I went to orientation on Wednesday. It lasted from 8am to 4pm. The staff was very thorough and informative. I had to take and pass several tests, which included an actual skills checkoff in a lab. I have never been to an agency that does that or even has a lab. The lab was set up with an electronic "dummy" that breathes and has a heart beat/blood pressure. Since I was the youngest person at the orientation, I was chosen to do all of the check offs in front of everyone before they had to do theirs. Of course, that made me nervous because I can't stand when a lot of people are watching me do something....especially if it pertains to something that I am being tested on! I had to take a manual blood pressure, get the pulse rate, get the respiration rate, take care of the ventilator that was hooked up to the "dummy" at one point, give a bed bath, reposition the "dummy", transfer my orientation instructor from bed to wheelchair to toilet chair to wheelchair and back to bed again, demonstrate how to shave a male and female patient, change an occupied bed, weigh someone using the weight lift, clean the catheter with it still being in the "dummy", empty the catheter, clean around a feeding tube and a g tube, change a diaper, lift the "dummy" off the bed using the sling lift, perform pericare and demonstrate shampooing someone that is bedridden. I forgot to mention that I did all of that without having any sleep whatsoever the night before and I passed with flying colors! That is great considering that I haven't worked in health care in a while! There are literally specific ways that those things have to be done and if they weren't done by the book, points were counted off. The only thing that I messed up on was during the pericare, and I just forgot to fold the washcloth after each swipe. Oops.
I passed the written tests with a cumulative grade of 97. I didn't think that I did that well so I was surprised. Right now, I am waiting for my background check to come back....and it will because I don't have a criminal history. Once that comes back, I will have to go back to Murfreesboro to talk to the staff about payroll and to complete a drug test. After that, I'll be assigned to a case in Madison or Joelton.
For the first time, in a long time, I am excited about starting a job. I have been away from health care for a while and have missed taking care of others. I think that working with only one person at a time will prevent me from becoming burned out like I was when I worked in nursing homes. I always felt that I couldn't devote enough time to every patient that I had because I always had so many to take care of. This way, I only have one at a time and can really take my time and be there for them. It won't be as stressful. I may work with elderly patients or I might even have a newborn or child to take care of. I could get a patient of any age. I hope that I don't get a case where the patient is on a ventilator or comatose but if I do get that type of case, I'll do the best that I can. It's mentally and emotionally stressful to take care of someone that is in that condition. I know because I have taken care of several people who were like that. Thankfully, I'm a pretty strong person and can handle patients in that condition.
I really hope that this job works out for me. I think that it will because I will mostly be on my own and won't have a supervisor there looking over my shoulder. At the most, I might have a nurse come in to check on the patient for a little while or there may be other family members there at different times, but that isn't so bad.
That is pretty much all that has happened this week. I'm thankful that I have something going for me when it comes to having a job. I have been depressed so much because of my job situation and finally everything is getting better! :)
Don't forget to set your clocks back an hour! We get an extra hour of sleep tonight!
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