I'll see you in the ICU!

status post a rough day

I was wiped out today.

I don't know why. I forgot to take my Omega fatty acids, that usually does it, but I didn't remember that I'd forgotten it until a little while ago. It must make a difference.

Mental note: Do NOT forget to take those!

I was also without breakfast when our preceptor (who never let's us stop for breaks unless we ask for them) announced that today we'd work thru lunch and get out early. Fine, but I'm starving NOW.

Add to this that I was assigned a patient with severe microcephaly (a tiny brain) and severely retarded, on Ativan (which had the paridoxical effect on this young kid of giving him loads and loads of energy) so there was plenty of kicking, flailing, and screaming. He's blind, too, but when he swings around a modern-day version of the speak-and-spell ( a much heavier version) he'd land a few.

I got home at 1:30 and was so utteryly wiped out, I fell asleep in my uniform, with my jacket over me for an hour or so.

A fun day.

Add to this the snotty comment in rounds:
The medical director asked the nurses what they'd recommend to her neice who wants to go to Nursing school.

"I went to Maryland and LOVED it" our preceptor said.
A few other nurses said "mm hmmm, me too, I went there"

and then the one lone unsmiling taut face of a prematurely embittered limp-haired woman who said "as long as it's not one of those accellerated programs...those are never very good' and never looked up to see the looks on our faces as we sideways glanced and bit our lips.

"oh, "said the director, "so I should tell her to save her money, then and forget those high end, exclusive colleges, then?"

"oh yes, it's just such a waste of money"

After returning to patient talk for a few minutes, the Medical director focused on me and said "oh, are you nursing students?"
I nodded politely.

but it was all I could do to keep from adding "at one of those accellerated, exclusive programs."

Everyone later told me I should have, but I didn't want to embarrass our preceptor, or make it rough on the other students. I should have put her on the spot, I should have. "oh? there are several people who work on this floor who went through an accellerated program who seem to be very competant nurses...are you saying they are not?" ("bitch?")

I bet she was rejected for the BSN-MSN program and she's holding it against us.
And that's an easier program to get into than the ETP.

She fails to recognize that some of us actually have impressive degrees...it's not like we were sitting around, flipping burgers and decided to do a BSN in a year, ya know?

There are chemical engineers, a few people with undergrads in physiology, people who had finsished premed and passed the MCATs with very respectable scores, biochem majors, pharm majors...

not like she could do it.

posted by sketchmonkey @ 5:05 PM