Working at St. Louis Children's Hospital

 

~ Children's Place ~

I work on 10100 at St. Louis Children's hospital. It is a 16-bed general medicine unit with a specialty in gastrointestinal disorders. It was been a joy to work at Children's from day one. Everybody has made the learning experience such a blessing. My bosses, coworkers and fellow employees have been super supportive and helpful. I have felt so welcomed and respected. My orienters' were amazing! I couldn't have asked for better nurses to learn from. The medical staff on 10100 is like a family that I already feel a part of. I thank the Lord continuously for blessing me with such an amazing job with such wonderful people. 

So what do I do? I leave for work at 1800 and get to the unit by 1830. The drive is less than 15 minutes but I have to walk a ways from the parking garage. I get my assignment and log into the computer to look at my patients' info. I can have anywhere between 1 and 4 patients on a given night. I usually have 3 or 4 starting out. I get report from the previous nurse and then we have a nursing team huddle and rounds, where we go look at our patients. After that I get organized and begin my routine. First, I will go to each patient and perform the shift assessment and give medicines if they are due. I then usually chart assessments, education, and update the care plans which takes a while and with interruptions I don't usually get done until right before it's time to do 2200 checks. For the rest of the night I will do checks every two hours, vital signs every 4 hours, and random medicine administrations throughout the night, usually antibiotics or pain medicine. If my patient is less than 1 year, I will make sure to way him or her before their 0500 feed. Labs are usually due at 0500 if they have been scheduled. Sometimes the babies don't have caregivers which means we get to feed them! So fun!! I am enjoying night shift because it is quieter than days so I have time to really learn my job and focus on getting a good routine as I continue to improve my clinical judgment and time management. It also gives me time to get to know my coworkers better. I will do days sometimes but it has been nice starting out on nights. 

Although the unit specializes in gastrointestinal disorders, we get all sorts of patients, including surgery patients, abuse cases, respiratory, and other general illnesses. We see a lot of constipation, Crohn's disease, failure to thrive and eating disorders as well. 

I am learning so much and I am excited for what lies ahead. 

Some of the team. We had a bridal shower for one of the nurses getting married next month. The two ladies on both ends were two of my favorite orienteers. 

Last day of orientation

Compression socks are great for day shift when I am on my feet for 12 hours

First day of work

We get to wear t shirts to work

I still can't believe I am a real RN