SATURDAY HAPPENINGS

This morning I dropped Emily off at the new Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh They have just opened the facility this past spring. She really liked it there, they had orientation, a hospital tour and meeting with the department managers and then heard about the benefits. She talked to the manager of PICU, Pediatric Intensive Care and the Cardiac Intensive Care units.

The hospital has an extensive education program for new hires because the fact of the matter is that the pediatric education in school is just a cursory rotation. In the ICU the ratio of nurse to patient is no higher than two patients per nurse and ususally one to one. The rooms are all private and there are about three patient rooms to nurses station, so the RN can see the three patients from the station. The Cardiac Unit had six original beds and now, less than one year later it has twelve. The manager said he expects rapid expansion in that department. The patients that they have there are transplants and many repairs of congenital heart defects.

Emily said she was going to call for a job shadowing, which they could split between the two ICU’s. She is going to apply for a job here. Their charting is all computerized, only 0.3% of the hospitals in the county have that. I am thinking that those hospitals must also be new construction. She will get money for pursuing her Nursing Degree. She will also apply for other Nursing Jobs at other places too.

My time at the Library was uneventful because the marriage record (1913) is located in town at the City County Building and they are only open during the weekday. So much for that. After the year 1914 the applicants were required to list their parents name on the application. I remember when we went to apply they asked my parents name and place or birth. "Where was your mother born?" "Altona, Germany." "GERMANY????" "Yes, Germany."