It's been scary in the Hotel Rehab lately, and it's not because of ghosts or Halloween. We've seen a lot of our folks get sick and go out on leave. Our latest one is the building greeter. Believe it or not, having a greeter is part of the overall improving patient and employee satisfaction.
M. our greeter, shows people where to go, gets wheelchairs, makes phone calls and does all sorts of stuff that I often don't have time to do for patients and visitors.
M's boss told us that he's getting surgery and may not be back for at least two months. I will certainly miss him and so will our patients. Some have even gotten grumbly when I can't do stuff for them because they were so used to having him around. Maybe this news will improve their behavior.
Our nurse practitioners had a major job analysis done throughout the hospital system. For some, the changes that will happen mean they'll have to go back to school. Ours are lucky, they shouldn't have to do that, but the work they can do will change. Not sure if our medical staff are really aware of what all they do. They will be aware soon.
Finally, I'm constantly reminded that not everyone who's in rehab is totally well. They do get sick, again, and they do die. It's sad and yes, sometimes frightening. Some cases are sudden and some are not. I'm really glad we have many options for hospice for our patients. One of my SU patients recently decided it was what he/she wanted.
A whole lot of interventions doesn't always equal quality of life.
I've got to stop here. The frog singing outside is making me crazy...and I'm tired.
More later...
Showing posts with label Halloween. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Halloween. Show all posts
Saturday, March 25, 2017
Monday, November 2, 2015
Halloween post-script
Q. What's scarier than ghosts, goblins, and candy hangover?
A. A major inspection on a Monday.
I wish it were a Halloween joke, but alas...
Cross your fingers!
A. A major inspection on a Monday.
I wish it were a Halloween joke, but alas...
Cross your fingers!
Monday, October 19, 2015
Halloween season scary
It's really scary when your best friend calls you up on the weekend and tells you her hubby can't get out of bed. He told her he could barely open a can of soda in the afternoon the day before.
The neuros found out what was wrong with him--late last night that he has GBS. One day you're reasonably healthy, just feel tired, and the next day, you're stinking sick.
Count your blessings folks. They're in for a scary ride, and unfortunately, it will last longer than Halloween.
The neuros found out what was wrong with him--late last night that he has GBS. One day you're reasonably healthy, just feel tired, and the next day, you're stinking sick.
Count your blessings folks. They're in for a scary ride, and unfortunately, it will last longer than Halloween.
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Wheels of change
The construction still continues. Our administrative leader is optimistic it will be done early. It helps when our folks get early finish bonuses.
I run back and forth, round and round in the interim. I found out last week, when I went to get something ordered for a patient, that the item I was looking for wasn't available to order. It makes me wonder if I'll even be able to do the things my management wants, if I don't have equipment.
Dahey hopes his TDY duty will be done before Halloween. The fun aspect has worn off. He wants to come home. Bubba and I had a pretty good weekend. We roamed around town and even saw a hot air balloon land in one of the local parks. It was unscheduled, so all the kids in the neighborhood came out. (We were driving by, and went to look). We even fixed a fancy meal he planned and that went well, even though he could have done more work.
More motivation and fun this week. Stay tuned!
I run back and forth, round and round in the interim. I found out last week, when I went to get something ordered for a patient, that the item I was looking for wasn't available to order. It makes me wonder if I'll even be able to do the things my management wants, if I don't have equipment.
Dahey hopes his TDY duty will be done before Halloween. The fun aspect has worn off. He wants to come home. Bubba and I had a pretty good weekend. We roamed around town and even saw a hot air balloon land in one of the local parks. It was unscheduled, so all the kids in the neighborhood came out. (We were driving by, and went to look). We even fixed a fancy meal he planned and that went well, even though he could have done more work.
More motivation and fun this week. Stay tuned!
Friday, October 25, 2013
Sending him off
Unable are the loved to die. For love is immortality. ~Emily Dickinson
Little Colin was buried today. I took Bubba to his wake. They buried him in his Halloween costume and a bucket to hold the candy was in the casket.
"Mom, his lips looked funny." Bubba said. I thought he'd be afraid to look at the little boy he knew from school.
"Yes, Bubba, he was probably wearing makeup, too. They do that sometimes when people die." I told him.
The sight of a little kid in a casket in church was bad, but not nearly as bad as the sobs his father cried as we went through the line.
Heartbreaking.
More later...
Little Colin was buried today. I took Bubba to his wake. They buried him in his Halloween costume and a bucket to hold the candy was in the casket.
"Mom, his lips looked funny." Bubba said. I thought he'd be afraid to look at the little boy he knew from school.
"Yes, Bubba, he was probably wearing makeup, too. They do that sometimes when people die." I told him.
The sight of a little kid in a casket in church was bad, but not nearly as bad as the sobs his father cried as we went through the line.
Heartbreaking.
More later...
Monday, October 22, 2012
Why Bubba's getting an upgrade
To reflective tape on his Halloween costume this year. Just so no one mistakes him for a skunk.
What.The...?
More to come...
What.The...?
More to come...
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Yes, there's relief.
This week's assignments done. Laundry done, dishes in the dishwasher, little kid scrubbed and tucked in bed after a motherlode of goodies in a plastic pumpkin full of at least 5 lbs. of candy, and early to boot! Vegetating listening to this album.
WildDog at my feet after an Indian summer afternoon lounging in the yard, barking at passersby.
Dahey's celebrating his OT today by soaking in the tub.
Wish these hours of stillness could last a little longer!
WildDog at my feet after an Indian summer afternoon lounging in the yard, barking at passersby.
Dahey's celebrating his OT today by soaking in the tub.
Wish these hours of stillness could last a little longer!
Be happy, eat chocolate
Bubba and I are bonding as we make pumpkin pies and I just baked a really good brownie with items you wouldn't expect.
It is Halloween, after all. Even if you're on a diet (like me), you need chocolate.
More later...
It is Halloween, after all. Even if you're on a diet (like me), you need chocolate.
More later...
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
A little early Halloween antics
Yes, it's been going on lately, but I just have to wonder with the pre-Halloween antics going on at the Hotel. What do you get? A dash of irony in it all...
1. Convince one of your patients not to distribute his candy to everyone. He's really proud of it.
2. We get a "prank call" at the nurses' station that one of our people has fallen in the lobby. We investigate and find no person in the lobby. Turns out it wasn't a prank. The other rehab unit's lobby (on the other side of the building) was the place and yes, one of their people did go down...for you guessed it, trying to pick up candy he/she dropped to the floor. Moral of the story: new amputee + wheelchair + stuff out of reach often equals a tumble.
3. And the best one yet to close....Dr. Z., one of our internists kept telling Mr. C. he should not eat the Halloween candy he got recently. So what does Dr. Z. order on today's round of tests...a HgbA1c and gives him a bag of his favorite mini candy bars.
Oh, I foresee a boo-tiful time in the Hotel until Halloween! More to come...
1. Convince one of your patients not to distribute his candy to everyone. He's really proud of it.
2. We get a "prank call" at the nurses' station that one of our people has fallen in the lobby. We investigate and find no person in the lobby. Turns out it wasn't a prank. The other rehab unit's lobby (on the other side of the building) was the place and yes, one of their people did go down...for you guessed it, trying to pick up candy he/she dropped to the floor. Moral of the story: new amputee + wheelchair + stuff out of reach often equals a tumble.
3. And the best one yet to close....Dr. Z., one of our internists kept telling Mr. C. he should not eat the Halloween candy he got recently. So what does Dr. Z. order on today's round of tests...a HgbA1c and gives him a bag of his favorite mini candy bars.
Oh, I foresee a boo-tiful time in the Hotel until Halloween! More to come...
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Heard on the unit
Otherwise known as the evening shift edition
"Don't touch me!" Mr. U.
Mr. U. (short for Unhappy) is not liking the fact that his bowels are not moving. The dreaded combo of pain pills, cardiac (and other major organ problem) history, and new injury aren't helping either. I tried a suppository after he agreed, but I could not get the stool removed prior to insertion, like I usually do, so the suppository works.
Well, something worked, because about an hour later, Mr. U. passed not one, but two small baseballs of stool. That had to hurt more than the suppository! I made sure to alert the doc that Mr. U. definitely wants the stool softener.
Why he wasn't already getting it is a mystery to me.
"When you gotta go, you gotta go." Mr. C.
Mr. C., an old injury patient talked to Mr. U., his neighbor, about using suppositories, but Mr. U. didn't want to hear it. Mr. C. just shook his head. One of these days, he'll come around, Mr. C. said. His neighbor, thankfully, was asleep.
"Whooooaah! Whoooah!" Mr. S.
Mr. S. likes to moan in his sleep. I woke him up to take his pills and he was startled. "Why did you wake me up? I was watching SportsCenter," he says. "I woke you up because I thought you were practicing for a Halloween party or working at a haunted house." I replied. I heard this while I was down the hall, minding my own business charting on one of our workstations on wheels.
Another one of our patients was talking about ghosts and what he'd read about them at our place. We suspect there are plenty, and many patients have stories of shadowy figures in their rooms, mostly on night shift.
Stay tuned for more interesting comments from the Hotel.
"Don't touch me!" Mr. U.
Mr. U. (short for Unhappy) is not liking the fact that his bowels are not moving. The dreaded combo of pain pills, cardiac (and other major organ problem) history, and new injury aren't helping either. I tried a suppository after he agreed, but I could not get the stool removed prior to insertion, like I usually do, so the suppository works.
Well, something worked, because about an hour later, Mr. U. passed not one, but two small baseballs of stool. That had to hurt more than the suppository! I made sure to alert the doc that Mr. U. definitely wants the stool softener.
Why he wasn't already getting it is a mystery to me.
"When you gotta go, you gotta go." Mr. C.
Mr. C., an old injury patient talked to Mr. U., his neighbor, about using suppositories, but Mr. U. didn't want to hear it. Mr. C. just shook his head. One of these days, he'll come around, Mr. C. said. His neighbor, thankfully, was asleep.
"Whooooaah! Whoooah!" Mr. S.
Mr. S. likes to moan in his sleep. I woke him up to take his pills and he was startled. "Why did you wake me up? I was watching SportsCenter," he says. "I woke you up because I thought you were practicing for a Halloween party or working at a haunted house." I replied. I heard this while I was down the hall, minding my own business charting on one of our workstations on wheels.
Another one of our patients was talking about ghosts and what he'd read about them at our place. We suspect there are plenty, and many patients have stories of shadowy figures in their rooms, mostly on night shift.
Stay tuned for more interesting comments from the Hotel.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Way out in left field
Since I've been mindlessly meandering on the 'net today, I found this quirky item listed as a Rehab Nursing costume for Halloween. Oh, I really wonder who thought this one up...Hugh Hefner perhaps?
The only thing good about it is that pleather wipes down easily, especially if you get those spraying bowel program kind of folks.
The only thing good about it is that pleather wipes down easily, especially if you get those spraying bowel program kind of folks.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Life's a party...
If you're Bubba at our house. It's Halloween party season.
I'm so tired from evenings, but we're departing for the latest seasonal party at my sister's place.
More goodies later...
I'm so tired from evenings, but we're departing for the latest seasonal party at my sister's place.
More goodies later...
Thursday, October 23, 2008
A rainy Thursday
I'm looking out the window and it's gray and rainy. The wind is also cool, too. Fall is definitely here in our neck of the woods. There is some fall color, but most of the leaves have been blowing away and not really turning too well.
I need to clean my house before my in-laws come over this weekend, and I don't want to do it. The dog looks outside and sees the damp concrete and looks at me as if to say, "You want me to wait out HERE while you vacuum? No way!" This will make things very interesting (since he tends to chase the vacuum cleaner.)
To start today, I got Bubba to school and then I went to get Bubba some stuff and some Halloween makeup. I'm actually planning on wearing a costume this year. I have enough makeup for me, Dahey and Bubba to get made up a couple of times. Rest assured, all of the makeup I bought is water soluble, made in the good ol' US of A, and supposedly hypoallergenic. (We'll test it out and see...) No idea what the boys will be this year. Bubba keeps vacillating back and forth on what he wants to be. We have costumes galore Dahey has collected since the summer and of course, Bubba doesn't want to wear any of them.
After the trip to the store, I got out my carry-on and started packing some of my stuff for the conference coming up in early November. It's in the Pacific Northwest, so I'm expecting more of the cold, rainy stuff. I won't pack everything yet, but it's easier to inventory and get stuff when you have to look at the bag every day. I just throw something in once I think of it, then I reassess when doing the final packing and checking off the list (yes, I have a list for everything I pack). I do this in an effort not to forget the important stuff, like underwear and socks (I have done this several times on trips).
I'm still working on my CRRN review. I really like the Datachem software, since it has a lot of questions and answers (about 750 in the database). If you buy it at www.rehabnurse.org (in the Bookstore section) and you're a ARN member, you get $10 off the list price. I got the Certification Review software, too, and it's a little more flashy, with a lot of sounds and feedback when you answer questions.
Well, since I'm back to work this evening, I'll stop for now and start cleaning. Hopefully, the dog will stay out of trouble! More later...
I need to clean my house before my in-laws come over this weekend, and I don't want to do it. The dog looks outside and sees the damp concrete and looks at me as if to say, "You want me to wait out HERE while you vacuum? No way!" This will make things very interesting (since he tends to chase the vacuum cleaner.)
To start today, I got Bubba to school and then I went to get Bubba some stuff and some Halloween makeup. I'm actually planning on wearing a costume this year. I have enough makeup for me, Dahey and Bubba to get made up a couple of times. Rest assured, all of the makeup I bought is water soluble, made in the good ol' US of A, and supposedly hypoallergenic. (We'll test it out and see...) No idea what the boys will be this year. Bubba keeps vacillating back and forth on what he wants to be. We have costumes galore Dahey has collected since the summer and of course, Bubba doesn't want to wear any of them.
After the trip to the store, I got out my carry-on and started packing some of my stuff for the conference coming up in early November. It's in the Pacific Northwest, so I'm expecting more of the cold, rainy stuff. I won't pack everything yet, but it's easier to inventory and get stuff when you have to look at the bag every day. I just throw something in once I think of it, then I reassess when doing the final packing and checking off the list (yes, I have a list for everything I pack). I do this in an effort not to forget the important stuff, like underwear and socks (I have done this several times on trips).
I'm still working on my CRRN review. I really like the Datachem software, since it has a lot of questions and answers (about 750 in the database). If you buy it at www.rehabnurse.org (in the Bookstore section) and you're a ARN member, you get $10 off the list price. I got the Certification Review software, too, and it's a little more flashy, with a lot of sounds and feedback when you answer questions.
Well, since I'm back to work this evening, I'll stop for now and start cleaning. Hopefully, the dog will stay out of trouble! More later...
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