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BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
ancillary staff who work evenings and overnights. They deserve far
more recognition than is given to them. While day staffers expect
things to be at their fingertips on demand, the other 2 shifts are lucky
if the things they need are within screaming distance. Evening and
night staff make the day shift's call easier, too. They stay on to finish
cases instead of waking them up and summoning them in to count,
dress wounds and take patients to recovery. If there's an "OR Nurses'
Week" and "Surgical Technologists' Week" and so on, why can't there
be a week to honor the staffers who are on duty when most of the
rest of us aren't?
Whenever I get through a difficult situation, I ask myself what I
learned from it. After a month on the evening shift at a large, traumadesignated hospital, I've learned this: If I were given the option again,
I'd still choose this shift over the others. Somehow I feel like I fit in
with this unique group. And while I didn't aspire to become a better,
stronger nurse when I began this assignment, I'd like to think that
being part of this facility for even a short time might just deliver that.
OSM
Ms. Watkins can be reached at pwatkins12@comcast.net.
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O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | M A R C H 2013