And now I’m a real live honest to goodness Registered Nurse!! Actually, I’ve been practicing under a temporary licence for a month, but it’s a great feeling to finally have the real thing in hand. WOOOOHOOOO!!!
“There are more things you don’t know than there are things that I do know. I despair of the imbalance.” – Dr. Morgenes, The Dragonbone Chair
Congratulations, and watch out for guys like Wally!
“I thought: opera, how hard can it be? Songs. Pretty girls dancing. Nice scenery. Lots of people handing over cash. Got to be better than the cut-throat world of yoghurt, I thought.” - Seldom Bucket
Say, are you going to be one of those OR nurses, 'cause I got questions.
Suppose they’re doing heart surgery and your chest is open and you sneeze. Does your semi colon go flying across the room?
What do you do if at the end of the operation you take a count and you’re short a scalpel, two homo stats and a pair of pinking shears?
What if in the middle of the operation the surgeon’s pager goes off and it’s his stockbroker? Does he turn things over to one of his flunkies so he can go to a phone and give instructions to sell/buy/hold/trade?
Do you have a backup plan in case the surgeon says, “Fuck it. I can’t do this anymore. I’m in a dead-end job.”
And finally, what kind of music is piped in during the operation?
I’ve been in the biz for almost twenty years and must say that the rewards are often intangible. When I go home after work, I can at least know that someone’s life is a little better from my efforts.
Congrats, Nightingale! (Or should I just call you “Florence”?) I’m with ultress on this: Not a job that anyone can do. I rank it up there with policeman and U.S. President as a job that I could not and would not have. (I run short on empathy.) I’m sure you’ll be a great nurse.
Now with 1000 posts of pure wisdom!
(or something)
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that every relative and neighbor you have will now assume that you can diagnose "this pain that kinda comes and goes, but it really sorta is mostly here (pointing vaguely to the abdomen) and it only happens when I (choose one: eat a big meal, don’t eat, watch someone else eat, think about eating, or when I am around chemicals (unspecified, just chemicals)).
I guess we should be flattered.
Immense good luck to you and refer to my email for pressing infection control questions.