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BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
Paula Watkins, RN, CNOR
A Letter From the Night Shift
Someone's on duty when the rest of us aren't.
A
fter decades in OR trenches and administrative offices, I
chose travel nursing for the adventure. Your license, a bit of
education and some solid experience can get you into nurs-
ing positions anywhere you want to go. I've been a traveler for 7 years
now and I love it, especially when it teaches me something surprising
about my profession, and myself.
Out of my comfort zone
I tend to choose assignments at critical access hospitals with no more
than 6 ORs, and I can handle call. But I've occasionally ventured out
of my comfort zone. Last year I was at a 15-OR facility, and it worked
out. I learned a lot, I liked the people there, and some of them even
liked me. So when I was offered a contract at a 20-OR hospital earlier
this year, I thought, "How much of a difference can 5 ORs make?"
Let me tell you: it makes a lot of difference. As does the community
the hospital serves, the part of town it's located in and whether it has
a trauma-level designation. Oh, and did I tell you I signed on for the
evening shift? As an education, this was probably "throw you overboard and learn to swim."
To my outpatient surgery readers: It may be a while since you made
your bones on nights and call, so let me remind you that even when
you're worried about your workflow efficiency, you're still running a
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O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | M A R C H 2013
