moral of the story

I consciously knew what I was taking on when I took on this extra part-time job. I was asked at the beginning of October to cover for a dietitian at an outpatient eating disorder treatment center while she's out on maternity leave for the rest of the year. So I go from school to work 3 afternoons a week. It means less time for homework and less time to play. But, I've found that my time for homework is more devoted when I am actually doing it, so that's not much of a problem. In fact, I'm really glad that I accepted the opportunity. For me, I see it more as a positive outlet. I'm working with a patient population that I've grown to love. I'm working in a different setting than my last job (inpatient is very different from outpatient) so I'm learning new things. It keeps me on my toes. I feel like I'm doing something that I'm good at, because I'm not good at nursing yet.

It's humbling at the same time, though. Many times I've wondered why in the world I decided to go back to school. I mean, I know why, but school's been so disorganized and unmotivating at times and I've had some negative experiences along the way that have slightly dampened my excitement about becoming a nurse. And then I'm reminded how much I still have to learn as a dietitian. And I think, if I have so much to learn still as a dietitian, how will I keep up with 2 professions?

A few things I've learned in the last few weeks at work:
1. Pay attention to who you're calling and what number you're dialing when trying to call a doctor. I was intending to call a resident about a patient and ended up with the attending physician who was off duty and the patient wasn't even his. Oops!
2. I thought that I was good at not allowing my frustration to show during conversations with patients and their families, but maybe I'm not so good. While talking to a patient and her mom, who obviously has her own eating disorder, I became really frustrated that the mom couldn't see that she was exacerbating her daughter's situation by judgemental comments. I questioned the mom's beliefs about food and she might have felt attacked, especially in front of her daughter. Note to self- keep it in check!
3. There is a dietitian who is queen at Egleston. She's been there forever and she really knows her stuff. I don't think she doubts my ability or looks down on me, but I also don't think she knows how her demeanor makes me feel like I don't know anything. When we're working together, she asks me to explain my reasoning a lot. For some reason, I often can't explain myself well to her, even though in my mind I know exactly what's going on. I need to figure out how to gracefully admit when I don't know what I'm doing and confidently assert my opinion or reasoning when I do know what I'm doing.
4. There will always be something to learn about my professions- the medical field is always changing. Somehow, I need to figure out how to stay current without compromising my ability to practice to the best of my ability, full-time, and still have a life.
5. If you don't use it, you lose it. So I'm glad I'm still working as a dietitian, even though I feel like I'm a bad juggler, trying to keep both my budding nursing career and my just-bloomed career as a dietitian in the air.

The moral of the story is in order to do my best at both careers, I need to work in both consistently, I need to pay attention at all times, I need to humbly admit when I don't know what I'm doing, and I need to be sure not to show up for work too sleep-deprived or I will do worse than call an off-duty, head honcho doctor about a patient he isn't even following.