This morning I woke up nice and early to head to a mandatory workshop about violence. Before we began, the woman giving the class had us go around the table and introduce ourselves by saying our name, job (nurse/doctor/social worker) and number of years in the field.
Most of the nurses were older and had been working in their wards for 15-20 years. When they got to me I sheepishly admitted that I had been working in my ward as a nurse for all of one year. As we neared the end of the circle I learned that two of the nurses down at the other end of the table had started working as nurses two weeks ago.
Suddenly it struck me that I wasn't the newbie anymore. As we sat there watching various videos of hospital staff being subjected to physical and verbal abuse, I began to reminisce about the past year.
"Where does time go?" I asked myself. Last time I posted on here I was a struggling student wondering if I'd even pass the exam. Now here I am, a registered nurse sitting amongst my peers learning how to protect myself in violent situations.
Don't get me wrong, I meant to post things during the past year. There were many memorable moments where I thought to myself "This would make a great post". Such as that time one of my patients was sobbing inconsolably at 4am because she really wanted a jam sandwich (which I actually made for her only to have her hand it back to me because she didn't like the flavor jam in it). Or that time that a patient incessantly rang the call bell and yelled for help because she wanted me to massage her butt hole (which I did not do).
But somehow, it just never happened.
That is, until today.
