Riverside Saga 1

This place I am working at now is A TRIP! They hired me to staff a certain unit, however, it really feels like I am working a float pool position. I understand floating, however, again, HIRE ME UNDER THAT POSITION! But I have gotten over it...the place I am hired to work is any ICU nurses worse nightmare.....

ER Holding

So this is the hospital's purgatory....Your not in ER hell...but you haven't quite made it upstairs to the units. You are assigned 2 ICU patients (required ratio by California state law) which are brought over from ER. But this is killing part, they are RUTHLESS!!!! How you ask!? For example: the 1st night I worked there off of orientation I was given report on a patient that was to be brought over to holding...they arrived as expected. 30 seconds later I learned I was admitting another patient...2 minutes later the other patient rolled up! YES! Without a report being given or any prior notice! Of course the ER nurses were like "so what!?" I was like every where else in America before you transport a patient to a different unit or area proper report needs to be given! How can I set up a room and prepare equipment if I have no prior notice or report? Yes its a nightmare, but it gets worse!!!! This ER holding area is set up like the ER!! Supplies are spread out every where, noting makes sense, very scattered brained! For example, to get central line dressings you have to walk over to main ER to get it! ITS RIDICULOUS! It gets worse....so I asked the charge nurse for an IV pump and she LAUGHED IN MY FACE! I thought I was being punked! Is it so much to ask for a couple IV pumps in a HOSPITAL!? I didn't know it was so BLASPHEMOUS! Its something else! You can't be expected to preform at a maximum capacity if you don't have basic equipment! To safe guard myself, I definitely let my recruiter know who passed it on to the clinical liaison at my company. A great fellow traveler told me "you don't communicate things like that directly to the facility, the company acts as the liaison and fights your battle". Not to mention you have these patients behind curtains and can't see your monitors. Its a trip yall. The lengths hospitals go to make money. In the main ER its worse they actually line people up in the hallways and separate them by cloth dividers...you know the kind from the 1920's....

Night in ICU

Aside from the ER holding hell, I had the opportunity to work in ICU there and it was pretty nice. Because of the mandatory ratios there is no tripling! I told those nurses of how I was tripled and treated in New York they were shocked. Hell this one nurse almost had a panic attack thinking about it. The unit was well stocked with supplies the nurses were extremely sweet and knowledgeable it was a little slice of heaven. As far as acuity goes, I don't think I will ever encounter the high levels of the Texas Medical Center in Houston. The unit took care of post op heart and trauma/neuro patients. Only level II trauma, and your average cardiac surgeries. No devices and no transplants. They DO transplant kidney and pancreas at this facility. At 1st the idea scared the heck out of me, but im sure due to financial circumstances everyone can't move to the big city to go get their transplants. The most seemingly "complicated" patient on the unit had a balloon pump and a swan catheter. Nothing special to me. CVRR at S.L probably has the sickest patients in the nation hands down.

Worthless charge nurse

OK I experienced the dumbest charge nurse in Temple Texas and I have just experienced the laziest worthless charge nurse in the history of nursing on this med/surg floor last night. Strike 1: I asked her to assist my patient with wound vac change. She ignored me. I am not well versed in wound vacs! I AM A CARDIAC CRITICAL CARE NURSE!!! She didn't offer any alternatives nor take any real interest in the fact the patient needed help. Strike 2: Cops were on unit investigating an elder abuse charge. The cop approaches me and was like "well the patient gave verbal consent for us to review her medical record". WRONG! A new grad would have accepted that, however my license is more important to me than that! HIPPA violations can END your career! Therefore, I needed something in writing! I called the charge nurse to inquire and she cut me off exclaiming "Im in a MEETING". Whoa! Lol of course i pissed her off...in so many words I was like I don't care what you are doing, the cops are on the unit! LOL! She then throws this piece of paper at me that I was not familiar with...so staying true to Brandon lol, I looked at the paper and told her "I don't know what this is, I don't have time to deal with this...I need to give meds to my other patients". Strike 3: I had a patient in respiratory distress and where was she?! Sitting at the nurses station! If looks could kill!!!! I am going to report that incident to my recruiter also! Its ridiculous! Of course I knew exactly what to do with my patient in respiratory distress but its the principles!

More to come!!!

BS RN

Coast to Coast

Greetings readers! I am now working on an assignment in Riverside California!

Working the burn unit wasn't so bad after training my stomach to deal with looking at burned flesh and the pain people suffer during dressing changes. That took a few weeks...lol. Well everything was wonderful on the burn unit until 10 weeks in when the manager was asked to give me a reference. I thought sure why not, I haven't had any real issues on the unit...the staff is pretty nice, so I shrugged it off. This asshole gives me the equivalent of "needs improvement" in all of the categories and reasoning included "we have talked about him about issues multiple times, he is a diva". Ok lets get some things straight, I was never approached about ANYTHING working on this unit! Usually as a travel nurse, if you things people don't like working on a unit YOU ARE MADE AWARE IMMEDIATELY! Not 10 weeks into an assignment, hell if its the 2nd day you are made aware! 2nd off, how professional to call someone a diva? Ok, how about some proof and documentation. There was none because it was fabricated in this guy's imagination! I am an adult and I will own up to my mistakes but this guy here just had it out for me. So to conclude New York and the burn unit: Night staff was great, Managers can kiss some dirty assholes. How unprofessional and conniving!

California!

To be honest I don't know how in the hell I ended up out here! The original plan was to stay home for a few months and chill then travel...then the plan changed to stay home and try to get a position on at the hospital I started at then apply for grad school, then the plan changed to I am leaving Thursday to start work on Monday.My recruiter was very pushy but I had to break it down for him that I am doing this on my merit and I will leave when its my time and lets just say my time came. My recruiter has been almost fired at least 5 times within the past 10 months but always manages to make up for things before I can compose the email!

I did 2 telephone interviews and was given 2 offers. One in Riverside close to LA and Mountain View, south of San Fransisco. I went for the higher paying job with the night position. Mountain View sounded great but they wanted day shift ICU and I don't like working day shift at all! The position I am currently working is officially titled "ER holding" however, we are taking care of the critical patients there. To describe ER holding it would be like purgatory. You aren't quite in ER hell but you haven't made it up to the floor yet lol!

This unit will be very hard to work in because there are no unit norms, you have to deal with ALL of the doctors (WHO ARE NOT ON TEACHING SERVICE) there are no supplies or IV pumps! However, it will be interesting because I will probably be taking care of all kinds of different illnesses. I will say this, I will not rush nor will I be pushed to make a mistake because they are trying to "move beds". I can already see the time coming where everything and everybody will be rushing except me! Somebody is going to be pissed off but frankly I won't give a damn because i'll tell yall like I told one of the supervisors out there: When im sitting in unemployment line because of a lack of a license this hospital isn't going to help pay my bills.

The computer charting SUCKS! Whats is it, Meditech or something! ITS SO SLOW AND IT LOOKS LIKE MOS DOS! Its horrible! I can say this about NYC, the computer charting at that hospital was impeccable! Everything was computerized, orders, vitals...hell everything except consents! It was wonderful! At this place you have to interpret MD chicken scratch and guess on scribbles! Its a nightmare and I have very little patience for it! Thank goodness for unit secretaries!

Well I have already had a semi run in with one of the trauma surgeons. He was being a smart ass-asshole telling me of what the nurse before me should have told me and so on and so forth. In the true Brandon way I told him in an ideal perfect world things would be the way you said it, unfortunately thats not the way of the world. What these people will learn about me is I am in the business of taking care of people. When I hit the door, me and how I feel is left in the streets! It all becomes about the patients! So if I have to make a call 2am that is what I am going to do! If the physicians don't like it then they should go work at a teaching institution JUST LIKE I PLAN TO DO IN 12 MORE WEEKS! I WILL NEVER EVER WORK AT A SMALL NON TEACHING COMMUNITY HOSPITAL IF I CAN HELP IT!!!!! Also they will learn regardless of what they do at this little community hospital, I am a world class nurse and give world class care. No short cuts, no laziness! The foundation I stand on as a nurse is a strong one and I will never ever compromise it for some crazy doctors, nurses or charge nurses. Didn't do it in Texas or New York WILL NOT DO IT IN CALIFORNIA!

So get ready folks! I am sure to have plenty to blog about working in the little hell hole! At the same time I will be open minded and make it work! LOL!

BS RN

Pause of a Saga

Greetings folks, I know it has been a while since my last post but I really had nothing to rant about these past three months! Lol, which was a great THING!

So I started on the burn unit back in October and I thought to acuity was low in the CT ICU, these fools are staffed lavishly with these cake patients! Some of the burns are really severe and can take up to 2 hours for burn care...its just a different state of mind there.

In normal ICUs they would staff based on the patients, how many are on pressors and drips...this unit it staffed on some imaginary grid made up in nursing heaven...THE ICU SIDE OF THE UNIT ANYWAY. They have a total of 40 beds which include 20 ICU beds and 20 step down beds, and pediatrics are included in the step down unit. At any point in time you are assigned patients on the "ICU" side or on the step down side. One the the great/horrible things about this unit its usually not full of burn patients. Granted when the ICU side has non burn patients its great because its in my comfort zone BUT when the step down side has non burn patients ITS LIKE WORKING ON MED/SURG. The worse night I had in the past 3 months I was assigned to 6 patients with a LPN taking vitals and handing out pills. Your probably thinking, hmmm thats not so bad, however, I had never had to take care of 6 patients even in my career including nursing school! Its hell remembering and charting on 6 dang patients! I'll finish up the night which shall remain in infamy a little later...

After about a month, I was able to stomach doing burn care and making the spandage "garments". Burn care can basically be broken down into 4 different (if not less) categories. IT IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE AT ALL LOL! I'm pretty sure a nurse coming from burn ICU into a cardiac ICU the transition might not be so simple...(I can hear burn nurses scuffing now...) Most of the patients were vital signs every 4 hours, with out any prior medical histories! IT WAS CAKE! Thats why I haven't anything to complain about!!! LMAO! I would have extended on this contract but I haven't been home since September/October and among other things.

I did everything anyone who had never previously lived in New York City would do during the holiday season! Visited all of the holiday windows, went to the Thanksgiving parade, statue of liberty, broadway shows, the lighting of the Rockefeller Christmas tree, went on a dinner cruise for new years etc etc. My time in New York City has been invaluable! Native New Yorkers gave me the "are you serious, ewww" look when I would tell them of my exploits during the holiday season. BUT HEY! It was nothing like I have ever experienced before in my life!

BS RN

NYC Saga: Throughout!

I don't want folks to think this blog is just about me complaining about every small detail of working. I am dedicating this post to all the COOL things I have done while here in NYC!

This was some fancy rib dish from restaurant week!

So there is this cafe near the hospital that serves alcohol to us after work in the mornings! The best times! Mimosa and a Sangria! I promise they have the strongest mimosas I have ever had in my life. Rumor has it they put shots of vodka in them especially for us! After two I am READDAAAYYYY!!!!

Lenore and Heather! Lenore building mate, building and burn extraordinaire Heather my other burn extraordinaire!  I met both of them after work at breakfast while ranting! Lets just say after meeting me in my ranting state and you still come back for more, destined to be buds

Brent and Heather

The baddest clerk in the land! And my savior for the past 3 months! Don't talk about her music and make sure you have your diets in or you will get the evil eye! LMAO! Thanks a mill kadi!!

ME on the Brooklyn Bridge! Beautiful views!

WTC at dusk, its just a big hole there....

NYC Saga: 2

Greetings folks!

Well a lot have things have transpired and changed since my last post!

A.) Renewing at the same facility but A DIFFERENT UNIT (I will explain)

B.) End of my 2nd contract

C.) Hell on earth

I have renewed my contract on a burns unit! Yep, thats right folks. What do I know about burns? Guess I will be soon to find out! But then again, I had never worked in a cardiothroasic ICU before either. What I have discovered about ICU nursing is: at its foundation, its all the same! You just have to pick up and learn on the specific details of each unit. YES, each unit! Not condition! The books say the research based treatments, then there are the right treatments, then there are unit specific treatments. One of the complexities of travel nursing. ANYWAY...

Staying in the same apartment, its not the fanciest or the most luxurious however, when I walk out of my front door its awesome! AND I think I will be on the Halloween parade route (or just off of it). Didn't want to bother with moving, I have already started accumulating my signature piles of paper....its free for me so why not?

This new contract will be through Jan 15, hopefully I will be out of town before the brutal winter starts to come full swing out here. It seems so miserable...I am a Houstonian, we don't have REAL snow. We shut it DOWN for frost! So this burn unit is 40 beds, 20 ICU and 20 step down. All of the nurses have to change into hospital provided scrubs and you have to wear hats and shoe covers during your shift. Its OR-ish except people are burned up. They say there are chances I may be floated to the step down unit, but after working that shift in cardiac step down...i don't care. Patients require less attention and you just answer call lights...

So last night was my the last night working on the current unit (well I made it my last night). It was probably one of the worst nights of my career. I was tripled with three time bombs and one after another they went off! It was complete mayhem! Not to mention I was screwed over by the charge nurse and silly manager. So at the beginning of the shift I was being pulled in the room by my confused patient who needed frequent reorienting. Then the vented patient needed attention because of the needy family member who was present. While tending to their needs the resident runs up to me asking me why my other patient's blood pressure was above the parameters. I simply replied "I have them the meds, now what do you want me to do?" I was HOT! Two of my patients were on vaso active drips which I was trying to manage along with a vent (the 3rd). So after I got the one patient's blood pressure down to the parameters (they had a dissecting aneurysm) it was time to draw blood. Then I was confronted by the charge nurse stating the person I was covering for lunch would also be tripled meaning I would have to cover 6 patients!!!! And that other nurse was not the strongest of nurses at ALL and to be truthfully honest, didn't really trust them even clicking my vitals and doing I and O's. I told her that was dangerous and instead of me risking my license I would rather not take a break and if she didn't like it she could run back and tell that to the manager...Yeah, I was pissed so the mouth piece got a little loose! LMAO! So I went in the tend to my vented patient and right before my eyes they started having a freaking seizure! Ok folks, I am a CARDIAC nurse meaning neuro really isn't my strong  point...so shit I took it back to the ABC's and 123's of basic nursing and held down their arms so they wouldn't injure themselves (or in their case EXTUBATE themselves). So I am watching this patient while they go through this episode because i knew if neuro was coming, which they later did, that I was going to be grilled on what EXACTLY happened detail by detail. Next thing I know this dizzy ass manager come up behind me "OMG THEY ARE HAVING A SEIZURE!" At this point in time my cool went out the window... I was thinking, this asshole...you are a representative of this unit clinically how in the heck are you going to sit there and panic and proclaim the obvious! Why DONT YOU JUMP ON A LEG AND HELP ME prevent this patient from being injured!? Didn't say that! But I did say "no I don't want your help, I need help from someone who is calm and has it together." YEP you need not enter my patients room if you are the following: incompetent, panicky, yelling, or disrespectful of myself or the patient. Oh you know this "manager" did not like this at ALL. They started saying something but to drive the knife and twist it...it totally ignored them. They would live to eat those words a little later in the night, but let me finish telling the story...So we stabilized the patient had them good to go and moved on. ANOTHER patient came in and the "manager" admitted them and it was so funny watching them run around panicked about just 1 patient! I don't understand nurses like that, while you are wasting energy running around looking stupid, you could be focusing your energy on getting things done and prioritizing. They were so frantic about getting another IV in this patient, so guess who was sitting there dead center, ME. And yes i had three patients and I still found time to start an IV on their patient! Just a weak nurse disguised in a white lab coat!!! In the mean time, my confused lady tries to get out of bed! It was such a hot mess and I will never ever willingly work in that place again! But here is the cherry on top: out of all of that chaos, I was able to wean one of my patients OFF of their presser and cut down nearly 50% on the other one AND the seizure patient was resting comfortably! Not to mention this was the 2nd night straight I went without a lunch! I didn't have a lunch NOT because I didn't have my stuff together! But because of lazy ass charge nurses who put people in impossible situations! I ALWAYSSSSSSS have my stuff together unless a patient has a change in condition or in case of an emergency, then YES, a lunch has to wait. On top of all this crap, I have been basically taking care of the same patient for 3 dang months! So exhausting! Trached, Pegged, SECRETIONS SECRETIONS SECRETIONS!  My message to the charge nurses and managers of that unit: No weapon formed against me shall prosper!!! No bad assignments, no bad management, no people who serve for nefarious reasons!

I'll admit it, when presented with certain situations over an extended period of time, I will start to complain or have an attitude. BUT I am human! Bull is BULL, no matter how beautifully you stack it or arrange it. What is fair is fair! This place was like working for HUSTLERS, LMAO! Phil was right from the beginning! They just had the wool drawn over my eyes! Its over now, thank goodness. On to my next adventure on burns. I can say this however, I learned about myself...my new thresholds, knowledge, and ability to take care of myself independently as a nurse. That place isn't worth mentioning again, good luck to them and their staffing.

Mom (marylin) told me there would be places like this.....Good talking to you today! You helped me grow into the nurse I am today and definitely worth mentioning in my blog!

BS RN

NYC Saga 1

I know it has been a while since I have updated but there has been lots of things going on since the last post! So here it goes!!

The unit I am working its good in the fact that they take excellent care of their patients but they treat the travelers like shit! They have done some of the most shady assignments I have had in my career. Granted in the last place was a death trap but if I was tripled at least 2 or more other nurses were tripled too! Example: I was tripled and there was another nurse with only 1 patient who wasn't classified a 1:1! Just shady business all over this unit! Not to mention that everyone is miserable and thinking of leaving the unit! I have never worked around so many selfish, miserable people! So basically at the end of this assignment I am looking to move to another unit or another facility! I know as a traveler I shouldn't be able to complain but hell im still human! I called myself trying to trust some of the staff and complain a little and they showed me none of them are to be trusted! And i don't trust any of them!! Oh but what really pushed me over was this assistant manager! SHE PISSED ME OFF!!! So I walked into the unit 7 mins late (I like to eat before I go to work because I never know when I am going to get floated!) and she makes this big deal out of it and decided to remind me of the unit practices for showing up! It took all I had to keep it professional but, this is my blog damnit and I can say whatever I want: she can kiss my ass. I understand you may have had the thought "oh he is never late so we should worry", however, I am a grown adult and if im not going to show up im professional enough to give a courtesy call! "Well people transcribe the schedule wrong all the time", this is why I do it electronically off of the MASTER schedule! You guys just don't understand how WRONG this rubbed me!!

The 1st code:

There was a patient who was circling the bottom of the toilet, I knew something was probably going to happen...some people you look at and you get a bad vibe...yeah this was that patient lol! Low and behold they coded! So of course I immediately thought of home and the code team! LMAO! Please see my previous posts about my 1st real code ever lol! So anyway I jump on the red cart and ended up charting too! PULLING double freaking duties! Any way, I was not impressed one bit by what I saw! Clearly codes come far and few between because it was an unorganized mess! One nurse thought her CPR cured the patient and started prematurely celebrating, ummm yeah. They had probably the oldest guy in the unit doing CPR for an extended period of time, hell I thought we were going to have to code his old self! LMAO! I was like um, yeah is someone going to relieve him? LOL! So I am just sitting at the cart laughing to myself at how horribly this is going, its like there is so much "experience" and no one can get it together to run this code smoothly. Needless to say, I am not impressed at ALL. Just because you work in a CT ICU doesn't mean jack snap nothing!! Well the code ended how most do....and you would think someone in charge would stay to help to chart, since I was not familiar with the code charting? YEAH RIGHT! They left their own staff member there ALONE! ALONE! They did their postmortem care alone, charted alone, and I did the code charting with a per diem nurse! I have no respect at all for them! Most travelers go find something more important to do during codes, yet I was there in the thick of it when i didn't have to be! and their thank you: LEAVE.

The Aide

This one aid makes me pray every time I have to interact with her! I have never met someone proclaim how proud of the fact they are an assistant and not a nurse YET try to ASSESS DIAGNOSE PLAN INTERVENE AND EVALUATE patient care! Everything I did with this woman, "you need to elevate their arm" "You need to wipe from left to right" "Im going to talk to the doctor" OH YESS!! It drove me crazy!! How in the hell are you going to talk to a doctor in the place of a nurse!? In addition, they would disconnect IV's, arterial lines and silence IV pumps! Oh you know I was ready to print out the nurse practice act and bring it to work!!! But the straw that broke the camel's back: during the code mentioned above this same aid kept interrupting the code for me to go check a patient's colostomy bag! Now this patient belonged in step down vitals every 4 hours minimal care-and she wanted me to STOP THE CODE, STOP CHARTING to go check a colostomy bag! AND had the nerve enough to chastise me for not attending to my patients! I was LIVID! How DARRRREEEEE you chastise me over anything not being done in an emergency situation!? ITS AN EMERGENCY! I wanted to ask her the following,"How we about we stop your life resuscitation to go check on some shit bags!?" But I didn't...or else I would be blogging from Houston at HOME! LMAO! Oh yes Ms. Thang is something else! Of course I complained to some of the staff and instead of being like "yeah I know" they were like "Well I have been dealing with it for 6 years", well THANKS!!! UGH! Its time for me to make a move!

Floated

I was floated to this cardiac step down unit recently and I was PISSED! I haven't worked on a floor since nursing school and I know my time management skills aren't built for step down...or so I thought! I go to this unit and I think the fact that it was something way different intimidated me more the actual work! Oh I was being an asshole! But the more I looked around, the more I was like: oh SHIT these nurses are SOOOO COOL! YES THESE STEP DOWN NURSES ROCKED! They had the kind of positive attitudes that I hadn't seen since leaving Texas! Two nurses started dancing, one asked me if I wanted to order food, one asked me if i needed any help. I was like, omg, have I been jaded so bad by my home ICU I actually had an attitude working with these ladies?! Oh i apologized to them and explained my current working conditions...they understood and accepted me into the fold! It was so refreshing! I just can't wait to go back! My current assignment ends October 9th, and I am looking for a different unit!

More to come!

BS RN BSN

NYC Journey: Part2 the transition

So it all started a little like this:

My phone rang about 1130 (I usually ignore calls after 0900 the morning after I work) and I answered, turns out it was my recruiter..."good news Brandon, we got a contract in NY, NY"...so of course I get excited and a little short of breath...! The details were: ICU nights. LMAO! Yes that's right folks, ICU nights and the name of the facility AND THATS IT!! So out on a leap of faith, I just signed the dang contract! I know it sounds crazy (and probably was) but I signed this contract knowing very little about the assignment accept the pay rate ;-) and the housing would be covered! That is just how intensely bad I wanted to come to NYC! God is so good to me though, come to find out I am working in one of the top cardiothorasic intensive care units in the nation...probably not as intense as back at home but something quite similar! I will have to touch on that a little later....

The transition:

So after my two weeks of hell (actually 3 including the 5 day work week) off one on one off one on two off one on three bull crap the morning after working that third night I immediately packed up Lucy and kicked back to htown on one wheel! Meantime I have several tasks to complete to become compliant with the new facility, drug test, MMR varicella titers drawn and PPD test. As a traveler all of the extra tests (Depending on your company) are out of your pocket! (However are all tax deductible, i have learned) I hemorrhaged so much money to become compliant, not to mention I completely missed my appointment for my tests because my 20 min nap turned into 4 hours because I had not slept in almost 24 hours! It was a nightmare, on top of everything else I was flying out to DC the very next day and had nothing packed nor ready! AND my family wanted to hang out, my air conditioner was broken at my apartment in Houston, the land lady wasn't able to get it fixed until after I was scheduled to be in DC! IT WAS A HELL ON EARTH! THEN, I needed to get keys made and do 7 loads of laundry in my non industrial size washer and dryer...and it was raining because of the hurricane alex. LMAO! So to make a long story short, I left Houston, AC was fixed while I was on the plane, the keys were made in NYC, blood was drawn, urine done, I came to NYC with no white laundry and I saw mama and granny right before my ride to the airport showed up. WHEW!

Vacation in DC! It was awesome food, fun friends and still trying to complete the items for compliance for NYC. I have never appreciated such great customer service as I did in DC. This one clinic tried to hustle me and my insurance for payment for ppd, well now that I think about it, probably was a better idea just to pay for the office visit and get it charged as a co pay then to pay cash...but hey...we live and we learn! Be weary of those "travel" clinics who don't accept insurance, go some where that does and they can take care of what you need for a fraction of the cost! Its all a big sham but you do what you must to be compliant, or you can sit at home unemployed!

So I don't find out my address until the Weds I am scheduled to move in! Actually I was in Maryland visiting my best friend Vicky when I found out! When I told her where i was living she literally SCREAMED with excitement! it was so funny! I had no idea what part of town I would be staying in nor what was all in the surrounding area! LMAO! If i knew then what I know now...yeah, i probably would have screamed too!

The Deets:

I am living in West Village in a studio apartment. Basically you stand in the middle of the room complete a 360 and you have seen the entire apartment, its hilarious. However for NYC standards its some pretty cool digs (pics to follow). As a new New Yorker, I have to catch three trains to work: 2 or 3 express to times square then the shuttle to grand central then the 6 to 68th street. It sounds worse than it actually is...i have it down to a science where it only takes 30 min to get to work. 30 min of walking and getting on trains is a whole heck of a lot different than sitting 30 min in traffic. Plus I manage to sit around the most insanely hilarious situations on the train...I just keep my ipod on and smile to myself. I work in a large hospital in NYC (I care not to divulge the name for privacy reason and not to burn bridges, however, if you want to know email me!) in CTICU. Its a 20 bed unit and the main diagnosis include MVR, AVR, CABG etc and yes they do VADs. I only take care of their "chronics" or basically their CCU patients, nothing fresh post op. Its nothing special...however things are done a little "different"

More to come!

BSN RN