Happy Day!

I'm done my degree! Officially, the last day of this practicum is April 19, so that is the day I am actually done, but I have done all my hours and handed in all my assignments! Nothing to do but sit around and take a trip to Rocky until the pinning ceremony on April 18. This practicum turned out better than I had expected, especially when I was upset about being switched. I was terrified of everything at the beginning, but the past couple weeks I have actually felt like I knew what I was doing. I saw a lot of interesting things. It seemed like every time my preceptor would tell me about a complication or something, that day or the next we would see it, which was weird, but a great learning experience. I also spent some time in the OR, some days just observing when there were no patients in recovery, as our recovery room can be quite slow and quiet, and then four days where I was in the OR all day, helping prep, open, and I even scrubbed a couple times. I guess I must have done well, because they hired me casual in the OR today! My preceptor had been telling me that I should talk to the manager, so I brought in a resume earlier this week. Then I was told to wait until today, since the manager had a big meeting yesterday about all this budget stuff. So I handed in my resume today, and didn't even have a chance to say anything before she said, yes, I can hire you casual. I start May 13, the Monday after we return from New York. It is a big weight off my mind, especially since all anyone in the department has been talking about is hiring freezes, lay-offs, and room closures because of the new budget. So I will keep looking for a job in a ward, as that is what I actually want to do, but this will be a nice filler until I find something. So all in all, a very exciting day!