Orientation Discombobulation

Well, I've had a day and a half of orientation (mostly to clinical and labs) and I've got to say that it can only get better from here.  Up front, the nursing orientations are long on rules and short on explanations which makes sense for scheduling because they don't have a lot of time to explain the rationale behind each requirement.  However, you must realize that students entering into Nursing (maybe any faculty, for that matter, but Nursing more than any other for sure) are quite a fearful bunch.  Upon the mention that they may be required to ask personal health questions of complete strangers they are liable to develop, nurture, and rupture a cerebral aneurysm in short order.

I know I'm in a large minority when it comes to age demographics in my current situation but I still (and will) marvel at the immense amount of stress that young females can conjure up at the instant some requires something of them.  The anger, the tears, the defensiveness, the hostility...and that's just when you ask one if they've completed all their self-study for the bed-making lab.

On a brighter note, a quote courtesy of one of the clinical facilitators has spawned a new feature that I will run on this blog:  Quote of the Shift.  I was going to name it "Quote of the Week", or "Quote of the Month", but both of those put expectations on me and I hate to disappoint, so, an ambiguous time unit fits my style perfectly.

We'll start things off with a bang that's on-theme with this post: rules.

"You can't, as a nurse, do a pulse or a respiratory rate using a digital watch.  I've been a nurse for 14 years and I can't, so I don't expect any of you would be able to."

Slow clap, folks.....slow clap while we gaze in awe at the treasures we are about to discover as we work and, more importantly, listen through the next three years,