's where I'll be reporting to bright and early Monday morning.

Love you all, and will keep you posted!