Visits with bigwigs

Today was one of those two day visits. In theory, everything is clean and shiny, but it wasn't. The big shots got in before the housekeepers started mopping up the big dried coffee stain in the lobby.

I was fortunate to stumble upon the visitors as I was leaving my office to go to the restroom down the hall. Since I am well acquainted with one of them, I escorted them to the meeting room. They were thrilled with the coffee and pastries.

As luck would have it, I was scheduled in not one but three meetings. Since they ran over, I excused myself from the second one, so I could escape and do some work. Since the Slug needed someone to impress and was being a total toad, it was really for his/her own safety (and the safety of my license) that I left.

When I went back to my desk, I kept making phone calls. I called several patients and checked on orders for equipment. It was fun to get away.

Finally, the visitors had had enough in the last meeting and we finished by 5PM, over an hour past my usual. I was so glad to go home.

More excitement is coming...stay tuned.

I'm praying...

For my patients, especially the sick ones. It really does suck being around here when you could be home for the holidays. Many come from far away, so they don't have family visits.

For my coworkers, you know who you are. Praying that saying that tough times never last really is true.

For my son, Bubba, who just decided to have a meltdown while Dahey had a friend in the house. Ugh! Being the disciplinarian, he got his attention, though.

For me, that I can get into the holiday season. I started reviewing my charitable contributions (which I do this time every year). I really do enjoy giving and receiving.

Peace, quiet, family happiness and a clean house aren't too much to ask for...are they?

We'll see...stay tuned!

Dysfunctional families at work

It's not just the patients at the Hotel who have dysfunctional families, but the employees act like a dysfunctional family, too.

Your boss decides to tell your office mate he/she is a "downer and never has anything good to say". Said nurse is always doing more than expected, unlike a large portion of the staff we work with. Said nurse is also stressed by an HR department that "forgot" his/her promotion (which means no more money on the payroll as promised, which is nice during the holidays or any season) and who is genuinely feeling awful. I finally convinced Neighbor to see the new PCP at the Hotel after failed attempts with one in another system who never returned calls. Neighbor has some scary symptoms that don't warrant a hospital stay, but are concerning nevertheless. Crossing my fingers that a specialist appointment (or two) is on his/her appointment list soon.

I had the distinct pleasure of participating in a facility-wide job fair. It's a good thing they rented out hotel space because we were mobbed. I participated in over a dozen interviews for nursing staff. It was amazing the amount of people we got to show up. I hope the nursing recruiter  has learned: be prepared for CNAs. They seem to always be looking for a job and freebies. A few were exceptional, a couple were good, but only about half were recommended for hire. It would have been nice to have another group to interview these folks, because we had so many people show up, it took FOREVER.

My partner was another nurse from our department who I don't see a lot. She is Ms. Right as in "I'm always right"and is well-known for spending most of our staff meetings fighting with the boss. She has years of experience, but sometimes doesn't act like it. She thinks what she thinks is more important than following policy, procedure or even, evidence-based practice. She came from another high-intensity area and sometimes, she needs to go straight back. She's gotten comfortable, though, in her role, so short of a egregious error of judgment, she'll never leave before she gets her advanced degree. I really wish her graduation date was soon...

The good thing: some of our staff scheduled appointments for me. This meant I had to show up, so I spend the last hours of my day taking care of them, reviewing what happened this week and it was pretty darned good. We had one of the best weeks ever for SU encounters. It was a bright spot to this Supermoon crazy kind of week. I'll take it.

May your weekend be full of joy. Don't let the turkeys (or Ms. Rights) get you down!

'Til next time...

Crazy Monday

I am more than familiar with the quotes mentioned in this article 30 things we hate to hear at work.

Please note that while I may ask for a second, I don't expect to get more than that. We know you're always way busier than the rest of the department, so, as my favorite old ER nurse says "Spare me".

Don't be spared. Read this and enjoy.

You might even be able to add some of these to your own special nursing unit Buzzword Bingo for some fun on Thanksgiving.

Have a happy Monday wherever you are! More later...

I'm not hiding

I'm just dealing with fallout. Fallout related to the end of our hospital's fiscal year.

Some of the fun  meetings I've been subjected to:

1. Year end recap
Actually, I'll be forced to do that next month. Boss didn't show for this month's meeting (that's really a waste of time).

2. Meetings with my boss, coworkers and a provider who was forced to be there.
An hour of telling people what I do, what I am allowed to do, and why you telling me what to do isn't a good idea.

NOTE: my boss sat on the sidelines watching this car crash. He/she knows better.

I had fun by pointing out how I know what you know, and when I knew it, even though I'm not supposed to do your job.

3. "Scut work"
Said provider in #2 said he/she isn't going to do the work that other providers in our system do, because he/she can delegate that "scut work" to the NP.  BTW none of the scut work mentioned here is even done by an MD in our system.

NOTE: this "scut work" requires a physician or licensed independent provider to write an order. Our MDs are really "busy" not writing as many orders as they can, especially at odd hours.

My favorite excuse: "just blame the computer". This wreaks havoc for the nurses, especially when your facility supposedly "disciplines" providers for too many verbal or telephone orders.

I really wanted to ask what he/she normally does when not goofing off, but I bit my tongue.

The train is coming, so off I go. Enjoy your day wherever you are!

Assessments

I had lunch with a coworker today whom I normally don't see. He/she works in another part of the same building.

We were talking about the working environment because he/she is newer in our area. It was not a surprise that we noticed many of the same things.

1. Many folks on our team are territorial to the point of being hostile to others. Our boss thinks things don't need to be addressed by leadership, but they do.

It's nice to know that I wasn't the only one with that thought.

2. While the team says "Yeah team" and acts friendly, they are often not very friendly, especially if you encroach on the item in #1. I found this out when I asked a coworker about something the boss brought to me.

3. The team, besides being so territorial and in some cases, mercurial, is always competitive.

While reading this week, I found an article on befriending competition. It's not exactly my situation, but I feel like many things ring true in my dealings with my coworkers.

We both agreed, that while our jobs have their minuses, they definitely have their advantages. It would not make sense to let the mean girls (and boys) win.

Stay tuned...

Perils of modern living in the office

If you have e-mail, it just might get hacked if you open attachments you shouldn't. I'm so glad one of my technical people actually confirmed my suspicions recently. Our mail has been terrible. The issues we have with technology are scary, but not surprising.

My latest issue: some of my coworkers want to be exempt from policies and procedures that can cause issues with billing some services they provide. This is another example of following the chain of command. They do it (or suggest it) so I have to make their boss aware of the situation. It sucks, frankly, when these same folks could have been doing this job (they've been dodging) for a few years now, had they let me put the resources in place.

More construction starts at the Hotel. We got some equipment (they forgot until I asked and money was found) for our exam room, so once we get our security devices (probably next month) we can officially say construction is over in our office.

Bye, bye convenient parking when the monsoon comes through later this week. Guess I may actually start wearing my backup scrubs. Our parking lot shuttle is a joke. I often see them at the local Wal-mart. Last time I checked, Wal-mart was not our parking lot.

Patients will be patients. They are now asking pointed questions and so it makes our lives very interesting everyday.

Off I go to another exciting day. Stay tuned.

You get what you wish for...

Or at least it seems that way right now. What a week!

For almost five years, I've been asking for help and/or equipment. While I can't get them to give me the help, in terms of personnel I want, I am getting equipment, so it's keeping me busy.

My favorite thing: I'm finally having days where I actually do the job I was hired to do for almost the entire eight hours I'm there (and sometimes then some...). The patient flow is something I have to work on, though. I follow the guidelines, but somehow, I always have a patient who wants to tell me more.

This week, I got to go to training that was cancelled many moons ago. It was interesting, even though I had to attend with my boss, who, with his/her MBA, knows everything. He/she succeeded in driving a lot of people nuts, which got me lots of sympathy from the folks I already know.

Finally, after working on my last patients this afternoon (and one emergency with a speech therapist), I got the e-mail I've been waiting for from the boss. He/she's recommending that the holdouts complete things they need to do to work with me in my clinic.

Five years is a short time where I work but almost a lifetime anywhere else. That e-mail made my week. I can only hope I'll get a few more wishes...

Happy weekend wherever you are. More to come...

TGIF (for so many reasons)

Yes, I'm thankful it's Friday because I don't have to work on Monday. Happy long weekend to all of you fortunate enough to be able to celebrate our country's presidents Monday.

I have been doing research for another conference abstract (the story of my life lately) so I've managed to find some interesting articles, including this one on writing a good one. Some of these are even appropriate for the abstracts.  Here are a few of the ones I found below.

While I'm not looking for a job right now, I try to keep my reference list up to date. This article talks about how to ask references the right questions to get good information on candidates. While I don't actually check the references, I have interviewed people. One of the folks I interviewed provided us a list of references to check. Surprisingly, the candidate's name and phone number was on his/her list. It gave me a chuckle, as the other interviewers didn't immediately pick up on this. This got said applicant in my "Interesting Interviews Hall of Fame".

The end of this week was sad, though. One of the national folks for our program died suddenly this past weekend just as he was getting ready to watch the Super Bowl. His team won, so despite everything, there were a few smiles knowing that. He was not old and it was not expected.

We found out that one of our coworkers has a family member with cancer. What makes it worse is that it's a child. Being new at the Hotel is crazy enough, then to have your family member have cancer is just awful.

These moments remind us all to be grateful for health. It's never guaranteed.

Until next time...

Quality or not

We had the long (not awaited) meeting with our nurse manager. I like the manager, I just detest being stuck with some of my ne'er-do-well coworkers.

Our manager had the not enviable position of beginning the discussion about changes coming to our Hotel clinic and home care group. Some folks just rolled their eyes. One person was on vacation. My cohort had a migraine. I thought I would have one, too.

The Slug made a comment I'll never forget when the nurse manager talked about liking Madison since he/she "can make a difference here."

The Slug replied, "I don't want to make a difference, I just want to be."

Be lazy? He/she's got that down.

Be greedy? Absolutely, when all you're worried about when your job title is going to change in the computer to care manager (because that title usually--but not always--gets you a pay raise).

Be an idiot? Completely. But when you have YEARS of nursing experience, especially doing stupid things, it's not surprising.

Quality, caring employees might be just the Christmas gift for the Hotel this year.

Stay tuned...

Stress relief

As many articles mention, stress can kill you. It can also have some nasty side effects, like weight gain, and depression.

What I've found lately are two things that help me deal with stress. One is quiet time. I have to have time to be quiet and reflect. It doesn't have to be a lot of time, I just need time. Most often, it's right before I go to sleep at night or if things get crazy at work, I just take five minutes to myself.  Sometimes I have to hide to get those five minutes, but I know that if I have them, I will be able to keep myself on track.

I've also been exercising. The scale's not moving (probably because I've indulged) but I'm finally getting some definition back in my arms, legs and even abdominal area. I'm not lifting heavy weights, but I'm consistently exercising and doing strength training with cardiovascular exercise.

My favorite exercise class right now is cardio kickboxing. I believe it's a double duty exercise because it's a great way to relieve stress. All those stupid things people might say to me--BAM! The dirty looks--BAM! I box and kick it away.

So as my favorite t-shirt says, "Don't let the turkeys get you down." Reduce stress in your favorite, most constructive way, and take care of you.

You deserve it, and so does your family, friends, and even your irascible coworkers.

More later...

Little things

Lately, little things mean a lot, or little things can get on my nerves. I'm working hard to let the latter ones go.

Bubba waits for making decisions and it drives me crazy. I almost had a heart attack over him changing his mind about a field trip. I forgot important stuff and had to come back home before I could go to work. A little stop and check would have solved everything.

Some people get on my nerves at work. It might be their attitudes or habits or anything. I just think sometimes, it gets magnified. I am singing that song "Let it go" in my head a lot lately. I can't fix them, so I have to let it go. I'll let them fall on their faces first, because no matter what, they are right. Once they get scraped up, they'll get it.

It's time to live for the good little things, not the bad. Savor the good and let the bad ones go.

Head banging or TGIF hurry up

Maybe it's because it's a long weekend. Maybe it's because I've had more than my share of head banging needed recently. If I were a pitcher, my ERA would be terrible. Two patients scheduled no-showed or refused to cooperate. Very frustrating.

Some of the people you work with have amnesia and screw stuff up no matter how many times you tell them something.Asking these same people to think is a dangerous thing. "Oh you mean I was supposed to answer when so-and-so called on the teleconferencing unit to discuss x patient." Yes, Dumbelina, you sure were supposed to answer. Even a master's degree in your discipline is of no use.

I think of the article I read about doctors not wanting to use stethoscopes in the 19th century because, "Why do that when I can just put my ear to someone's chest?" I want to yell the same thing about the technology at the Hotel, with which they do the same thing.

Thank goodness I already bought all the beverages I'll need for this weekend. I will be partaking of some nice cold ones as soon as it's feasible Friday.

Stay tuned and hope you enjoy your Friday.

Let it go

I'm singing that song in my head a lot lately. Since we've had a full moon this week, I think some of our more melodramatic, er, crazy folks have been living up to the hype.

One of my favorite moments: the idiot who said, "We really shouldn't help you. You're not in our department and you're too much work."

"Really?" I said? "We work for the same company and have the same patients." It's a good thing this was a virtual meeting (i.e. he was nowhere near me). It made things really interesting for the new MD who just joined our group. I will remember this when said idiot needs paperwork help soon. 

I love it when 1) someone neglects to tell you when they have a problem, 2) when you find out, you go to all the proper people to resolve it and get a root cause, then finally 3) said melodramatist decides, in her best Scarlett O'Hara routine to tell everyone, "I just can't do it because nothing works right."

I have one potential job on the horizon, I turned down one, and another in the wings.

So very ready to let all of this BS go.

Stay tuned...

Brrr!

Curses! The Arctic Blast is back. In a crazy week with a full moon, quirky coworkers and several threatened AMAs, you just need something else to keep you busy.

I think I'll just close my door all day tomorrow and hibernate in place.

That is all...

Serendipity

It can't exactly be summed up in one word. When I read this article, I thought of my own experiences on subway trains all over the place.

Consequently, I find the same thing happening as I do my job. Sometimes, when I was on the floor, I'd have those moments with those super-needy patients where I felt as if every ounce of caring was sucked out of me. I was spent.

Before I knew it, someone would come and change everything, in that very moment. One particular moment I remember was working on Mother's Day. My coworkers swore our weekend always encompassed the holidays, like Mother's Day. I finally got everything done for my patients and headed for the nurses' station to chart (since we don't do bedside, nosirree!). One of our chaplains came to the desk and gave all the mothers a rose. It was sweet. He has moved to a different area, so I smile when I see him and think of that day.

That same article made me think of one of those super needy patients. Partly because he lived in New York City for a while. I think of some of our folks, like him, even more this time of year, because he died not long before Christmas. His sister, an old nurse, liked to bring donuts.

We may not be in a subway car, but in our little unit at the Hotel, we find fortunate happenstance in places we never expected. I hope you do, too, wherever you are tonight.

Things not to do at work

Oh, my coworkers just come up with new fun things to do every single day. Today's installment revolves around computer issues.

Our boss, a lovely physician who is an expert in her field, has a love/hate relationship with her computer. As usual, as soon as our support person leaves for the other side of campus, she has an emergency.

Today's emergency: typing caused the lock screen to come up in the middle of entering the password. I watched as it happened, and noticed something. A large crumb. We repeated the error, so I told our lovely doc, to hold off the attempts to log in until I came back. I brought a can of air and our Saniwipes. To no one's surprise, enough crumbs to feed a small family came flying out of the keyboard.

Moral of the story: don't eat lunch over your desk. Those crumbs are out to get you (especially if they pile up under the keys on your keyboard). A few sprays of the air and cleaning...voila! No more weirdness.

The other problem: some things just shouldn't be used as mouse pads. Here's an explanation from one of the staff: Someone has decided to use Covaderm (yes the dressing) as a mouse pads on a few of the computers causing an abundance of adhesive madness when trying to maneuver the mouse. 

Remember, friends don't let friends use adhesive dressings on computers. Stick to the duct tape.

More later... 

Friday, Friday

It was a good day knowing that the weekend was coming!

I got a few things done before one of my coworkers comes back, and we review paperwork (joy!) from one inspection,and I help the senior NP and nurse manager with some other stuff related to another inspection. Panic, of course, ensues when people realize (at the last minute) that things got to be done.

Dahey brought me lunch. I was starved, so it was all lovely! 

I'm ready for the weekend! More later...

Crossing fingers...

Because I have coworkers from the Hotel in Korea on vacation, and they are coming home this weekend.

I'm hoping, like Sheryl Sandberg, they missed this flight.

More to come...

Total, utter shock

Hospital workers frequent Facebook during free time, says study

Okay. Yes, this does describe some of my coworkers at the Hotel to a tee, but what about shopping, travel planning and other mindless things they do in the middle of the day when they should be working?

Alas, these were limitations of this study.

Stay tuned.