Welcome to the Working Week

If you weren't already aware, I was offered (and obviously accepted) a job at the hospital where I finished my internship in May. It's PRN, or basically part time without the guarantee of 20 hours a week, but I'm optimistic that I can become full time within six months to a year. I also have many, many years of working the night shift to look forward to.

After a nice four-week break, I went back to the hospital on Monday and Tuesday for orientation. Since a lot of it was customer service, and patient lifting, and working as part of a team with patients and their families, I was kind of bored. There is the distinct possibility that I will never see another patient, unless I eventually get to work first shift and start doing bone marrows.

And honestly, that's not too high on my list. I observed two bone marrows, one adult and one pediatric, during my internship. It's an invasive procedure, and while the patient is completely doped up, knowing how uncomfortable he or she is going to be later is tough. And getting a bone marrow is usually not a good sign. Also, I'm still getting the hang of making blood smears and do not believe for one second that I could make a halfway decent bone marrow slide. But I digress. . .

I'm employed, in my field, for a decent wage, at a hospital where I've already learned most of the instruments and enjoy (most of) the people. Not too bad. In fact, maybe the best I could expect.