"I was NOT an ICU nurse..."

Hey Daydreamers 🙂

It's been a while ! [trust me I know]. I took a few months to rebrand myself and my business, and although I have been very inactive with blog posts I have been active on IG. Change is inevitable and growth is necessary. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it, lol. I would take a moment to fill you in on all of the things that I’ve been up to, but I’m sure you didn’t come here for that so I’ll save that for another blog entry.

Last week, I posted on my IG story (@memifbaby) that I was now an ICU nurse and I told my Daydreamers [that’s my new name for you guys] that I was just as surprised as them. I told you guys that there was a whole story behind it and if anyone wanted me to share it. To my surprise [even though I’m not sure why I was surprised because you guys always show 👏🏾 up 👏🏾 and show 👏🏾 out 👏🏾 for me 🙂] but to my surprise, many people wanted to hear it. So the story is brief, but I’ll enlighten you about what happened, how I made this transition and how I feel about it.

What happened Sis?

As you all know, I am a travel nurse; Emergency Department travel nurse to be exact, and I’ve been traveling for two years. Within the past few months COVID- 19 came through and has been a game changer from the very beginning 🙄. When I tell you that the Emergency Departments and the ICU’s were bustling, hectic and over capacity, I mean it. I remember one day I went into work [the ED], and intubated about 10 patients, in one shift. Mind blowing. That’s a lot of patients to intubate in a 12 hour period. Time went on, COVID positive cases were rising and people were dying. Eventually, society and our government began taking COVID-19 serious and on March 22th New York State went on PAUSE; which is an acronym for Policies Assure Uniform Safety Everyone. NYS governor stated that, “All non-essential workers are directed to work from home, and everyone is required to wear a face covering and maintain a 6-foot distance from others when in public. All businesses were ordered to close and all non-essential gatherings of individuals of any size for any reason were banned”. Between NYS being on ‘PAUSE’ and new practices arising within the hospital to treat COVID-19 patients, there was a DRAMATIC decrease in patients that were actually visiting the ED. Well would you look at that, people were actually staying home. The decrease in patient census meant that the travel contract that I had been easily extending for 8 months was no longer on the table. My contract was up and although I would have wanted an extension, there wasn’t one to offer because just like that, what was once a busy and chaotic department, now looked like a ghost town. For some, this sudden change might have been frightening. Suddenly, youre jobless and your specialty of choice was becoming scarce, in the middle of pandemic what’s one to do?! However, I actually had the opposite reaction. I was relieved chile! I had been planning on taking the summer off, creating more content for my Daydreamers and fulfilling my other obligations (rebranding my business The Wallflower, and my spiritual health), not to mention that I just needed a break from COVID-19. While the world was on quarantine,I was still going to work and gearing up for war. It was physically and emotionally taxing, and if I didn’t have such a solid support system, I would’ve crumbled a long time ago. Needless to say, your girl felt so much gratitude for this blessing in disguise. I was getting a head start on my anticipated break. On the last day of my contract, in the heart of NYC, I had gone 4 hours with no patients. I asked the charge nurse if I could leave early, I called my recruiter to ensure that it wasn’t against any policies , and just like that I was gone. One door closed, except I wasn’t expecting this particular door to open.

ED Nurse ------> ICU nurse

I spent the following week doing all the things that I had neglected to do because Ms.COVID had my undivided attention. I made homemade cappuccinos and smoothies, I educated myself on certain flowers and plants, then I went and bought them, I walked barefoot in the grass, I burned incenses, I sat in silence, I spent time with my family, but most importantly I had the opportunity to identify and express gratitude despite being jobless in the middle of a global pandemic.

Literally 5 days later, I received a call from my recruiter telling me about a job offer. [I work for the best agency and have the best recruiter ever]. She said, “Memi, I have a hospital that’s in need right now”, we ironed out all the important details: compensation, shift, location, and start date. Then she hit me with it. She said , “its in the ICU though”. I was silent. In all my years of being a nurse I’ve always said the one thing I would NEVER be, was an ICU nurse. Everyone knows that there’s some type of secret beef between the ED and the ICU, which I never understood. It was like hot and cold, oil and water, black and white. But no matter how the pie was sliced, I was NOT an ICU nurse. Did that mean that I couldn’t take care of critical care patients? Of course not! In my nursing career I have worked in 5 different Emergency Departments,[trauma facilities, stroke centers, cardiac centers] do you know how many times I’ve held ICU patients in the ED because there were no ICU beds? Sometimes I would have 3 ventilated ICU patients alongside 5 ED patients and I still managed to take care of my patients safely and confidently. So, I knew that there wasn’t a cognitive barrier behind it and that I was more than capable of caring for critical care patients, but still, when the dust settles, in the back of my head, I’m an ED nurse. After much deliberation with my friends and recruiter, and prayers I decided to use the gift that I was blessed with. Yes, I am indeed an ED nurse, but first and foremost, I am a NURSE. My compassion, knowledge and expertise goes beyond the Emergency Department. There’s a crisis going on in the world right now and I am able to make a contribution to assist in ending it. What kind of person would I be to know that I was blessed enough to make a difference, but turn it down because its not in my ideal environment? I’m a travel nurse, with that comes flexibility and being able to adapt in any situation. With that being said, I took the contract.

I’ve been working in the ICU for a week now and boy have I learned so much. My biggest advantage was that I have critical care experience so its safe to say this wasn’t a negligent or irresponsible decision. [like taking a contract in labor and delivery for an example]. The many years that I’ve spent working as an ED nurse allowed me to acquire a set of skills that I will forever utilize. For now, me working as an ICU nurse is temporary. I’m grateful that the opportunity presented itself and I’m taking it one day at a time. Blessings come in disguises everyday. Always stay positive, optimistic and hopeful. & when life throws you lemons make chocolate cake and leave everyone wondering how you did it. Until next time DayDreamers…

This week jumpstarts Nurses Week 2020. I have two announcements that Im so excited to share. Sign up to my email list to ensure you always remain informed about the things that I have going on and keep up with me on IG @memifbaby.