a peek to the other side.

It's been said to me time and time again..... you are a nurse? I thought you were just a triathlete. I definitely am, and this is a triathlon blog so it is easy to see how one would think that. Truth be told I am just as passionate about all of the other aspects of my life. I am a yoga teacher and I am also a Pediatric Emergency Nurse. Currently I am in Grad School as I earn my Masters to become a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner.

God willing I graduate in 2012.

Pediatrics is something I am very very passionate about. I could write an entire blog on life as a pediatric emergency nurse..... as every day is an adventure. I do see it all, and even though I only work 20 hours a week I am very vested in the happenings, education and the teamwork of my unit.

One of the beautiful benefits of being a nurse at the University of Rochester Medical Center and more specifically the Golisano Children's Hospital At Strong.... are the tuition benefits. As a 20 hour per week nurse I get free tuition. FREE. Not even reimbursement. FREE. It's one of the very few Universities that offers that benefit and I often wonder why more people do not take advantage of it. The University of Rochester is very committed to the higher education of its nurses. And I am extremely proud to work at this institution. I celebrate 10 years this year.

As a Pediatric Emergency nurse I literally see it all. In one day I will see broken bones, lacerations, critically ill children, motor vehicle accidents, burns, child abuse, well baby checks, dog bites..... and that was just yesterday.

You have to be able to think on a dime, react and remain calm. When parents are freaking out and ask me why I am not.... I remind them .... it is my job to stay calm while we are resuscitating your child.

I don't' just care for the child, and in our world this is all ages from 0-18, I care for the parents and the family. Yes there are overbearing and difficult parents. We have to understand however that "difficult" parents are just worried parents. Their child is sick.... they don't have control over what is happening to them. What do they have control over? Feeding them, advocating for them, worrying for them, being unintentionally critical of the nurses and the doctors..... truly it is all just coping mechanisms. If you have ever been the parent of a child who is sick or injured then you understand.

As a mother I have been the parent of a child who has undergone open heart surgery. I had the luxury of requesting the very best pediatric cardiac care nurse on the face of this earth (who sadly does not work in the specialty anymore) to care for my child, I got to hand pick who took care of him..... but truthfully..... in all honest....... in our institution we treat every single child as a VIP and the people who take care of you..... are really the very best. But as a parent at the time, what I had control over were people rather than the situation. We grab onto what we can control in an uncontrollable situation.

There have been several times where a very sick child has come to us and as we calmly and frantically try to get an IV into the child a terrified parent will be hovering over us

"DID YOU GET IT DID YOU GET IT DID YOU GET IT...." Screaming.

At that point one of us will step back and literally grab a hold of the parent as we realize this is fear, not them questioning whether or not we can insert an IV. More often than not I will just hug the parent. And they melt. I know they are not attacking us. I know they are scared out of their mind.

Understanding the family will do you wonders. You understand rather than fight.

I will tell you a bit about IV's. I always laugh when I hear lay people say "That nurse didn't know what she was doing.... she had to dig for an IV......." IV's are tricky. Venipuncture can be tricky.

Think of a vein as a piece of spaghetti. When you are healthy it is nice and round. When you are dehydrated, sick or whatever it is almost like that piece of spaghetti becomes flat. Now we have to fish a needle into it, we can see and feel it, but we can't see it 100%, we don't know it's condition, we are acting fast....... it's an art. I am great at IV's. GREAT. Out of every 20 that I begin I will miss 2. I have put them everywhere in all ages of children. As good as I am I am still going to miss.

Add into that a parent screaming at you......... you have to be bulletproof. They bring with them all of their experiences from childhood, watching TV and their own real life medical experiences. They again, just reacting in fear. That's all. Understand that and you are golden.

I am the jack of all trades and the master of none. Except 2, my 2 favorite areas of pediatrics. Bones and burns. I love to take care of these 2 issues because there is so much that I can do as a nurse to care for it. It's what I hope to specialize in. We all have our specialties and each of us in our dept will provide education and in services for those things we love most.

In the Pediatric Emergency dept at Strong you can rest easy knowing that you are being taken care of by the best of the best of the best. At this point in time our staff has not one single weak link. We give teamwork a brand new definition. I have been in other places where cliques and such exist, not on our team. It's like the best soccer team you can imagine. If I miss the goal my teammate will get it. Not try to get it..... they will get it.

We see a lot together. We see life, we see death, we've been in codes where we have all cried a thousand tears. Every child we lose we take so very personally. We will never be a unit where we lose one, and move on. It takes us months. It takes us talking about it, dissecting it, wishing upon it and praying upon it.

And truthfully.... isn't that the group of people you want to be saving your child's life?