The Journey Began~Parkland Hospital

      A lot of people may wonder how this journey of travel nursing began for me. When I was in nursing school and working on my clinicals at Brackenridge Hospital, I met a nurse who did travel nursing and strike nursing in her spare time. The more I talked to her, the more I was intrigued about what travel nursing was about. I couldn't get it out of my mind and wanted to know more. I decided that this is what I wanted to do as a nurse. I started looking for any information I could find on the internet and what I needed to do to get started. I joined a few travel nursing communities like www.allnurses.com and Delphi. I even picked up a copy of Highway Hypodermics in 2007 and read up on how other nurses started traveling, what travel companies are out there, what you needed to do to apply for other state license, along with what specialties are the most desirable. 

    In 2011 my son started college and moved out of our house into an apartment with a friend. The economy was still trying to recover from the fall it took in 2008. I was getting cancelled a lot and couldn't even get my 36 hours of work each week at the hospital. My bills started piling up on me and I started to become unable to pay them on time. I had no PTO saved for sick days or a vacation, because I had to use them up as I kept getting cancelled from work. One week I received my paycheck and saw that I had enough money to pay my mortgage and nothing else. I had had enough! That week I decided I was going to start travel nursing. 

    My first assignment was at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas in the OB/ICC emergency department. I signed up with TotalMed Staffing based out of Appleton, Wisconsin. I saw on Delphi that they had posted a position in Dallas, Texas, and seeing I had never travel nursed before, I decided I'd better stay close to home for this first assignment. 

 

   PARKLAND, DALLAS~ OCTOBER 3, 2011

             In Texas, Parkland Memorial Hospital is one of the top trauma hospitals to work at as a graduate nurse. It has a history that comes with it and new nurses and medical interns dream of getting their training there. I was just as excited as them when I found out I was going to be working here. On my first day walking through those revolving doors, I couldn't believe I was going to be working at the famous Parkland Memorial Hospital. 

                Parkland Memorial Hospital Badge

       I will have to say I am impressed with the training the nurses get at Parkland, and even though I was a travel nurse, I was offered the opportunity to take their two day ECG class. They had even scheduled me during my work week and paid for me to be in the class. No other hospital has done that for me since. As a travel nurse your expected to find and pay for your own extended education. After all, your not part of the hospitals staff and the department that you work in has no investment in you. 

        The original site were President John F. Kennedy was taken to trauma room I at Parkland Memorial Hospital on November 22, 1963. This event forever engraved the name of this hospital as part of an historical event never to be forgotten.

         My friends of the OB/ICC emergency department that took me in as one of their own. They made my first assignment unforgettable. I really felt like I was apart of the staff here. I have considered many times going back to work at Parkland because of the wonderful staff that work at this hospital. 

     Cindy and I were the only two travel nurses at the time working here in the OB/ ICC department. Seeing this was my first assignment, it was nice to have a seasoned traveler to go to when I needed questions answered. 

      When I wasn't able to drive back home to Austin, I'd stayed in Dallas at the extended stay by the hospital. One weekend I was able to see Jean Paul Gaultier fashion show at the Dallas Art Musuem. Jean Paul is a famous French designer to the stars. His most famous client is Madonna and has personally designed Madonna's wardrobe for her Confessions Tour. 

        Another weekend I went to the world famous State Fair of Texas that is held downtown at the fair grounds. Can you say FRIED, Cause pretty much everything was, from fried butter to fried salsa. My favorite is the fried corn dogs, an old time State fair food.