OK. I am finally ready to start! I know it has taken me

 a month , but let me tell you it has been an incredible month with a roller coaster of emotions and some incredible learning experiences.

I spent the first 2 weeks of July in Sioux Lookout in a classroom setting with 2 other nurses who were orientating with me. Stephanie had 1 more semester to complete her Nurse Practitioner and had already worked in the north with an agency and Elise was a Nurse Practitioner and also had worked in Northern Ontario as well as the Yukon and NWT with an agency so they were both pretty knowledgeable!! Me on the other hand felt like I didn't know anything and how arrogant was i to think I could do this. In the classroom I practiced suturing on a dummy arm and taking pap tests on a dummy  anatomically correct lower torso, oh yah and we learned how to make temporary dental fillings! I've learned in the north the nurse is not only the MD but the lab technician (I'm getting good at drawing blood and I've set up someone for an ECG), the dentist, the pharmacist (mixing up antibiotics) and the paramedics ( last night spent 4 hours stabilizing a 17 yr old girl who had taken 60 Tylenol pills,until the air ambulance picked her up at 0400 in the am). Talk about a learning experience!

The last 2 weeks of July I spent at a larger , busier centre called Fort Hope with a preceptor holding my hand and walking through things with me.Stephanie and Elise did not need this part of the orientation as they already knew it all but I was totally grateful for it except my preceptor was not very positive which did not help my stress level. At the end of one day after she had listed off all the things I had done wrong (some very trivial) I asked her if I had done anything right and should I just quit now as I was getting the impression from her that I was hopeless! At the end of the 2 weeks she did give me a good evaluation tho and said she thought I would make a great northern nurse.I am looking forward to being on my own without her and the nurse at this centre seems to be very helpful and knows how green I am.