Not Much to Report....Ho Hum.

orientation today and yesterday. it was a general orientation for all new employees in all departments in all facilities. so i haven't had any actual surgical orientation yet. i did get my pager today, which i have enough experience to know, makes you feel like a super star crime fighter for the first few days and then eventually like you're on a ticked-off tether.

the orientations were corporate, but very inspiring and uplifting. this is a thriving, very well respected and successful hospital company (in fact, i think i will steal from samuel shem and henceforth refer to it as "man's best hospital") that i'll be working for. it offers its employees a lot of amazing amenities and a very competitive benefits/salary package...including things like concierge service where they'll go let your dog out of your house or get an oil change for your car, pick up your dry cleaning, or "anything at all"...i thought this was really awesome. i want to try to think of something really strange to have them do-like take my husband out for our anniversary dinner...or take a hit out on someone i don't like. i wonder exactly what "anything at all" means... i'll let you know what i find out.

anyway. i was never a girl scout (umm....really??) and i have never worked in a certain mega-store that i will not name that originated in the south and is known for its abuse of national resources and flagrant brain-washing employee indoctrination methods and is owned by a certain amsay altonway.....but i imagine that these orientations were kind of a combination of girl scout troupe meetings and aforementioned brain-washings. there was a lot of "hooray! we're the best ones" and repeating mission statements and even drawings of our hospital represented as a boat compared to other local competitors' hospitals represented as other boats (guess who's won the boat race? that's right! cuz WE'RE THE BEST!). but there was also a heavy focus on working as a unified team, committing to honor and be loyal to our work family and most definitely to the safety and well-being of our patients.

those darned HR people made me cry on two occasions. one, when we were talking patient safety, they showed a gut-wrenching video of a speech made by the mother of an 18 month old girl named josie king, who died at the hands of doctors and nurses at johns hopkins. the family started a foundation focusing on patient safety, medication administration precautions, and staff accountability. it was powerful. and they are brave. and it only serve to fuel my absolute terror that i will be in a position where i can kill people. i just keep saying a little chant to myself, "for the love of all things holy, please let someone catch me when i'm about to mess up good, please let someone catch me when..."

AND THEN, they showed us a video this morning as we discussed customer service...about this wonderfully kind, loving, hopeful, and thoughtful guy with down's syndrome named johnny (embedded is a short summary of it, not the actual dramatization that i watched). sniff. he's just so full of sunshine...sniff...and love...(big sobs here).

so anyway...i am now oriented to "man's best hospital" and tomorrow i'll finally be in the OR, being oriented on how to be a surgical PA. i'm terrified. i can't even totally put my finger on what's scaring me....other than that i don't remember any anatomy, how to suture, how to tie knots, how to write prescriptions, how to control blood pressure, my name.....and i'm still going berserker (a "clerks" reference, that i am NOT going to link) about my exam. 2 more days until i know if all this orienting is for naught.