Leaving the ER and moving on...
Checking into livejournal before starting a new chapter in life
These past few months have brought along many life changing decisions and new adjustments to my work. It has been almost 4 years since I've graduated from Nursing school back in Alberta in 2018. Looking back, those days were neither short nor long. I had to simply endure those mundane school days to graduate. 4 years of that made me a local in Grande Prairie while still living as a loner and stranger.
Fast forward to now, I have moved many hospitals across these four years and its finally time to say good bye to working in the acute setting, namely within the hospital. My most recent position was working in the ER in lower mainland Vancouver. Comparing when I first started to six months in and to now nearing 3 years in the ER department, I have come to make peace with it and move on. It was a treacherous and rewarding experience which really questioned who I was as a person and what my values were. It also reminded me of what I deemed as important and what as not. It revealed so much of myself in a public and professional setting that other jobs would not have. Working in the ER really pushed me to my limits and even beyond that. What that may be as one would ask?
Its simply dealing with all walks of life coming through the doors on a daily basis. From the pediatrics to young adults with mental and substance use to the demanding old elderly people to the anxious and ever worried parents of their children. The homelessness that demanded food and water every visit and knowing how to set boundaries to people which also tested my own. I still struggle to put into words the amount of knowledge and experience I have gained or the difficulty of human beings that drained my colleagues and myself endlessly every shift. It was definitely not a place that was meant for the weak soul. Starting as a somewhat fresh graduate, I was eager to please and make my patients happy and get along with all different health care professionals. Now, I have become someone who is more confident in standing by my own judgment and opinions through experience and assessments. I have learnt to decline people for their unreasonable demands and persuade patients in taking charge of their own health. Overall I have changed so much in these past years by working in the ED that there are some things I am grateful for and some that I wished could have turned out different.
Moving onwards
Long story short, my heart is filled with many emotions as I will be starting a new role in August next tuesday. Its a role that steps away from bedside nursing, something that I have always sought after working on a med surg assignment back in 2019. I think I came to realize that beside is the same old thing with assessments and pushing pills onto my patients. It become boring very fast. This new role is going to be about managing health records and updating the electronic medical record systems. I will most likely be in charge of managing it and troubleshooting any problems that may arise. So while it may not be bedside, i will still be working alongside with those who do and hopefully support them in any way I can. I don't know what kind of trouble and learning this new role will bring to me but I know it will be a challenge with many rewarding experiences. I just hope and pray that I can overcome with God's wisdom and knowledge and that I will be able to endure this new position and achieve greatness and contentment. I want to be valued for my work ethic and be proficient at my job just as I did when I worked in the ED. I know that my mananger in the ER didn't appreciate me much but at least my colleagues saw the work I did and was grateful enough. I guess until the 9th comes all I can do is pray with gratefulness as I was given this opportunity and don't worry too much in this new role.
PS too lazy to proofread and spellcheck ;D