Dear Mother Nature

Please stop the tornado/severe weather crap. Tornado season officially ended November 1.

Yours truly (because I would like the SU to be standing tomorrow, so I can go to work),

RehabRN

Sunday stealing, just for you, dads

I'm not exactly sure if this is truly the Father's Day edition, but I'm posting my answers below today for a selection of the questions.

Bubba was the pancake master for breakfast, and so far, our day has gone really well. Dahey liked all of his gifts.

Enjoy your Father's Day wherever you are!

What is your ring size?
Depends on which hand. One ring finger is an 8. My mother told me not to crack my knuckles, but I didn't listen...

How often do you wear jewelry?  
I'm not an accessory freak, but I wear "work-appropriate" jewelry every day.

When was the last time you consumed alcohol?  
Last weekend.

What is your favorite comfort food?  
It depends. I love bread (my greatest loss while on this low carb diet) and anything bread-like.

Do you prefer broccoli or asparagus?  
Asparagus would be first.

What color are your bedroom walls?  
I think the color is called "linen" (basically a white color, chosen by my husband).

With whom do you live?  
Dahey, Bubba and WildDog. We have visitors occasionally, but none lately. Dahey's got a couple of coworkers and a couple of cousins who've lived with us at one time or another.

Which Star Wars movie is your favorite?
Return of the Jedi. I'm old school.

How about Harry Potter?  
Don't really have one.

What was the last movie you saw in theaters? 
Probably Paranorman.

Did you get the popcorn or candy?  
Always candy. I'm a Sno-caps kind of girl (if it's chocolate, I get it).
 
Have you ever played miniature golf on a date?  
Yes. Over and over and over. Not a lot to do for teens on dates when I was growing up.

Do you always use good grammar?
I try.

Do you have an accent or a speech impediment?  
I have been told I have an accent, based on the region of the country I'm from.  I'm often mistaken for a Canadian. (You know, eh?)

What did you eat today?  
Breakfast omelette. I really wanted lots of pancakes, but I didn't make those low carb ones.


Do you prefer to watch or play sports?  
Play, definitely. If it's pro, I'll watch.

What size engine is in your vehicle?  
Depends: one four, one six cylinder.

What do you need to do tomorrow?
Get up and go to work (ugh!)

A case of senioritis

I should be studying for my next test coming up very shortly, but I've been surfing again. Surprisingly, I've found articles on some other kinds of seniors, you may want to check out.

Senior citizens find the grass is greener (from Daily Reckoning) I'll bet our clerk M. who retired, is at one of their seminars (he was thinking about this when he left).

An unusual pilgrim (from CNN's religion blog) College kid (may or may not be a senior) takes a hike in search of a saint.

So now, off I go, to study again...stay tuned.

Stupid things people do at work

Just some recent observations. Happy Friday all!

1. Plugging in items so people can trip over the cords. Safety first (at least on this list!)

2. Letting your lunch explode all over the microwave. Bonus points (you think) if you get away without cleaning it up. Bounty (not the quicker picker-upper, either) if caught in the act.

3. Filling up the Shred-it box so full that the company is refusing to pick it up (I wish I were kidding.) I'm not sure where someone is finding all these phone books to disassemble.

4. Bringing in a coffee pot to a conference room, then unplugging the video conference equipment because, "Oh we don't need that anyway. We need the coffee pot plugged in."

5. Wondering why they can't get anyone from New York on the conference call. (see #4) Obviously, they were drinking decaf...

Another one's coming...

Another week that is. And a busy one at that, so I'm getting ready.

Enjoy your day wherever you spend it!

Ah, Sunday!

The window on my week. The beginning, even if I'm not yet at work. If Sunday goes well, there is hope for the rest of the week.

And for a little light relief, I head on over to Sunday Stealing, to see what Sunday excitement they have.

Now, back to the music..and even one on Sunday.See you next week!

The week that was

I'm always happy when the week is over, if for no other reason than the respite. This week, while short, made me want another day.

It was fortunate that I got over my vacation pretty quickly. I dived in at work and got things started faster than I imagined. Having the stomach flu/migraine/sinus headache from hell one day only slowed me down a little bit. When I got back to work, things just clicked.

And every single day, I'm working toward my goals being achieved for the new year.

1. Doing more patient education.
2. Getting my docs, NPs, CNSs, PAs closer and closer to working in our new clinics.
3. Seeing the lights go on among those providers now that they've actually digested that training I did. (Priceless! Don't feel like I'm speaking Greek anymore).

I still have to wait for the machinery and bureaucracy that is the Hotel to churn, but I've found ways of working around it. This makes me very happy indeed!

Stay tuned...

I am thankful

Despite all of the horrible things that have happened in the past month at work and at home in the RehabRN household, we are so very, very lucky.

No one in our family (or extended family) will be spending the holidays in the hospital. Hooray!

Bubba is much happier now that he is out of the horrible situation he was in, and I am so, so, so thankful for the caring and support he has gotten at school from the teachers and the staff.

Slowly, but surely, I am seeing progress in my work, even though it's only been a short period of time since I started in my new job. The lights are going on...people get it, patients get it. Now all I have to do is get it all together, synched and working.

I have been one lucky human this year.

Happy Thanksgiving all, wherever you are!

Winding down

It really was a crazy day today, not unlike my regular Tuesday schedule.

First, I get to work and try to catch up on the e-mails I meant to send yesterday.
Next, I go to the network admin's PC and mess with some specialty software for my school project. (He is the best, and doesn't care if I use his computer when he's out). I go to the staff meeting, all is good, I work for an hour or so before the next meeting, and our patient ditches us.

What's more fun: a beehive full of bees or a pissed off surgeon who's supposed to evaluate a patient for surgery and the patient doesn't show up? Hmm...

After that fun thing, inhale lunch, then sit in the boss's office for a conference call (because we have to stop using up all those unnecessary lines at lunch when we can eat quietly in peace). Thankfully, it was over much more quickly than they said on the agenda.

As a result of that meeting, I get an assignment. Not just any assignment, but one that requires I finish it before I leave...an hour late.

At least, I have one less thing hanging over my head! Stay tuned...it's never dull at the Hotel.

I'm open...

Be open to the amazing changes which are occurring in the field that interest you.~
Leigh Steinberg 

Dear Boss:

I'm also open to having Manglement make those decisions that I cannot. If you continue to tell me to do stuff without much direction, I will figure a way to do it on my own.

And being your micromanaging self, you may not like the results.

Just sayin'...

RehabRN

Vices

I do not smoke.

I only occasionally drink.

However, I absolutely refuse to stop getting my toenails lacquered a beautiful deep red.

It keeps me sane, even when I get lost in my work and forget until my pedicurist calls...

Stay tuned. More fun on it's way as Halloween comes to the Hotel.

Still tired...

So much work and training and conferences in the last week has left me exhausted!

Hung out with some of the folks at this conference. It was an amazingly interesting and fun time. Saw old and new friends from all over the country.

Stay tuned...

Another day...

More construction work on tap at the Hotel. More issues found in my trainer's office.

Guess we might end up with a whole lot of people in the emptied out Detox unit really, really soon at the  rate we are going.

Or as Jess, our therapist mentioned, "Just put up a trailer outside."

Just in time for winter...right!

When the cat's away...

Some folks can look so busy doing nothing that they seem indispensable.~Kin Hubbard


The mice will play. I am so glad I am not responsible about telling the big boss about all the havoc the sister hospitals have perpetrated by NOT doing what they're supposed to do. Had to report it, but nothing will ever happen at the rate Madison moves.

Oh, so much fun. At least, it won't harm patients or the innocent, but I wish the guilty parties would just get over it and do their work for once.

Ah, love flashbacks to the old life...it's just the same as the floor without as many bodily fluids. So much fun....stay tuned.

Savoring the last moments...

Of vacation until I go back to work. So I'm taking my self on in...and this is really what you're gettin', kiddos!



More to come...stay tuned.

Transitions, part 1

How hard is it? Plenty, when you're dealing with Manglement at the Hotel.

Here's my transition plan as of this week:

1. Get e-mail from Second-in-command Assistant Chief Nurse Mangler:
Go right ahead and see X, since she's been running the clinic while we've been waiting for you to get hired. We'll let you know when your start date is later, because we're waiting for people to come back from sick leave and the new hires to start.

2. I discuss specifics with my department Nurse Mangler.
NM: "Sure. Set up time with X and let me know what's going on."

3. I call X, set up appointment, come in on day off. I have to do this since NM can't possibly let me leave for a minute to go up two floors to see X for one hour, even though some of his/her favorites park in the cafeteria three blocks away while on duty for longer time periods than that.

NM is okay with this plan and it's confirmed via e-mail and verbally by conversation in hall with several witnesses present.

4. Meet X on my day off and get items I need to set up for a learning plan in the Hotels' Learning System. Total time for this, including printout of manual: two hours. As a result of this meeting, also advise NM that I have to attend another quarterly department meeting this week before I work an evening shift.

NM: Fine, just get to work on time.

5. Now after investing this much time in meetings, learning plan setup, etc., NM tells me I will not be compensated for my time to attend meetings, etc., until I start in the new position (which is the same department, but a different "cost center" per accounting.) Otherwise, "if I let you off for comp time, you're stealing time from this unit." (yes, this was a direct quote)

6. WTF?! Express "concern about lack of compensation" with a straight face and proceed to assemble everything for HR.

7. Notify X that I will have to start training later, which sets off its own cascade of idiocy all the way up to the boss of the center.

8. Get call from center boss. Center boss says "hold tight and we'll straighten this out. You won't lose anything"

And they wonder why people are so frustrated! If this was not my dream job, I'd run straight out the door.

Stay tuned for the continuing saga, because drama at the Hotel is new everyday. 

Change up

Here I thought, at the beginning of the week that I would have to work day shift for a while and lo and behold the boss switches my schedule around.

So working half in one shift, and half in another, I got to see some crazy stuff I don't normally see.

We occasionally have discharging patients who don't want to go home. We had one this week. This patient tried to think up every excuse in the book. It doesn't help it if the patient also has psychiatric issues and is not only anxious, but getting manic.

Psychiatrist, psychologist, and MD get patient a nice dose of something especially calming for the road. Nevertheless, the patient gets halfway home and calls to say, "I need to come back." MD tells transportation to take patient to nearest emergency room if things get crazy.

Another patient gets  in his wheelchair with snacks and a soda and proceeds to roll his chair off a wheelchair ramp in front of the Hotel, into the curb and somehow flip the chair. Thankfully, he couldn't go too far away. We have no idea why or how he did it. Called our docs, called the on-call doc, called the super. Patient gets the all clear. Lots and lots of fun paperwork to do for the charge nurse.

Another anxiety attack was averted when Mr. Z's nurse finally found his soda and snacks in his room. I don't think he could handle losing those items, which would have been worse than breaking his leg!

Stay tuned...we'll see what shift I work next!

That's more like it!

Weather: Sunny, with hot and muggy temperatures.

Air quality: the fine smell of charcoal is wafting around the neighborhood as people grill. Not as much as usual, though, since everyone's getting those gas grills.

Mood: Bubba has taken a break from playing outside. All is good.

All the ingredients of a great holiday weekend, which ends for me tomorrow. Back to work for the holiday. I can't complain.


Stay tuned.

So happy...

I'm no longer cleaning. My husband's sibling and family have left the abode. I'm no longer expected to entertain, or clean heavily. Everyone had a wonderful time, even if I did not get the windows cleaned for their arrival. It wouldn't have mattered anyway.

Back to reality...and work. And work was still the same. Just hoping and praying someday I'll find out about the new job and will get to leave the Hotel. This time of year is always so hot, especially in temperature and temperament.

Now I'm vegetating while the Dahey, Bubba and WildDog play in the yard. I love a house that's still, and full of peace and quiet.

More to come...stay tuned.

Boring start? Not!

Oh, it's always fun when your day starts slow and gets really, really fast. I get ready to start the day getting patients up and around. It's easy with the first patient, set up, go then come back.

When I got to the next patient, and all set up, the boss tells me they just got an appointment for the patient to leave the unit for a test. Nice. Back to putting the patient on a stretcher, calling transport and away we go.

Next, I move another patient out to our lounge to watch TV as the housekeepers clean and wax the floors.

After that comes lunch, visitors and the end of the day. If I would have blinked, I would have missed it.

Stay tuned!