Wednesday, June 1, 2011

First Day

Yesterday (May 31st) was really my "first day". I went into Season's to meet with Lindsey (my supervisor) and Shelby (supervisor of the other intern, Gina). Basically we just did some preliminary information, signed some papers, copied my licence/car insurance and went out for a GREAT lunch! Oh la la...

Today the real fun started. Orientation. Orientation that is going to last for 2 weeks. For 7 hours a day. Wow. I can't really complain though. I think I am still on cloud nine just being there. The greatest thing is that the Executive Director came to talk with us about the philosophy of hospice. We learned about the history of hospice care and the goals of Season's Hospice care. This may sound corny but it sounded like the descriptions and vision were describing me. We talked about hospice in general... my orientation including nurses, administrators, and social work... but I kept feeling like "I can do this. I can really do this well." It really just fired me up to get started.

I'm not going to lie though, going through all the OSHA and HIPAA guidelines, the payroll and insurance information (which don't even apply to me), and the more tedious details are... well... tedious.

So today in honor of my awesome TA and practicum supervisor Sarah, I am going to share some positives and negatives from today. In practicum she limited it to 3 positives and 1 negative but I think I need to add in my own flair and provide some insight to the ridiculousness (it always seems to happen to me)...

Positive
  1. I successfully navigated commuter traffic, bought an I-Pass, and made it to work on time.
  2. I loved some of the readings from today and want to (will) share them with you in the future.
  3. The information shared was not as boring as I was afraid it would be.
Negative
  1. I had to have a TB test. I have a diabetic husband, watched a friend give birth, and visited enough hospitals. Needles don't bother me. Unless they are penetrating my skin. Ugh... dislike
Ridiculous
  1. I locked myself in the bathroom stall. No joke. I wish I was lying. I was panicking for about 30 seconds until I just slammed my fist on the door and busted out. Yeesh
  2. I believe that Orientation is also synonymous with some sort of torture. The air conditioning would kick on and freeze me to death, then the room would warm up, then the air would come on again, etc. About ever 20 minutes. Tomorrow I will dress in layers. It's only 90degrees outside, a cardigan seems appropriate.
1 day of orientation down, 7 (at least) more to go.

1 comment:

  1. Oooh, I think I'm gonna love your updates, Annie! Keep them coming:) Hope you make it safely through orientation; how FANTASTIC that you're getting started!! Huge congrats. :) All the best!

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