So I finally met with the DON for the Outpatient Center. She’s the one who was supposed to orient me at first but was too busy. I started out by telling her I was having second thoughts about the job and I needed some clarification.

She told me that I would be part of team that included an internist, an anesthesiologist, and a paramedic.

Well Holy Hannah! I can handle that.

I was perfectly honest with her. I told her that starting IVs is not my strong suit. I told her that most of the codes I respond to in the MICU are PEA arrests and you can see them coming for miles. She said, “If you worked in the MICU you can handle this job.” She also pointed out that they’ve only seen 2 “real codes” in the outpatient center in the past year. I also ran into a former MICU co-worker in the outpatient PACU who told me that “a code here is when someone swallows a piece of ice and it goes down the wrong tube.”

Of course as you all know very well, that means nothing. If you comfort yourself with the fact that there are very few codes you will surely be greeted with a raging mega code as soon as you are handed the code pager. I think it has something to do with the Superstitious Laws of Nursing – also precluding nurses from using the Q word.

The DON also mentioned that they were going to use paramedics instead of nurses but the paramedics aren’t authorized to push meds inside the hospital. So they need a nurse to do that.

It’s kind of strange in a way. You develop as a nurse believing that you wear many hats and you have all these wonderful varied skills then all of a sudden you find yourself just pushing drugs. And the funny thing is that I have another assignment lined up for later in the month – doing flu shots. I can only hope that the part of my brain cultivated for nursing doesn’t turn to mush.