Rights of Passage

Wow!
What an awesome week!
I have done so much in 4 shifts.
I hit many rights of passage for a new RN. I've compiled a list even! (Ain't I creative?)

1. Getting yelled at by an MD for no good reason
Seriously! On my 2nd day! He yelled at me because a patient with MRSA had too many "Contact Precaution" signs on his door! (which I didn't put there...and what's wrong with telling people to wash their hands more then once?) Really! Sheesh

2. Earned the respect of an MD by saving his ass.
Different Doctor. I stopped him from leaving after he made some notes in my patient's chart. I had to inform him that she had been experiencing epigastric abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, Her eyes were going yellow and her Bili was elevated. He had missed all that. He thanked me several times for telling him, said something about miscommunication with the On-call doc over the weekend, and then made a point to lean over me to see what my name was on my badge. This morning, He said "Good morning Jo" to me...he knew my name.
He's now my favorite doc. heehee

3. Taught my precepting RN something she didn't know.
Nothing big here...I just taught her how to add a narrative into the computer charting system.

4. Gave my Clinical Manger a new idea for the good of the unit. (This one I stole)
I just suggested that we start putting BP machines (Datascopes) into each room if we could find it in the budget. Our sister hospital was doing that in clinicals and I thought it would cut down on infections.
She said she would seriously consider that one in the next talks about budget.

5. Started a unsupervised IV with 1 stick.
Ya'll heard about that one!

6. Made a difficult judgement call for the good of the patient.
I decided a pt who had been hallucinating all night who was no longer hallucinating could be trusted to no longer be in restraints. It was a good thing too, she needed a central line put in and we found out a few hours later she had endocarditis and was throwing clots (all while withdrawing from crack) She was off to the ICU after that.

7. Delegated to an Aide.
No biggie here. I asked my aide to take my pts' weights for me since they weren't done on the night shift like they were supposed to. Just kinda cool, since I used to be the one grabbing the scale.

8. Calmed a family member.
Had a family member freaking out about the patient not eating. (AIDS, Pneumonia)
It had only been one day since he'd eaten.
I just explained that he wasn't going to starve and the most important thing was his electrolytes and we were watching them and controlling them with IV fluids. I also suggested ways to get him to eat.
That actually seemed to work!
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Listening to: "Sanctified" by NIN