Well, the good news is that I made it through hearing all of the assignments without bursting into tears.

The not-so-good news? I was assigned to an acute inpatient women’s psychiatric floor. Psych nursing is not my favorite type of nursing, and I much prefer male patients to female patients. So, to be assigned to a floor that is all female doing psych nursing? Well, you can imagine how hard it was for me to hear that.

I had lunch with my friend Andrea, who is also in the program and was a bit disappointed about her assignment. We talked through it and cheered each other up, but I’m still shocked that I was placed on that floor. Please pray that I will have a good attitude about this. The economy + the extremely bad market for nurses in this region make it next to impossible for me to find a job that pays as well as this one does, so I’m going to have to make the best of the situation for the time being.

My plan? To look on the bright side – I am working a good shift (days with rotations), the hospital is close by, & the pay is better than any of the other area hospitals. Also, I only have to be on this floor for a minimum of 6 months. After that, I can start applying anywhere and transfer. So, I think that that is what I’ll do.

I keep telling myself that any experience is a chance to build skills and grow as a person. Perhaps in these 6 months I can focus on my psychosocial assessment skills and grow in my knowledge of how to calm agitated or violent patients. Whatever happens, I’m going to work really hard to become friends with my soon-to-be fellow staff members on this floor. Having amazing co-workers can make any job enjoyable, don’t you think?

One more thing – thank you so much for all of the good-luck wishes and encouraging comments – I really appreciated those & enjoyed reading them while waiting to find out my assignment 🙂