Show us Your Life, Office RN

Well, I missed the McLinky for this post, but here is my Show Us Your Life for last week.

On a normal Monday-Friday, my alarm goes off at 6:30 and I am out of the bed by 7. I get a shower, fix my hair, get dressed, do my makeup, pack my food for the day, then I am out the door by 8. I get to work by 8:30 and start the workday.

Since I always say that I love my job, many have wanted to know, what do I do. I am a registered nurse and I work for two trauma surgeons. It is the best job I have ever had! I love both of the surgeons I work for and could not ask for better people around me! So, with that out of the way, what do I do all day seems to be the question everyone has always wanted to know. One thing I can tell you is it is NEVER boring!

Here is how my day usually goes:

Monday-Wednesday and Friday mornings: spend the morning working on charts for the next afternoon’s office, going through faxes reading op notes, path reports, and radiology reports to make sure we don’t miss anything that needs to be dealt with (i.e. cancer or a incidental finding of something). Then I organize the faxes by patient name in a book assigned to each doctor. This doesn’t sound like much, but it takes a long time and usually takes all morning.

Monday-Thursday afternoons: During the afternoon I see patients with my surgeons. We see, obviously, a lot of trauma follow up (i.e. broken ribs, collapsed lungs (pneumothorax - your new word of the day!), splenectomies, and lots of lacerations) and general surgery needs (gallbladders, hernias, skin lesions that need to be removed) On Monday and Wednesday afternoon from 1-4, I see patients with Dr. Smith. He is EXACTLY the same personality as my dad. There are times when he talks and I can close my eyes and picture my dad saying the exact same things! I've been his nurse for four and half years. On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons are when I see patients with Dr. Barker. I just became his nurse almost two years ago and so far I am loving being his nurse. He is director of the trauma services department and of our hospital helicopter, Lifeforce.

On Thursday mornings and on Fridays I get to catch up on what did not get taken care of during the week. I also work on FMLA or disability papers and any referrals that need to be made. I could probably fill those forms out in my sleep!

While doing all the above, the multitasking Amanda comes out. There are many times that I will see post op or trauma patients that do not need to see the doctor, but do need follow up at some point during the day. That usually consist of suture or staple removal, wound checks, things like that. I spend a lot of time taking phone calls. I would say 90% of my phone calls are requests for pain medication or questions regarding their injuries or surgery. The rest of my calls are usually home health agencies calling for orders, funeral homes looking for signed death certificates, and patients calling looking for their FMLA paperwork.

I get off work around 5ish and drive home with everyone else leaving downtown. It usually takes me about 30-40 minutes to get home if I leave a little after 5, so I try to leave right on time. When I get home I read blogs and cook dinner. Michael usually is home by 7:30, we eat, spend some time watching TV, then go to bed. I have been going to be a little earlier since I've been pregnant, but before we both go around 11.

That pretty much covers my day!