1st day on MY Unit!

I had my first day on the floor I'm assigned to, the Children's Special Care Unit (CSCU) on Wednesday. I got was there like 'a real nurse' working the 12+ hour shift 7A-7P. I have a "Clinical Coach" named Patricia who I met and will be shadowing for the next couple of months. Memorial Hermann has a very well-planned schedule for orientees like me, who are either new graduates or nurses making a move into a new specialty. There are classes for me to attend each week, shifts to work with my clinical coach, evaluations by the Pediatric Educator, and all kinds of paperwork to fill out about my patients after each shift! Its like being in school again...almost. There aren't real grades or tests but knowing I have a child's life in my hands is even more important and mind-consuming! The unit is situated in pods, so 1-2 nurses are assigned to a pod with up to 6 patients. I just happened to be in the pod closest to the Pediatric ICU, which is normally reserved for cardiac patients, since there are times such a fragile diagnosis could be rushed right away back to the PICU. I'm on the 9th floor of the Hermann Pavilion, and our doors literally open to the PICU. Very humbling...

The kids on my floor are what another hospital would consider an ICU patient. But since we are in the Medical Center, the PICU is reserved for the extremely ill children, and my unit is more of a step-down, or IMU (Intermediate Care Unit).

There was one code blue while I was there. My nurse just let us stand back in the hall instead of into the patient's room. She had been around for other codes on the same patient and gave me some of his history regarding his stay on their floor. My colleagues have high expectations for me to work and trust my skills on their floor. I'm already signed up for PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support) and ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support) just due to the critical nature and responsibilities I have in the CSCU. Let the studying begin! (again)

I feel like I have already seen so many great things too. There was a Child Life Specialist visiting one of our patients. I've heard about the work they do, but today I saw one of them singing and playing a guitar for a patient. I had no idea this was implemented. When I asked Patricia about it, she said it was Music Therapy. It works too! I obviously cannot give details about patients, but this little girl was non-communicative and we could really see was reacting to the music. I was so beautiful...