Back to Being a Productive Member of Society

After six weeks of funemployment, I dusted off my scrubs and clogs and got ready for my first week at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.  This week will be filled with your general orientation things: big welcome, get your ID picture taken, listen to HR tell you about the ins and outs of benefits.  Unlike my introduction to Maryland, this time there was a three day orientation for nurses and next week we will have a day of PICU orientation and a day on the electronic medical record system.  On day six, the two other PICU nurses and I will hit the floor and start interacting with patients and their families.

Here are a couple of fun facts about Children's:

• 296 bed hospital with nearly 80,000 ED visits annually; 36 bed PICU (that's where I will be)
• One of the first LEED certified pediatric hospitals in the US
• The only children's hospital in Southwestern PA
• Ranked as a top 10 pediatric hospital for the last six years by US News
• Named the 7th most beautiful hospital in the US by Soliant Health in 2010 and the 10th most beautiful hospital in the world by HealthExecNews in 2012.