Rah Rah Nursing!

Today was our last day of orientation. It was kind of wonderful because they basically paid us to sit there and be treated well. We were treated to a hand massage to 'show' us how nice it is when you get one so that we can give them to patients. Believe me. It was nice.
We ate some good food and talked about our experiences on the units so far. Then we got a tour of Rochester. Finally, we were taken to the Foundation House which was the home of one of the original Mayo brothers. (I can't remember if it was Charles or Will). Apparently, being taken there is a huge honor. This place was Bea-u-ti-ful. A lot of famous people have been there. They served us the best meal that I will eat this whole summer. After stuffing our faces, they had two speakers come up and talk about their experiences at Mayo with nurses.

The message of both speakers was basically- "nurses matter" "nurses make a difference" "what you do is important" "you are the future of nursing". I am a sucker for inspirational speeches, so naturally I loved it. Quite honestly, I think that I picked the best profession there is. I haven't had a lot of experience on the patients side of things (Thank you God!), but I can already see how much of an impact I have the opportunity to make.

Quick story of the week: I had a patient who caused a lot of problems for some of the nurses on the floor. She refused medications and treatments from some of the nurses, but we couldn't let her go until we had done some tests. I had the opportunity to sit with her for a while and try to win her over. It actually kind of worked! She held my hand very tightly while they drew some blood and allowed my nurse and I to give her the medications. It was a small win, but I think that it made a difference.

This is a quick video that they showed to us on Monday. I liked it a lot. :) http://youtu.be/cDDWvj_q-o8