In about two hours I’ll be setting off for the Emergency Department. When I prepared for my first shift well over a month ago now (it seems like a lifetime) I was nervous, but I made it through it and ended up feeling fairly confident in short order. Today I face another first. It’ll be my first shift on the Pediatrics side of the Emergency Department. (if you want to be hip on the slang, we all just calls it Peds, but pronounced peeds). There’s a door between the two sides and over it, it says, “Two Departments, One Team” but the truth is, generally, at least for the Techs one pretty much spends their time on one side of that door or the other. For example, all the techs I’ve worked with so far on the adult side haven’t spent much time on the peds side (and probably not since their orientation) and the few techs from the peds side I’ve met have been in very brief encounters. But, as the sign says, in theory it’s really one team, so I need to be oriented on both sides of the door.

So today and Saturday are my two shifts in peds. I’m looking forward to it, but as I noted above, I’m definitely nervous. I’m not entirely sure why. Yes, there are differences, but at the end of the day, the work is going to be similar.

So, in 14 hours I’ll have my first shift done and be that much closer to having my orientation done. I can’t wait. Even if I am nervous.