My first work day....

My commute took less than 15 minutes!!! Granted it was highway driving but still... What a treat, considering that was my main worry for today!!!
Most of my day was spent in introduction / orientation but tomorrow I'll have a full caseload of rehab patients! It sounds like the main caseload will be CVA's, general orthopedics and deconditioning; length of stay anywhere from 10 to 25 days. It will take a few days to get used to the paperwork and layout of the hospital and gym but I'm expecting to be up and running fairly efficiently by next week.

Here are some of my first impressions:
1- Although the hospital looks new from the outside, it's pretty old inside. The offices remind me of the old Children's hospital offices but I do have the best seat in the house: the only one with a window!!! The gym area is pretty neat; they even have a car to practice car transfers.
2- The hospital is CARF accredited and actually has quite a few rehab nurses (about 7 or so) for a 62 bed unit. The rehab department is very 'young'. Apart from just a few staff, most therapists are less than a few years out of school.
3- Stress levels seem to be high, I could sense the energy in the air. It almost felt like it would just take one needle stick into the bubble to make the whole thing explode... I guess the chronic staff shortage (they really do rely on travelers quite a bit) with high caseloads and some students at the start of their rotation would do that. I'm thinking taking in a few meditation cushions would be a useful contribution to the department but probably not particularly appropriate... On a guttural level, I understand it, I think it's probably close to the professional life I was leading in St. Louis!
4- People were friendly but a little reserved. I met one cool OT from Australia. Unfortunately she is leaving at the end of the week... What a shame... There are more travel OT's starting next week so we'll see....

I was scanning through my blog's entries of my last assignment and saw how it evolved... First all pictures of landscapes and the occasional self timer shot, ... It than evolved into more pictures and stories of people I met... It'll be interesting to see if this one will follow that same path....

I'm definitely getting excited about hiking this weekend; I have some hikes scoped out so stories and pictures will hopefully follow soon!!!!