New Places, Small Spaces, and New Faces

So, week 1 in Cali has come to a close and what an amazing week it has been!  I have only been in "orientation," which means we've been listening to people talk about policy, procedure, the computer programs we'll be using, we've been oriented to their pumps and IV start kits, etc . . . My first shift on the floor is tomorrow evening.  I am nervous about the e-charting and I am nervous about how relationships will go with those I will be working on the floor with (agency nurses, like myself, are the bottom of the totem pole, and can be "dumped" on . . . so, we'll see! Everybody's been very hospitable and welcoming so far, though.).

Stanford:  It's a beautiful and large campus!  8,180 acres v. Texas Tech's 1,839 acres.  Stanford is the second-largest contiguous university campus in the world; Texas Tech is the second-largest contiguous university campus in the US.  I haven't yet explored the campus itself very much, but, from what I've seen so far, it's very nice. The GPS and MRI were invented at Stanford.  The technique of creating recombinant DNA was discovered at Stanford.  And, my Grandma is probably proud to know that Tiger Woods went to Stanford.

Palm Drive

People relaxing on a Sunday afternoon at Stanford 

(frisbee, football, sitting, reading, walking)

The hospital itself is very large as well and is a "Magnet"  hospital (click "Magnet" for more info).  I will be working on the Oncology unit.  I've always wondered about the differences/similarities between institutions, so for my nursing friends, I'll list some.  Some of the differences between my old hospital and the new one include ELECTRONIC charting ( ! ) in the new v. hand-charting in the old, COWs ("computer on wheels") in the new, med scanning (new), insulin pens (new) instead of drawing each injection up, and, using the same IV pumps as the PCA pumps at my old hospital, just with added "channels" on them.  Some similarities:  our old angiocaths--needles for IV starting-- (I'm very excited about this!  I liked the old ones better and they don't bleed as bad, so good news for my patients!); the PCA pumps; hourly rounding and AIDET (but nowhere to chart the hourly rounds!).

I have been so fortunate to meet other young women in very similar situations as I, in the same stage of life, and who have made the cross-country trip to Cali to work here.  They are so much fun, so friendly and such blessings!  It has been a relief to have somebody to laugh with about the crazy and unique experiences we have had driving across the country, shelling out tons of cash to get started, the "misinformation" incidences, learning Cali together, etc.  We have laughed a ton and I think we were all "friend hungry," so we really hit it off.  There are two from Boston, who both drove the entire way, one drove down the long way through New Orleans, Austin, etc.  We have another from Illinois and another from Minnesota.  We have enjoyed checking out the sights together such as downtown of our hometown, we drove to the coast for a nice dinner by the water and dipped our toes in the ice-cold Pacific (a couple of us for the first time), and hiked the Redwood forest together . . . They're great women!  Three of them will stay for full 3-month assignments, while "Minnesota" and I will move on in a few weeks. : (  Good times!

California:  The first things I thought were "Wow . . . it's so dry!" and, "Does that brown cloud EVER go away?"  (The answer is no, btw.)  I have made many wrong turns, hit the curb probably a hundred times (not used to small parking spaces), need to work on my parallel parking (not as good as I used to think I was!), feel like I am doing well to make myself go broke (EVERYTHING is so much more expensive out here), hope I don't have lots of red light tickets coming in the mail (LBK has not been good for me in that respect), and, am not used to all the pedestrians who don't mind just stepping out in front of you at any moment.  The area is absolutely beautiful (what gets better than an awesome city, mountains, the coast, the golden gate, the bay, forests, the valley, and vineyards?).  I have been shown around the city by a native and was able to meet an old TTU buddy and his friends in the city for the game yesterday, which helped make the week awesome!

All in all, it's been an amazing experience so far.  I'm looking forward to actually nursing and being a contributing member of society again. : )

Hope you are all doing well and are blessed!  Enjoy the cooler fall weather!

(More pics of the trip to the Redwoods here)