Friday 13th

Of course my worst day of my consolidation had to be yesterday on Friday the 13th. So the day started with me not being in the mood to be at the hospital after those 5 juicy days off I had. I also did not have any coffee...Never underestimated coffee...it can make a difference!!! In addition I didn't sleep much that night thinking and trying to foresee my next 4 days on that floor. Anyway it's 12:39 and I have to sleep(i still have 2 more shifts to go). So to make story short, I got so busy with my patients that I forgot to give one puffer to a lady in an isolation room AND I was honest about it to my preceptor, so we had to write an incident report. I was so disappointed and frustrated...you have no idea. My preceptor tried her best to make me feel better, but I could care less about her comments at that moment. The Irony is that I also was supposed to have my midterm evaluation on that day. I kept asking myself, "Why did I have to make this error today????" Anyway, our midterm eval went very well and my meticulous work of fitting in tiny notes and examples of my experience into satisfactory columns paid off. Lorine loved that because she could see what I actually had an opportunity to do and how much thought I put into my care for my pts. We left the floor on a very positive note...I felt a bit better, but still frustrated about my med error.
My dear husband picked me up and heard the whole story on the way home.
Then "I saved the best for the last... on Fri 13th" at around 10 pm my preceptor called me and asked me if I gave a medication that I have signed off, which was for the evening. My head span for a couple of long seconds on the phone. All I could say " No I didn't....Loraine, I'm so sorry!" I went to bed with an awful feeling, but happy that this Fri was almost over and the next day, today, would be a new and better day. AND it was!!!

Right in The middle Of my Consolidation... he he :)

So ...I don't know where to start and how much I should write about my consolidation here. Overall, it's going well. I'm learning a lot, but I've got to say there are still millions many things I 'm still confused about. And of course, I, being so diligent and checking everything 500 times, take too long...so I end up running late for my assessments, pills, & brakes. Yesterday and today I had full load, 4 pts. Yesterday I was very frustrated, my whole day was disorganized, we were late for breaks all the time. I was getting very upset with different things. On those days, I usually become so pessimistic when i come home...I start to think that it's too much for me to handle, I can't do that, I don't know when I'll be able to deal with all that. However, I tried to think through how could I improve next day, today. I can say I'm happier with my work today. I was still very busy with all my pts. Among 3 diabetic pts out 4, I did discharge and admission, not quite by myself, but I still did the assessment. I drew blood, I never thougt I'd actually like to draw blood. I keep surprising myself.
Anyway, overall I'm thinking of staying on that floor. I know it'll be hard, it'll take time and my patience before I get more comfortable. At the moment I'm just happy that I'm half through and that I'll have a great break and I'm definitely going back to Russia this summer, no matter what!!!! I wonder where will I be next year at this time :) ???? I do have a few predictions, but I'll keep them to myself for now :)!!!