2010 is just around the corner! Boy has it been a fast and furious year for me as my first year as a military nurse. I have learned a lot working the medical/telemetry floor at Womack Army Medical Center, but I know I still have a lot to learn about.
Here are a couple thoughts about my growth as a nurse this year:
Confidence
Only going with I learned from nursing school and the knowledge from NCLEX review so long ago, I started my nursing career in the US Army this last January. There were a lot of new things that I needed to know: new charting procedures, new SOPs for the floor, new treatments for patients, and new population of patients just to name a few. The time I had with my preceptor helped boost my confidence in my skills, assessment, and day to day interactions with my patients and staff. Practice makes permanence of course. It took a while for me to find my "groove" or how I manage my flow for the day, but I feel that I'm getting the gist of a daily routine of what I need to do to get the tasks done for the shift.
Orientating to charge nurse on days dropped my confidence completely. It is a totally different scene than being charge nurse on nights where I was first trained. I am being thrown at every direction: charge nurse huddles, multidisciplinary team meetings, admissions, random requests from doctors, helping with patient care, etc. In the three months of being charge nurse on day shift, I am frightened every time I walk from my truck to the floor. I am afraid of what chaos will await me: which staff member is going to call out, again... how is the patient flow, which staff member is being floated while our acuities are high, has "that patient" come back again, etc.
As charge nurse, I can't be showing my fears by freaking out by every little thing (although a lot of little things will cause me to freak out due to annoyance). I have to maintain command presence by remaining calm, collected, and being assertive in making sure patient flow is smooth and patient safety is maintained at all times. In this position, it's assumed that I will know everything. I do admit I don't know everything, but I know who to ask for further information or will do my best to find the answer.
Research/Further learning
Nursing school was over a year ago and I am glad. However, learning does not stop at nursing school. New advances in technology in medicine have been changing everyday. Research is finding new ways to help treat and cure diseases. If you follow me on Facebook, you'll see my random log of posts related to health care issues around the world, odd medical phenomena, and new nursing tools that would be awesome to have in the work place.
One of my nursing instructors told our class, "There are 14 new medical articles posted every day. How far behind are you?"
Articles are not the only place where I've learned a lot this year. I've been able to talk with informatists, infection control reps, wound care nurses, x-ray techs, medics, pharmacists, and friends who work at different hospitals. There is valuable information that can be obtained by just talking to the people you see everyday at the hospital or speak on the phone with. My favorite is talking to the medics who have been deployed overseas. They have a lot of stories to share about the care they gave during their missions. I also like to ask my friends what happens in their hospital and see what they have going on at their facility compared to where I work. Maybe what works for them may work for us at Womack.
Planning my career
Coming to Womack I thought I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my career. As of now, I am totally lost in what I want to do. There are so many positions and jobs in the Army Nurse Corps that I don't know where to begin. I've been looking at the list of positions on the HRC website and looking at the latest available assignments. I feel like a kid at Christmas looking at the newspaper ads and circling which toys I want.
For now I have decided not to specialize. A fellow colleague decided to go to the OR course, but decided not to go because she felt it wasn't right for her. We both feel that we'd like to remain flexible as a 66H and look for opportunities that arise.
Plans for 2010
Deployment
Our commander-in-chief has ordered 30,000 troops to Afghanistan. As I've learned in OBLC: maneuver drives support, and support drives resources. I fit into support. I am hoping to be deployed next year God willing.
Med-Surg certification
I miss school. Not nursing school mind you, but having to study for something and having a reward at the end. I've been looking at this certification as well as several of my co-workers. One of the LTs on my floor obtained hers recently. I'll keep looking into this.
Conference
I would like to go to a conference of some sort next year. Being charge nurse opened my eyes to management of care from an administrative standpoint. I am also interested in informatics as well. I better start researching!
That's 2009 in the wraps! I pray next year will be a great year for me as I advance in my journey on this road through the Army Nurse Corps. Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, and may God bless and protect our soldiers overseas.
See you in 2010!
