Tired Tuesday

I'm just way too diurnal. Working at night kills me!

Now back to the old daytime grind. The bosses are driving me nuts. Our fearless leader, aka The Big Man (for literal and figurative reasons) is deciding to get crazy. Could it be that he's just got more time on his hands? Perhaps. He's just started bugging me about our presentation we'll be making very soon. The very same presentation he's done very little work on up until now, which I initiated and put together. The very same presentation he didn't want to do since too many nurses may show up. I just hope someone refills his ADD script before we go. And, no, I will not answer my cell phone if he calls just to "check on the progress".

The mainline boss (aka the charge nurse) is getting my goat, too. Thankfully, he/she is not nearly as obnoxious as our leader.

And now, I'm retiring...to a nap. Stay tuned!

Rainy days and Mondays

This just seemed appropriate today. I'll be rejoicing later...when the day is over!

Not quite...

Sunday Stealing, but close. Rules below. Thanks Anonymous RN for this one...and for that blog referral, too.


Here are the rules: Bold the things you’ve done and post on your blog!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped


12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing – indoor
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating


88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Swimmingly

While I'm not lounging at the pool today, I'm having a good day. Going from one task to another in between the excitement that is work.

School started and getting lots of inspiration from here, there and everywhere. Traveling partner and I are busy planning our next trip. Can't wait to escape the Hotel again. Just wish we weren't the Rodney Dangerfields of the unit in some ways.

Where are the Click and Clack boys to dope slap a few people when we need them?

More to come...stay tuned.

A different atmosphere

One of the nurses I work with mentioned it is a different environment when certain people we work with don't come to work. She is absolutely correct.

Imagine my world for a moment. NOTE: this illustration below has several grains of truth and will be distorted enough to protect both the innocent and the guilty.

First, we have the "lunch ladies". These nurses remind you of the lunch ladies from grade school. They often wear matching uniforms and if they had them, they'd have those hairnets on, too. They're perfectionists and they like to run various aspects of the shift a certain way (as if they were still in their kitchens) and you'd better like it, or feel their wrath. The wrath, you ask? Why they whisper a lot, which irritates the charge nurse. They bugged me at first, because I really got tired of their furtive glances, then the whisper, whisper that goes on at the other end of the report area, but I got used to it. Later, they may tell me who they're whispering about, and I ask them to talk to that person. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Next, we have the GI Joes. GI Joe #1 takes care of his patients, does his stuff and is exemplary. He wants a long career and is working to become an RN one day, one class at a time.

GI Joe #2 has been around forever, most likely has untreated PTSD and another psych disorder or two, and can be both a good worker and an absolute nightmare. This changes from moment to moment, depending on who took the last cup of coffee from the nurses' station pot, to whether his favorite sports team is winning, to whether Mr. X. just rang his call light and asked him for ice. Sometimes this merry-go-round is exhausting. We always hope he takes the meds he has before coming to work.

Finally, we have the slacker brigade. Often, they have slacking competitions to see who can do less work. The Slug leads the brigade. He/she makes an effort to get as many phone calls as possible on a shift, start jobs that he/she doesn't finish (it's easier that way), and takes long lunch breaks. Since he/she's getting all those phone calls, he/she's always on the unit, but don't expect much. A phone call or Facebook game could be missed while some actual work gets done.

A couple of our newer nurses have also joined the slacker brigade. Their mission: stay in close contact with latest boyfriend of the moment by escaping from the unit to see boyfriend(s) on the parking lot, in full view of many of their patients, staff and visitors, or just sit in a very far off location and take phone calls, send text messages and update your status on Facebook out of paging distance. One has even made boundary crossing his/her favorite sport, by cruising through certain patients' rooms and asking them to get him/her snacks/treats/crafts whenever he/she can.

For me....I try to stay invisible. If I'm invisible, I'm less of a target. Some days are more on target than others. I'm still learning to cope with them. I like taking care of my patients and when I take care of them, they don't call me as much. When they do, I take care of their issues right away.

Finally, I always follow my mentor G's advice: start the shift by saying to yourself, "This is going to be a good day/evening/night." If you say it enough, believe it, and go out and act like it will, it will. Even if it turns into the night from Hell, keep reminding yourself. It can make things better for you and your coworkers.  If all else fails, remember, this shift too, will pass and let it go once you are gone.


 

Full moon falling

Yes,  it's not a full moon or even a double moon anymore, but don't tell our patients that. They think it still is, reality or not.

We have a couple of guys, Oscar and Felix, who are roommates. Oscar gets out everyday since he has a standing appointment. Since he gets up, Felix thinks he should, too. Lo and behold, I get to work and the duo is in our patient lounge area watching the big screen TV. Both ask if I'm their nurse. Nope. Much grumbling ensues. Oscar and Felix go to the charge nurse and ask if they can have a new nurse. Why? Because they compare us when we're not in the room and they have their "favorites". Their assigned nurse was not their favorite, alas, the charge nurse wouldn't budge, and Oscar and Felix had to deal with their nurse.

My people were good. Pepsi Man (because he always gets a case when his family comes) finally realized he needs to drink more water. Pepsi Man got lots of encouragement, so forcing fluids was a breeze. My other patient, Mr. Go (because he's always going somewhere) is happy about going on the latest out trip. Won't be long before we only see him when he comes to visit.

From the "Thank goodness we don't have too many residents like this file", Mr. S. told me about his experience getting a PICC line at one of our other network hospitals, which happens to have lots of residents. Mr. S. told me a resident, showing off to some of the nurses on his/her dressing change ability, dislodged his PICC so far, that he required a new one. Yes, July 1 really wasn't that long ago, and here's proof!

Stay tuned...there's always excitement around every bend at the Hotel.

RehabRN book club

After, I thought about working for an idiot recently I went searching for a few business books and grabbed these two:

The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One that Isn't by Robert I. Patton.

This is a nice, little book. If you read quickly, you'll breeze through it in an afternoon lounging. This book piqued my interest since the author was an academic for a while who wrote an article about workplace assholes for a large, conservative business periodical in which they would not use the A-word in the title. I found this quaint and hysterical at the same time.

The book has lots of facts, no figures, but a great story line we can all enjoy: they're out there, so learn to live with them (or learn to make them go away) or get out.

I also got Mobbing: Emotional Abuse in the American Workplace by Davenport, Schwartz and Elliott. It's also a shorter book, so I plan on reading that before I start my classes again and it's grad school nursing every time I want to read something.

More later, so stay tuned.

A great end of day

So when you can't reach the people you need to via phone, just send e-mail...again and again. That was part of my day today. We'll see tomorrow if anyone responds.

It was a beautiful day here, and I was so glad I could escape for a few minutes into the sunshine. The humidity has disappeared for the moment and the afternoon was glorious.

Reminds me of those lazy days in college reading my books under a sycamore tree as the wind blew by...ahh! This time was even better at a table with a good book and a coffee.

More fun tomorrow...stay tuned!

Nurse vs. fax machine

Our education coordinator has access to all the tools allowing him/her to send us documents we can forward via e-mail.

So what does he/she do? Require us to fax him/her something...on a machine that is constantly busy.

Alas, this is my battle until report starts...fun!

It's been one (or more) of those days...

Sometimes I have those days. First, it wasn't that busy, it was a "hurry up and wait" kind of day. I did things really slowly considering the low census. The specialists were late, even though their meetings were short. My patient meandered with care, since time doesn't fly when you're on bedrest.

I also got to admit a patient with an unusual pet and acquaint one of our MDs with some new acronyms related to new groups of patients. I know the doc understands enough, but sometimes there is a lot of generational dissonance when we talk to the docs. It makes a difference when patients are in the same generation as you are. I feel as if I'm a translator to the doctors who have children my age.

Finally, one of our patients made me laugh. On his way to the dentist, he said, "My dentures are so old..guess when they were made?" I had no idea and I told him so. Turns out I'm as old as his dentures.

I was so tired and ready to take my real teeth home once the end of the day arrived.

Stay tuned...

Can I just have one more thing?

One more thing to give me a headache
My sick brother repeating over and over and over that he wants to come home every time I go visit.  I need a Tylenol stat, please, with a coffee chaser!

One more thing to make my feet hurt
Dodging wheelchairs and dodging the wheel that fell off a guy's wheelchair as I was walking out the door today. We got it back on (with some assistance from two bystanders). Oh, "that's where that screw came from!" Mr. X assured me that the screw would be put in at home, since he knew exactly where it was.

One more thing that makes me go "Hmm..."
Why, oh why, do the docs tell Patient X, he/she can be up "as tolerated" and never bother to write the order? I document it over and over and over again, in my notes, of course, but my colleagues on other shifts don't really believe it if they don't see an order. And the way some of our docs act some days, it doesn't surprise me.

One more office visit for Bubba's strep throat...
And I will have spent over $100 for treatment and visits. Now if they made the kids' copay like last year, the antibiotic would have been the most expensive thing lately. Nothing like cost sharing. Note to self: save more in flexible spending account next year!

One more this...
And one more that. I'm not a big lemon fan, but these are the bomb as J. one of our nurses says. The ginger ones aren't bad, either.

And finally, one more that...
A nice cool glass of limeade, and I'm off to bed.

Stay tuned. Something's always happening around the Hotel...

Head on over...

And check out the latest edition of Change of Shift at emergiblog.

Dreaming

I know you can find loads of things online about dream interpretation, but I just had one of those falling dreams.

Funny thing was...it wasn't me falling, but a patient, from Trendelenburg, out of bed, into a chasm behind the bed I couldn't see. And no, I couldn't stop him from falling into the hole either and creating a sentinel event.

Thank goodness it's the weekend. I need a break!

More to come...stay tuned.

Me and Angelina Jolie

Now for something completely different...

I nearly coughed my coffee all over my laptop on this latest "news". I am SO glad I now have something in common with Angie and this other starlet.

What's up with Jen and Angelina? (from shine at Yahoo!)

P.S. If you have those on our unit, and crap in the arms, we'd go straight there for IVs and blood draws.

Weirdness of late

The grumpy assed patients who f-bomb the nurses, the techs, and the doctors, are happy. Why? A little party, some PT and some good ol' fashioned diazepam (to keep those spasms in check). Mr. Grumpy (no relation to the good Doctor), my patient of late was a little darling once I got him set up with all his pills before therapy. He was so happy, he promptly went to sleep once I put him in bed.

My boss, although irritated that he/she had to come back to work was very understanding when I told him I had to go to the hospital with my brother. Lots and lots of med issues, but hopefully, they'll all be straightened out.

The full moon's not quite here, but you'd think it was. Stay tuned...

Yes, I work for an idiot

Signs that you may work for an idiot:

1. No matter how many times you tell him/her that you did something they ask if you did it. (I even sent e-mails for a paper trail)

2. You show the boss the product he/she was looking for and they request changes, saying, "Well, my boss won't take it if it's not black/white or navy/white with yellow titles."  His/her boss must be an opthamologist.

Don't worry about content, just contrast. Okay....

3. Your boss isn't sure about a presentation you've sweated blood over for months because he/she thinks too many nurses might show up.

Hmm...the nurses were invited...remember? And I just happen to be ONE of those nurses!

More to come...

By way of Grumpy

Something only a mother (or any parent really) can love at the start of the school year, from mothershandbook.net

The Mother's (2nd annual) 12 step Back to school program

BTW Grumpy, our DragonMaster (a patient who's been a longtime Dragon user) loved your latest Dragonisms.

An unlikely rehab hero

RIP Stanley Simon. May others follow your example.

One more day...

Nothing like a Monday. Tired and hungry (me) and a sick kid. School starts this week for Bubba.

The fun will never end.

Uniform uniforms?

In yet another effort to stifle the morale at ye old Hotel Rehab, the management has decided we would just "look better" if we all wore standard uniforms. Rumor has it we'll get light blue tops and blue pants.

The best suggestion was to go back to "nursing whites because they're so much more professional". Yuck! I work with poop and other bodily fluids a lot on some shifts (and I may get wet in a shower--or may sweat due to the heat and humidity on our unit) and I really don't want to see it if it does end up on my scrubs.

And who might have thought this was a great idea? It was the "Nursing Standards" committee, which consists of nurses who no longer work the floor anymore. Our representative did work the floor, until he/she got the office and is rarely seen anywhere near the unit, unless there are donuts or other free food.

Now if they do like the ORs and build a locker room for us and allow us to change at work, I might go for it. I doubt they'd go for it...I work the floor. What could I know?

The changing tides

Have you ever had a day, where when you arrived you wanted to leave? That was one of my shifts recently. We had a quiet shift going on, but the mood was just not right. Lots of tension in the air, and with the rising heat and humidity, this was not good.

My favorite charge nurse (FCN) had returned after a long vacation, sunburnt but happy. She was frazzled, though. I know she is when she starts saying, "Can't do xx without an order" It made me want to ask her what was going on, since I know quite well that nursing judgment does not require an order. I also know which doctors will appreciate my use of nursing judgment and which (one) will not.

As the night went on, however, things went well. Call lights were answered promptly, things got done and (gasp!) staff had time to take breaks to eat and read and relax a bit. Those moments helped a lot.
FCN was feeling good, and with a few good cups of coffee in a quiet place, in a much better mood.

So by the time the shift ended, things were really peaceful. We walked out as the next shift came on. And hopefully, the tides lapped quietly in the night, and left our overnight friends with a shift as good as ours.

More to come...

Jo says it best

In this post about "copying".

BTW I will not hunt you down and mete out my own form of justice, but I do believe you will get yours sooner or later.Yes, do believe in an afterlife.

Read and enjoy, and if you'd like to repost, send an e-mail as a courtesy please.

As always, thanks for visiting,

RehabRN

Chew and digest

Sometimes, if I get a free moment, I actually enjoy my lunch. The other day I saw this article at the New York Times website about nurses and their lunch hours. I loved this quote:

"Workers cannot just drop patient care when the lunch hour arrives. We are not like an assembly line, which can shut down at lunchtime, or a bank, where people work 9 to 5.”

This is the understatement of the year. Some days, my lunch hours are a mess, especially on the day shift. So many things are crammed into the day shift for the convenience of outside groups, that nursing inevitably is one group that often bears the brunt of the cramming. Take services for example. In our outpost hospital, all of the services, you'd expect to have 24/7 (i.e. radiology, lab, pharmacy, etc.) are not 24/7. No, these groups have daytime hours at Madison, and when it's time for them to go home, they go home and the main hospital, Washington, picks up the slack on certain things, like lab and pharmacy. Emergent stuff has to be sent to an ER that's often on diversion, so most of the time we know that Saint Suburban down the street will get our people.

Interruptions are also key. For some strange reason, no one wants to watch anyone else's people while we're at lunch. Sure the boss assigns lunch times, but he/she still hasn't figured out that if you have a person to feed at noon and dietary doesn't bring anything until then, you will not get your lunch at noon.

My resolution: I eat whenever I have a break, or I take my lunch early when all my work is done. I enjoy having lunch in a lunch room that is quieter, since the lazy folks, usually don't start their AM work until after 9.  By that time, even with complex patients, I'm nearly halfway (or more) done. I have problems smelling and feeding someone food when I'm hungry because I have 1) a huge desire to eat whatever's on their plate, 2) a huge desire to pass out as I feel my blood sugar dropping and 3) a desire to run right to the fridge and devour my own lunch.

I have a strategy for what I eat, too. I try not to bring anything that needs a microwave. It limits what I can eat, but makes things a bit easier. I mix it up, so all I have to do is unpack and eat. I try to eat lots of fruit, nuts, vegetables and grains, which I don't feel like doing. Having a quiet lunch room also helps when enjoying a fresh cup of coffee.

Our lunch room may be spartan, and not much of an oasis, but any little bit of free time, along with a good lunch can make the day go by quickly.

Snack attack

I like chips and salsa anyway, but why on earth did someone make the chips healthy enough that you'd want to eat the whole entire bag? Now if they were calorie-free...ah! They were really that good!

At least, I wasn't NPO all day for some labs like the older couple over at the Saintarama Internal Medicine office today. True, Mr. and Mrs. Smith (not their real names) could afford to miss a meal, but be NPO until 3PM? I know their doc (aka Wild Pants) and trust me, if I had had time, I'd have loved to a) see if he was wearing the really weird golf pants today (it is Wednesday) and b) asked him if he had heatstroke, making his people NPO for so long.

Now, I'll just have to get back to working on my photo project I delayed one too many times. Got a deadline now, so I have to make it before school starts.

That is all, so resume snacking. More from the Hotel later!

Thanks!

One can pay back the loan of gold, but one dies forever in debt to those who are kind.  ~Malayan Proverb

I've not had a shout out section in a really long time, so I thought it was about time, you know how people end up here. Sure a few folks get here via search engine, but without the blogs below, no one would even wander over here for a view of the Hotel.

So when you're out and about, hop on over and visit some of our referrers and read their stuff.

Thank you ladies and gentlemen. I am in your debt!

RehabRN

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http://pakazoid.blogspot.com/
   
http://atyourcervix.blogspot.com/

http://studentrntiffany.blogspot.com/

http://ajnoffthecharts.com/

http://livingdeadnursepsychoward.blogspot.com/

http://pissedoffpatient.blogspot.com/

Radiating

I had a couple of new patients recently who've come to the Hotel to get their radiating pain evaluated. This keeps the neurosurgery service and our physiatrists busy. One will get a lami and decompression in a month, and another, a little heat in the capsaicin cream to keep him/her happy while they mix up the medication regimen.

One of our coworkers resolved his radiating pain, and finally came back to work. He also got a research position part time, so he won't really have to do as much physical work.

Another patient starts radiation treatments soon, so he/she's happy to get things going. The wait to get other issues resolved while waiting was getting to be overwhelming.

Hopefully, I'll be radiating a little color after one last day at the pool with Bubba before we start getting ready for school. It's hard to believe the summer's gone by so fast.

Stay tuned...more to come.

Failure

There is no failure except in no longer trying.  ~Elbert Hubbard

Lots of failure recently in the lives of our folks at the Hotel. Traveling partner and I have been dealing with the dismissal of our request by shaking the money trees. The word is out and we're getting positive feedback, but all we can do is wait, as the clock ticks.  If we don't get a response soon enough, we'll go to Plan B, which may or may not work. All in all, in the end, we'll get what we want: a trip out of town, a presentation at an industry conference, and billing on the program.

One of our coworkers has to keep trying methods to find out what is wrong with him/her to see if the musculoskeletal issues are work-related. Gotta fail a lot of treatments before you get disability.

Another story in our local newspaper involves failure to rescue. The unit is abuzz because we know the nurse involved. While he can't talk about it, everyone's playing armchair quarterback.  It's a sad case for all parties, especially considering someone died. 

We had a good failure today, if there is one. The bigwigs who were supposed to tour the unit never showed up. At least, the floors were shiny, the halls were clear and all the isolation carts full of gowns for one brief moment.

Let's just hope there's no imminent inspection to fail if the clutter comes back! 

More later...

Nerdly pursuits

Yes, I'm one of those crazies who seek out trouble.

I am no longer employed in the computer industry, but I got to convince my friend to do some networking work at home and buy her kid a new computer. Happy Birthday Nico! Remember, I got you (by talking to mom) that iPod Touch last year, too. Don't pull any crap or mamasita's compadre here will mess up your box (as much as it hurts me...it'll hurt you more!)

Dearest Elderly Relative asked me to hook up his/her new PC....and transfer files. You'd swear the world would end if DER can't get those chain letters!

And because everyone's been buying new stuff and making me salivate, I'm coveting this software for one of my upcoming projects. I've been tagged by one of my instructors to publish a paper that I co-authored this semester. Two of three of us are on board to shop the project out....so we'll see what happens.

I'm heading to the online stores. Stay tuned for more tech toy updates.

The many hats of RehabRN

One of the neuropsychologists on our unit who I really like said that he/she liked the nurses because we're so versatile.

Somehow, he/she hit the nail on the head recently for one of my shifts.

In one shift, I was...

1.Secretary and chief air traffic controller.
Okay, it wasn't air traffic, but I had to print, type and call about 12 people to get one of our patients sent out to an appointment and get another patient from the already closed clinic back to his/her home three hours away. The ride was late just because they weren't in a hurry to get to the Hotel.

2. Waitress.
This is the story of my life. Don't ask for ice, though, if you have two hands that work and you're rolling all over the unit wreaking havoc.

3. Laundry attendant.
Pretty much the same applies to this as to #2. I can't stand the thought of people going to rehab in dirty clothes.

4. General Ms. Fix It.
I know where the screwdrivers on the unit are...fear me! Most of the time, I'm just asked to fix stuff the engineering department forgets. Now if they'd let me have Allen wrenches, I'd rule the world.

5. Computer geek.
Mr. Laptop has had me install and reinstall software for him after he inadvertently removed an important program.

6. Tour guide
Get lost and end up on our unit? I'll get you where you're going whether it's on campus or in the neighborhood. I wish we printed brochures sometimes, since it would make things easier.

Happily, I'm going to enjoy my current job: wife and mother for the whole weekend. Dahey, Bubba, WildDog and I plan on having a wonderful time visiting relatives and just relaxing.

More to come...

In case you're wondering...

Dear Nosy Coworkers:

Yes, I did already talk to the boss about leaving early today. Maybe you should have too, since you like to observe (loudly) that I'm "always getting off for something." Reminds me of the verse, "Seek and you shall find..."

I did earn my kudos for that project I'm working on...remember you didn't want it when it was offered to you, because it was "too much work."

No, I don't mind doing whatever it takes to keep my people happy. I will turn on the computer and set it up for the quad, since it's his/her only link to the outside world via that laptop. Yes, taking care of people and their stuff really IS nursing. Hopefully, if you're ever in a similar situation someone will do the same for you.

And finally, if someone can have a cold Diet Coke on the rocks in a room that's steaming, you'd better believe they're getting it from me.

That is all.

RehabRN

One day, you're fine...

And we're planning all of your rehab stuff to do. The next day, you're getting sick and we're getting you out to an acute hospital, hopefully, fast enough to save your life.

Things often turn 180 degrees when you least expect it.

More to come...stay tuned.

Sometimes...

"You wanna be where everybody knows your name." Gary Portnoy & Judy Hart Angelo, Cheers theme song



Around the Hotel, it's a little like Cheers. We have lots of people who come to see us...over and over. We're not just a Hotel, really, but also an office building, as our clinics and offices are in the same hospital complex. So we really do see people, coming and going.

Today's admission is a regular. If he could sit on a bar stool, he'd be like Norm with one reserved for him and if he drank, a cold one waiting. Alas, NotNorm doesn't drink and he's just staying for a short time with us for a procedure, then going home. NN managed to arrive bright and early for his admission and he regaled everyone with his recent adventures, which also included a near-miss with heavy traffic in his neighborhood, due to a wheelchair gone awry.

When he wasn't keeping the natives in stitches, NN also gave our new resident fits, because he/she was worried about his skin due to a number of moles. So Dr. G. came down to check out NN, and point out to the resident, that those moles were actually seborrheic keratoses. On top of it, Dr. G. complimented my notes while he/she was in the room.  It's nice to hear compliments, when everyone else is giving you a load, literally and figuratively.


Our Manglement has decided that nursing may not be paid expenses to attend conferences, even when invited or selected on the conference curriculum as faculty. We can get approved absence from work, but no travel expense payment. This won't stop our leader and a few cronies from attending (their expenses are from a different pool), but as nurses, we've been told we can only go if we pay our own way. Traveling partner and I have some ideas, but we've basically resorted to checking with a few resources with our hats off and hands out. We'll see how it goes, since apparently the old maxim is true: no good deed goes unpunished.

So off I go to prepare the "Can you help us?" letters, since standing out on a curb with a cardboard sign is really just too hard since it's hot here right now. Thank goodness I have years of experience selling stuff!

Want to send two really interesting nurses to a conference and see your name on their suits as they present? E-mail us!

(Not really, but it's a start...not sure if any NASCAR people are showing up to this conference.)

Stay tuned...I may have to think up a blog-a-thon, if the letter writing campaign is unsuccessful.

Nirvana

Cold Boulevard
+ Biofreeze to balky shoulder
+ philosophy Lemon Cookie bubble bath
+ a good book 
= a great way to end the day.

Weekend recap

Yes, I'm in a stupor from all the weekend excitement, but I think it has more to do with the hours I work. (Sorry, I'm just a diurnal kind of person...)

Thankfully, the weekend was quiet. We never say the "q" word at work, but now the weekend is over, we can. It's fine and dandy when you sit and work in relatively equal proportions.

This was handy, since I was asked got stuck to train people on how to use the new payroll system. Why? Since I can read and am "good with computers." We're going green just like Saintarama did years ago and Madison will not print your paycheck stubs anymore. You can via the internet. Great idea in practice, but when a government organization runs anything, there are lots of caveats.

One big bugaboo is that SuperGiganto Payroll people sent e-mails with passwords that expired pretty much after they left the mail server. Which means I had to teach people a) how to get their e-mail (some know how and some don't) and b) how to get through the maze that is SuperGiganto Payroll.  As a former author of help documentation, there was way too much of it. One of our nurses totally violated the "green" part of getting into her payroll account by printing the help file, which had to be at least 100 pages. This task, in between call lights and actual work, took about two days.

I also had to complete the paperwork for some folks who missed our yearly competency reviews. The caveat: the forms said they all had to be reviewed by the nurse manager, so only about 20% of the competency could actually be completed over the weekend. Sorry, boss. I tried to help out...you'll just have to do the rest. You'd think our very own education nurse could work on this, but lately, the only thing she's working on is vacation and sitting in her office. I heard more than once that maybe I should be doing her job instead of her. Not a chance. Said nurse has more experience than I do and probably will never set foot back on the floor again.

Since I had some free time, I found a great free review for my next grad school class. I'll be looking at that in my spare time, since classes won't start for a couple of weeks.

Overall, it wasn't a bad weekend. We have more bookings coming up today at the Hotel, so we'll see how it goes.

Stay tuned. It's never a dull moment.

Dear male patient

Please don't tell me not to get excited when you get "indigestion" and refuse to take anything to relieve it because you'd rather talk to cousin Bob. You have plenty of risk factors that scream at me. When you say you still have it later, and I run the fire drill to make sure it's just indigestion, don't have a fit then, either.

I'm really not in the mood to call a code which you might not survive if you do indeed have a MI.

Thanks for understanding and take your Maalox.

RehabRN