I've officially been let loose!

I'm off orientation at work and i've been thrown into the general mix. It is my understanding that they are going to continue to wean me into a full caseload, although I'm already not far behind. My time management skills are greatly improving, as well as all those other nursey type skills i've acquired. I can already keep up with charting better than some that have been there a while.

I wish I could say i was getting along with everyone, but I cant. My ex-preceptor has taken offense to me taking advice from several other nurses (including our charge nurse) concerning our computerized charting system. By far in pre-op, we spend the most time with paperwork/charting. So when something takes 2 steps instead of 3, or if you can change a time next to someone's name instead of making 35 nurse's notes, you tend to gravitate towards the one that will wind up saving you time. I've been told several times I'm charting correctly because our system is charting by exception, so we simply state that things are within normal limits, and only go into detail when things are abnormal. However my ex-preceptor, who is an old fashioned ex-ICU nurse, spends an extra hour every day catching up on charting because she goes back into the system to make notes. I agree that some are necessary, but one for everything seems excessive. *shrugs* I'm going to go with majority rules with this issue; however, i may have burned a bridge there.

I also flew solo for the 1st time on conscious sedation today, while working with the anesthesiologist on nerve blocks. Overall, it went well. I had my first IV infiltrate while in the block area, which led to a delay...and we all know docs hate to be delayed...argh. However, the anaesthesiologist i was working with was pretty cool about it, and I started another IV right away. Otherwise, the block went off without a hitch.

Only thing I've noticed that kind of sucks about my job is that we're always short staffed. Its a combination of the hospital census increasing and nurses retiring/quiting. I was hired to be the 7th full time pre-op nurse. But directly after I was hired, a nurse retired, so we are at 6 right now. Well, another nurse just put in her 2 weeks because she is moving to Austin. So soon we'll be down to 5. Obviously, we need 7 because thats what management originally intended on having on the unit. Buuuut....now they are saying that we only need 1 more. I really hope they hire 2, because there has been a lot of interviewing going on. This just means that instead of working 5 eight hour shifts, i've been working a lot of 9 and 10 hour shifts. I'm super tired when I get home during the week. However, i have been getting overtime which is nice.

My sister moved into the dorms at Sam today...i'm kinda proud. Nuff said.

Amber and I are DETERMINED to celebrate Christmas in our own house this year...we are currently saving.

I foresee my new year's resolution to be: Become a mommy.