Good Sam

Hi all, I've been kind of busy can you tell? The above picture shows that it's hot in Phoenix even the cacti are starting to die. It's been over 100 degrees since I arrived...but what did I expect it's Phoenix right? The monsoon season is almost over, so they tell me. Hopefully the humidity will go down...100 degrees and 50% humidity kinda sucks.
The hospital is just as I remembered. Orientation was a little brutal 6:45 to 5:00 in the classroom with different people speaking and a lot of movies and overhead projector things. We got to see the facility's bomb dog...first that I have seen in my travels. In fact, I don't think they had them last time I was here. The second day was 6 hours of computer training...not too bad.
My husband got here 2 days after orientation so we were able to spend some time together before I actually had to work. I had my 2 days of orientation on the floor which were relatively easy...then they canceled me on Labor day. Boy was I mad. I had to pick up a registry day which wasn't too bad. I worked at Banner Desert in Mesa on their tele floor. It was set up oddly but I got the hang of it by the end of the day. I have been able to work the rest of my days at Good Sam. A few people have recognized me from the last time I was there and I have seen some familiar faces. It's not a bad place to work but it's really busy. It makes the days go quickly though. We usually have a 4:1 ratio with one NA for 15 patients. We normally have a transport nurse and a charge nurse for resource. The only difficult times are when you have someone to go to dialysis and the nurse has to take them or if the travel nurse is busy and you have to take them.
Most of the patients are cardiac cath or post open heart surgery so they are pretty motivated. Much unlike the patients I cared for in Salinas which were highly unmotivated. It makes the job easier if the patients want to learn and get better.
There is a large traveler population at this facility which makes you not feel alone. The staff is mostly traveler friendly and they don't go out of their way to give you the worst assignments. As with everywhere else it comes down to how you present yourself. I went through my orientation with a couple of first time travelers and they are going to have a difficult time I think. The worst thing you can do when you first start a travel assignment is talk too much about yourself, especially to the staff. It's always better to listen and not get too personal too early. We all want to fit in but do it slowly rather than quickly. Also, the staff really doesn't want to hear about how things are better at your other hospital.
Just a little advice for ya...well as always first do no harm....