Good things come to those who wait

I have never been so excited about work in my life.

The past week I only worked 12 hours because the hospital was at a low patient census (not that many patients).  I was kind of sad because I love what I do.  Sometimes if I feel stressed or my family is being negative work is my getaway and every stressor goes away because of the kids.  Kids are amazing...I do not know how anyone could not like them.  Literally, they say anything, they aren't afraid to take risks, and they just light up your world.  So being away from them last week was kind of hard.

Today I took a shower and when I got out I saw my work number on my phone.  My face instantly sunk and I knew I was getting called off for the 8th day in a row....8 days off..yes you would be excited for that vacation, however I normally get 4 days off a week anyways so Im usually ready to go back.  I called them back and sure enough, they don't need me tonight.

I tried to think positive, and have the mentality that I worked hard in the winter and did some extra hours so if I have shorter paychecks in the summer its alright because its nice out and I mise well enjoy the weather and the money is in my savings from the winter.

After dinner I checked my phone and work had called to tell me that our director of the resource pool wanted me to train as a SpecialWorkAssignmentTeam SWAT nurse tonight.  We had this talk back in February and she had told me to get some trauma certification and my Pediatric Advanced Life Support PALS certification so that I could train as SWAT.  I was shocked because I had only been there a few months and SWAT is a big deal.  They help out the whole hospital.  Main focus is the ED where they will do an admission intake on all patients being admitted and transport patients up to the floor and move the flow of traffic in the ED (which is one of my favorite units) but also to go around to all the floors and assist with IV starts when the IV team is gone, or putting NG's down, blood draws, etc.  My kind of  nursing.  So you can imagine I was a bit shocked because I do not have the experience that the other nurses do.

Teamwork  My manager pointed out that teamwork is the key to a great SWAT nurse and that every floor I trained on tried to steal me out of the float pool.  So I took her words of encouragement and got my certifications.  I anticipated in the fall or maybe next spring when we slow down to be trained, but when I got the call tonight my face lit up.

I don't think I can nap tonight before I go in because I am so excited for this opportunity.  I will have some great nurses training me and I look forward to providing CHM staff and patients some wonderful care and teamwork for many many more years to come.