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What does a floor nurse in the hospital setting really do all day? I have been asked this question numerous times by those folks who think nurses sit at the desk and eat candy all day. I would like to enlighten those curious souls on the my daily chores as a floor nurse on a medical/surgical/renal unit. I will start at the beginning of my nursing adventure.
I graduated in 2003 from a community college with an associates degree in nursing. I have always loved to study and learn and get one of the highest if not the highest test scores in class. I suppose somehow my good grades made me feel more valuable as a person. I started my college career a little later in life than some, I was 25 when I enrolled in college for the first time. I chose to attend a smaller college because I like the smaller class sizes and personal attention of the professors. My college years were filled with tests, labs, carpooling, staying up all hours, and plenty of hours of study time. Don't let anyone fool you, it is worth every minute of sacrifice.

In the spring of 2003, I had completed my college education, the next step, state boards.
Everyone had warned me and scared me to death about passing the state boards. I passed my state boards in July of 2003. I had already been working at a local hospital as a graduate nurse while I waited to get approval to take my test. I can remember the first day being in the hospital, I believe in nursing school they refer to this as the "honeymoon phase", one in which you are so overjoyed to be there you would work 24 hours a day if they asked you to.
A few days after taking the test, I went on the internet to find out my fate, I simply could not wait two weeks for the result to come in the mail. I can remember the instant I knew I was really an RN, I was sitting at my computer desk, my parents were in our kitchen talking. I brought up the website, looked up my name, it said PASSED!. I was in heaven.
That was almost 6 years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I have worked on the same floor since graduation with the exception of a 6 month span in which I worked for another local hospital. I have learned countless skills and lessons that you just cant learn in nursing school. Nursing school cant possibly prepare you for the joy or the heartached and frustration you will surely feel in your day to day endeavors.
I take care of basically kidney failure patients who are on dialysis. Most have at least 10 major disease

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