1LT Promotions - Friends

I love promotion ceremonies. I love them more when they are of my friends. It's funny how sometimes your friends don't invite you to their promotion ceremony. Usually this a great sign of recognition and a sign that you're moving up in your career. Odd how that happens.

Thanks 1LT Cipperly for inviting me!

BTS still shot - WAMC Patient Care Touch Video

I've been tasked with producing WAMC's Patient Care Touch video to be shown on the ANC 111th Birthday on 02FEB2012. I've got a couple of LTs on board with me to get video and stills of life around the hospital.

I love OR light. Especially when the house lights are down. I wish I could bring that light to all the shoots I do.

I'll post a link to the final video after it's shown.

3 Tips for success - CPT Board Prep

My name was brought up recently for the AN CPT board!

I found out that I was 8 days from being in the last year group. So close yet so far...

I've updated my DA photo, submitted my OER, and am waiting to meet my DON to go over my ORB. It's awesome that our DON used to work at HRC.

A couple of tips that I have learned through this process

DA Photo - Be yourself. Smile if it's you. Practice posing in front of the camera/mirror. Have someone take a photo of you. Perception is everything and is important when the board looks at you. The photographer will not coach you on your smile. You have to coach yourself. You spend about 5 mins in the studio. Make it count. You can only update your DA Photo once per year.

OER - Be specific in your job title. Instead of "Clinical Staff Nurse" put "2N Staff Nurse." I've been on 3 separate wards in my career so far but my ORB looks like I've only been on 2 because of my job title being "Clinical Staff Nurse" at the first 2 wards. Put your location and your duty.

ORB - Have someone who knows what they're doing look at your ORB. This is usually one in your senior leadership. They've been through this process several times. Find one that you know and trust to take a look at it.

The board meets in April. I can't wait!

What grinds my gears...

... is when on-call surgeons don't want to do their job. For instance refusing to come to the hospital from home to admit a patient with uncontrollable nausea issues because the surgeon forgot his hospital issued laptop so he could do it from home (not my problem).

How am I supposed to explain this to the husband who's been at the hospital all day for his wife (the patient), hasn't seen his 3 kids at home in which one of them has down syndrome? Don't put us in a hard place doc.

AAR of 2011

Happy new year everyone! Every year comes with lots of changes and interesting experiences. There's a small recap of I've been through this year.

In June I transfered from the surgical ward to the PACU. It's a different change from being on the floor. It's a much faster pace and I like it. I found out after the first couple of weeks taking care of PACU patients is like taking care of random drunk people - you don't know how they're going to wake up. During my orientation I've taken care of the criers, the flailers, the sleep talkers, the party animals, and more.

Still no word of a deployment. I've given up obsessing over it. I did turn down a CSH postion at Ft. Lewis. I wasn't interested in being with a CSH that was coming back from deployment. The position was offered to me months after HRC put it online as a priority fill. Now it was not a deployable priority fill. Not interested.

In the meantime before going to my next duty station and if I ever deploy I've been keeping myself busy with projects around the hospital. I am the marketing director of our Junior Officer Council in charge of promoting and distributing information about our organization events. I'm glad to work with a team of LTs and CPTs who believe in developing ourselves to be better leaders, learn new tools of our trade, and to exercise them to help our community.

I am happy to meet so many new people this year. Most of them are friends of my other friends I've made in my travels and in courses. I'm glad we are able to still keep in touch even though they are deployed, at new duty stations, or living their lives outside the Army.

My goals this year? Keeping my expectations low with deployment. PCS? Been trying Korea for 2 years. In the meantime JOC has finally given me an outlet to finally let some of my creative ideas take place. Since there hasn't been a real JOC established at WAMC our team gets to set the bar. I'm able to implement the things I've been reading from the books that I've been reading related to business management, marketing, and social media.

Speaking of books here are a couple of books I've read in the past year that have been helpful to me.

Poke the Box - by Seth Godin - This book is about not waiting for permission to do something you know that needs to be done. Ideas are great, but sometimes you need to poke to get your idea into action

Tribes - by Seth Godin - There is a difference in being charge of a team and leading a team. This book has let me use the interwebs as a way to connect with other JOCs in our AMEDD.

Purple Cow - by Seth Godin - This book is about being remarkable. Being average is boring. Be different. Find a purple cow.

Free Prize Inside - by Seth Godin - A great follow up to Purple Cow that has ideas and tips on how to be remarkable with your new idea.

48 Days to the Work You Love - by Dan Miller - This book is about finding your passions, dreams, and turning them into reality. It's your life so make it happen.

Entreleadership by Dave Ramsey - One of the best books on leadership, management, and team building.

That's 2011 wrapped up in a blog. 2012 is going to bring some interesting changes, especially that our military is officially fighting one war. The CPT board is now a best qualified board, 140,000 troops will be cut, and there is still talk about our 20 year retirement plan.

The quote that I'm carrying throughout 2012 is this:

Regret doesn't remind us that we did badly, it reminds us that we can do better - Kathryn Schulz

Happy new year and God bless!