First week of Clinicals

Hello everyone,
Well , I started clinicals yesterday at DRMC with S.D., the ER Director. We went over staffing for the emergency department and he explained how the ER is staffed on a daily basis. I also attended two meetings with him on yesterday. First, we met with the HR Director because there are a couple of employees who have been abusing the attendance policy. S.D. was Interim Director for a couple of weeks and was just offered the position full time on last Friday. He stated that the manager before him was very relaxed about the attendance policy and never address these issues with the employees. There are actually a couple of employees who should be fired based on their excessive absences and tardiness. The HR Director informed S.D. to have a meeting with the ER staff and advised them that they are all starting over on a clean slate with their attendance and the attendance policy will be in place effective immediately because it would not be fair to fire any employees regarding their attendance because the previous manager did not communicate this issue with them. I also had the opportunity to attend a trauma meeting. DRMC is actually trying to become a level 3 trauma center and the meeting involved the criteria for meeting level 3 requirements, including documentation.
Today, I had the opportunity to attend a performance improvement meeting. All of the directors from the various hospital units are required to present a performance improvement project. It was very interesting. The nurses presented data that was evidenced based. I learned a lot in this particular meeting. I must admit, prior to this meeting, I actually thought that statistics and the research class was a waste of time. I didn't think I would be using that information because I haven't in my 9 years of nursing. I am actually seeing a whole different side of nursing and I am excited about learning new information. I know this will make me a stronger, more confident nurse. Who knows, I may want to go into management after graduation. Well shall see.

Ready for Clinicals

Well, I have had a productive 2 weeks with setting up my clincal hours. Last week I called the Emergency Department at Denton Regional Medical Center and I spoke with the ER Director, Scott in regards to my clinicals. He was more than happy to be my preceptor. Next I had to meet with the clinical educator to fill out hospital paperwork and a background check was required prior to me starting clinicals. It took approximately three days and everything came back fine. Today, I met with Scott for the first time to go over my hours and for him to sign the preceptor form. I finally faxed everything in (Praise God). Now I am ready to begin my clinicals on Monday. I am excited about this particular clinical because I will be exposed to a totally different area of nursing. Wish me luck. Have a great weekend everyone.

1st week of school

Hello everyone,
My name is Angela Anthony. I am 35 years old and have been an emergency room nurse for 10 years. This is the first week of school and i just wanted to create my first blog. I am so excited about graduating this semester. I also just had my first child last wednesday, so this semester is going to be challenging and rewarding for me. Everyone keep me in your prayers and I wish all of you much success in this course.