Halfway through

Well, I'm halfway through orientation. I wasn't sure I was ever going to make it this far. Don't get me wrong, this is my dream job. I'm a neuro nurse, frankly deep down, I've always been a neuro nurse. I love autism, seizures don't bother me, and I think the brain is just down right cool, but ICU, that was scary. How was I about to help these people when I barely knew what was going on with them myself. 7 weeks in I can safely say that I'm a pro at a neuro exam and can correctly identify the 3 medications every patient is on. I even with fight the docs when I know that something is wrong, despite what they see. But family, overwhelms me, that look of fear and question in a patients eyes when they're intubated and can't speak, I don't know where to go, who to go to. I got lucky, my preceptor is great, but there is a lot to feel out. You don't always know which family members you can talk to and if the patient is the one making medical decisions, well, you can't talk to family unless you have permission from the patient, which is hard when they're intubated....things get tricky....HIPAA is always on your mind.....passwords, lists of permissible visitors, family spokesman...these are all the things that I struggle with....forget the A-lines, EVDs, CPP, CVP, MAP, K, Mg, Hgb, PTT, INR.....Those have structure, they are predictable, FAMILY IS NEVER PREDICTABLE