bruceehoffman: Week #2 UPDATE

hey all; another quick update from the Inner Harbor!

I hope all my NorthEast friends and family survived the 'NorEaster... the citizens of Baltimore truly applaud your ability to survive in such, and I directly quote from one of my co workers, "horrendous and inhumane weather conditions"...i think the wintery mix created more of stir in Baltimore than it did it CT!!!

I still love my job...lol; I spent my last two shifts working the overnight (its been while since I worked a full night shift....#YAWN, #sleepytime, #Iwantmybed, #caffeineisnecessary, but, nevertheless I DID IT and LOVED IT. Oh, and after a particularly long and intense transport, we jump in the back of the "AMBO" ready to go back to base and the truck was "DEAD"...literally - we needed to have a patient's family member bring their "jumpers" and give us a JOLT; the other nurse and I both brilliantly recommended CPR, EPINEPHRINE 1 mg IE (intra-engine) and ? TCPacing...all at 430AM; you gotta love it!

Despite having worked previous transport jobs, my current role has taken my experience to a whole new level. These patient's are crazy SICK; everything from 3rd / 4th degree burns s/p house fire in and out of cardiac arrest, G1P0 regular and frequent contractions at 28 weeks requiring constant fetal HR monitoring, bilateral lung transplants with chest and mediastinal tubes with 3 vasopressors and full ventilatory / endotracheal support, facial degloving s/p fall with oro/naso reconstruction, and the list goes on and on...I believe I may have seen more over three days than I have in several years of prior clinical practice. Despite my urge to jump in and "do", I have, with uhhh...moderate success, had to pull back and simply watch the "flow". A lot can be learned when you step out of ACTION CIRCLE and survey the entire "scene".

My preceptor is phenomenal; I truly believe this can make or break a new job. She is very smart, comical and most importantly, very CHILL. What I lack in calm and cool collectivism and sarcasm, is more than made up when we are together!

My orientation has been established to course in the following manner: intra-hospital CCT (critical care transport), ground CCT and Helicopter / Fixed wing CCT. In between are plenty of days in the NICU, PICU, Cath Lab, OR and simluation lab time. YEEEHHAAAAAH!

Until next time....