7 years and counting...

So I can hardly believe it, but I have been working as a nurse for seven years now. Today was my anniversary of starting my first Nursing job at Harborview in Seattle. When I started, I used to look at nurses who had been practicing for more than 5 years and think they knew an awful lot, and those over 10 years definitely knew what they were doing! So why do I feel like I'm still trying to figure it out as I go?! Perhaps because I change specialties every couple of years? In a lot of ways, the ER has really helped me "pull it all together", as I've used experience from every single one of my specialties at some point or other. I could recount stories from my years, but I've already done that...perhaps for my 10th anniversary I will come up with new stories!

All I can say is that I've had the opportunity to see people at their best and at their worst, and sometimes it's been at the same moment... I'm amazed at the strength of the human spirit at times of personal crisis and significant change... and it's not just in the patients and their families. I have been blessed to work side by side with some amazing people over the years...

The Burn Unit attracts a distinct, and special type of nurse. Not every nurse can do it...there's some thing just wrong about people who look forward to and enjoy that initial debridement of a burn...it's like peeling a sunburn...almost. Bob helped me get my first successful IV start...I had tried 4-5 already with other people coaching, and just hadn't been successful, so of course I was freaked out that I was never going to learn...then he encouraged me and helped hold down the leg of a man going through DT's (severe alcohol withdrawal), while I somehow started an IV in the leg vein where the man couldn't reach it to pull it out again! After that, I felt like I really could do it... He also helped me with my first patient that died, helping me laugh and keep things light so I didn't get too emotionally wrapped up in the event. And he gave me Christmas trees from his farm for the last couple of years I lived in Seattle! Karen and Monya taught me the importance of organizing your work, and laughing with patients and with each other! They also taught me about burn care in children, especially young children, and how to make it manageable. They are some of the more amazing nurses I know! We truly enjoyed our jobs!

In L&D, Susan believed in me enough to send me into a "routine" delivery to watch her new nurse help with the baby...there were some last minute severe complications, and the baby came out not breathing...It became my first baby resuscitation that I did all by myself...or at least where I was the most "senior" baby-nurse who knew what to do...I somehow kept it together, and that baby was just fine after a few minutes. Marilyn taught me that it was possible to do blood-draws on newborns without hurting them (they slept through it!), and I learned how and became proficient at it.

With Peds, Lisa encouraged me in everything I wanted to do, as I talked about maybe someday becoming an ER Nurse. She was fabulous with children, and great with families.

And finally in the ER, I have come to know some amazing people...too many to mention individually. One of the things I've been impressed by is just how much nurses and all medical staff for that matter are "everyday people" with their own problems and challenges. They are no exception to life's hardships...yet somehow, they set it aside to come in every day and care for another as if that person is their priority, sometimes when their own lives are falling apart, or barely hanging on by a thread. It is the one common trait I've witnessed over and over in medical people that I admire the most. I believe that to love another above yourself is one of the greatest gifts.