Moving forward.....

I imagine my fellow new grads are, like me, beginning to look to their future careers again. It's time to start researching and applying for RN2 programs if you want them, and/or begin to look into where we would like to go in the future. Today I finally submitted my application for a student midwife position for next year, which as my friends know, is the reason I did nursing in the first place. That's not to say that I don't enjoy nursing - I love nursing, but my heart still lies in midwifery.

 This did mean I had to do more darn selection criteria responses, yuck! The things are just awful, I am never sure what to write - it's a fine line between selling yourself well and sounding like you are right up your own arse. And fancy limiting me to 750 words when I can rave on about myself all day! *wink* Writing those criteria answers was tough. I agonised over them for several late nights. I think my uni assignments are easier! But it's done now, my references are on board and I can only wait for the selection process to go through over the next couple of months.

On another note, you probably noticed in my last post how disgruntled I am at times with the culture of the workplace. I will be interested to see what happens when the mid year new grad starts work in a few weeks time. I won't be bottom of the food chain any more, so I am curious to see if they treat her the same way I have been treated. And if they do, I will be the first to step in and at least try to prevent it, or to support her if she needs it. In my experience it's the subtle, almost subliminal stuff that does the most damage, and it is often difficult to recognise, particularly when you are new to something. I have noticed that nurses who came to the facility after me, but with prior RN experience, are treated very differently. I am not going to stoop to that sort of behaviour. I don't need to put other people down to make myself look good. I am always going to be a hardcore nurse - see impactednurse.com for the details. Who's with me?

But on the flipside, I am beginning to be noticed by some of the people that matter, which is the most important thing. Yay. An agency staff member was doing orientation today with management, and asked for me to show her our IV pumps - apparently I am known as the guru of the new IV pumps! I got a chuckle out of that. I'm also often called upon to explain or fix computer "things."  It makes sense though - if it's new or technological, the new grad will know all about it. (Although, I am certainly not Gen Y, so not as technology minded as some of my younger counterparts! Tee hee.) Now all I need is some of those nursing iphone apps........*sneaks off to app store*