Time passes by quickly, and I think it's nice to document some of the little/daily accomplishments I achieve during my fellowship program and transition into the nurse practitioner role. Because, you only get one "first time" for things, right?
Last week was my second week in the fellowship program.
Me and my co-fellows started the week off with general orientation and getting some of the basic things completed: our official badges, uniform ordering, getting things set up and etc. The experience was painless, but as with most things, it takes time. As I'm typing up this post, I'm still awaiting my free uniform so that I can look more official. I guess, in this sense, beggars can't be choosers. The uniform is free, too, after all, so I just have to bear with it.
My co-fellows and I ended the week in our individual departments. For me, I was scheduled to observe the cranial clinic, so that I would get a sense of how specialty outpatient clinics are run, and more particularly, how nurse practitioners function in this setting. In addition, for the month of January, I'll be in cranial clinic (when outpatient) and on the floors (when inpatient). I think the exposure and training through different sub-specialties and settings will give me a broad view of the spectrum the neurosurgery specialty encompasses.
The fellowship has been a great experience thus far. I kind of understand some of the big picture things in regard to charting now, although I'm still confused/forgetful of some of the minor (at least to me) details, such as routing messages and whatnot. And I'm happy to share that I put in my very first order as a nurse practitioner, and it was for an MRI of the head!
Although today is technically the first day of my third week, I just wanted to quickly share my little accomplishments of the day. I...
- Wrote my first pre-op patient note
- Wrote my first progress note
- Discharged my first patient from the hospital
- Wrote my first paper prescription
- Ran my first CURES report
And I did all of these under my license (but with lots of guidance from my mentor)! So weird thinking that it's all going under my name! But I guess I'm finally there!
Some things I want to work on this week:
- A little more self-confidence. I know this will come with time and with more knowledge about different neurosurgical procedures and conditions.
- Taking one patient and doing everything for that patient without as much guidance.
I can't wait to see what else I accomplish this week (week 3) and how I continue to grow in the next 49 weeks of this fellowship thereafter!
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