Welcome. Getting flung into the real world after nursing school Telling my non-nursing friends about nursing school The first time I was left alone at the nurses’ station When someone tries to give me report the second I walk onto the unit When I see that I’m working with my favorite nurses + techs and I have a good assignment When the patient can lift their hips so I can just switch out their incontinence pad all by myself When the charge nurse asks who wants to take the next admission One has to pee. One is demanding pain meds, now. One is hypertensive. One is deteriorating. One just crapped everywhere. A doctor is rounding. A family is calling. A transporter is waiting. And pharmacy is on the phone. When the doctor backs me up to a patient who refuses to listen to me When we’re elbow-deep in a code brown, run out of wipes, and I have to hold the patient up while someone runs to get more When I say goodbye at the end of the shift to my patient who loved me After I give report to the floor on my complicated, mean, and labor-intensive patient Running interference for the docs Whenever I can’t get the IV pump to just. stop. beeping! Me after report source
