Orientation for My First Week of Work on My First Travel Nurse Assignment

Håfa adai and welcome back! If you haven't read the previous posts on this series, check them out here!

First Day Fit

My first official week of work started with at-home classes and learning modules for the electronic medical record system and other devices that I would use at the hospital. I have to say that this wasn’t as complicated as I thought it would end up being. Other travel nurses warned me about having to complete modules before work and how tedious it would be, but this particular hospital had very few modules to complete. The few modules that I did have to do were short and straightforward. Over the course of 2 days (roughly 8 hours each day), I finished the modules and classes.

Once I completed my modules, I received an email from the assistant manager of the MICU and we scheduled a hospital and unit tour/orientation. If you recall from my last post, I didn’t rent a car and relied mostly on Lyft to get around. The hospital was only a 5-10 minute ride away so having to only pay for transportation for the days that I worked really helped our budget.

The hospital that I worked at was located atop a hill and the rides up and down always gave me an amazing view of the nature around Portland. Going to my first day of orientation provided me with this view:

View of Mt. Hood

After getting dropped off at the main entrance of the hospital, I waited in a spacious lobby with a beautifully lit fireplace encased in glass. Before I met the assistant manager, I was joined by 2 other travel nurses (I ended up never seeing them again while on this assignment lol).

Once the assistant manager picked us up from the lobby, we made our way to the MICU on the 7th floor. The lobby was actually on the 9th floor so as we made our way to the 8th floor, he also gave us a quick tour of the Trauma/Surgical ICU located there. The 7th floor was also home to the Neuroscience ICU, which we toured quickly after the MICU. Afterward, we made our way to the CVICU, located on the 12th floor of another wing of the hospital. When I say this hospital was big, I mean it was BIG. Coming from the little 5 story hospital in Guam to this massive university hospital was a big leap, but one that I was happy to have made!

When we finished touring the units that we would work on and float to, we got our badges made and attended a quick 1-hour class on setting up and using the Vocera devices. I know some people have their opinions on Voceras, but I thought they were an awesome tool. Working in ICUs with 15+ beds was difficult in its own right, but having a Vocera to call another nurse to help you out made work so much easier. I pretty much used my Vocera every shift that I worked.

After our Vocera class, we made our way back to the MICU and met up with the assistant manager again. This time, we finalized our schedules and were set to start working by the end of the week.

An empty ICU room - Prepped & Ready

If you’ve enjoyed reading so far, keep an eye out for the next post where I’ll talk about my first 3 shifts at the MICU!

Until next time! Salamat and si yu’us ma’ase!