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.

What not to do: Happy Graduation 2016 edition

Congratulations graduates! You worked hard and now you're prepping for that NCLEX. Some people say it's the hardest exam they've ever taken. You may get nauseated (I did) before it's done.

Please, grads, don't find your way into your state's Board of Nursing (BON) newsletter for getting a ding or losing your license. Trust me, keep it clean and shiny. You are worth it!

Here are some of the things I noticed in this edition:

1. Use respectful language.
Yes, believe it or not, one RN was censured due to this little problem. They just keep piling on the issues, too, as they did for this nurse, if you're really a pain (unauthorized record access, changing orders, etc.)

Just say no.

2. For all of you nursing instructors out there, don't dope slap your nursing students.  
One RN did and she was written up in this BON newsletter. One word: priceless. I think some of my nursing instructors may have thought it, but no one ever did it.

3. Don't steal a resident's purse, then get something from the med room and shoot up.
This nurse did. She obviously forgot the video cameras reported her every move.

4. Don't ask nursing students to do the wrong thing.
Telling your student to give a patient normal saline instead of Dilaudid is a perfect example. Someone will notice. The patient did and reported the nurse.

5. If you forget a specimen, get it to the lab. Do not take it home.
Yes, someone actually took a specimen from a procedure home, since the nurse forgot to send it along. A technician found it when cleaning the room. Admit your mistakes, but get it to the lab!

6. Drug testing is not optional.
Just remember: your facility policy is not optional. Compliant is a lot different than "slightly compliant".

7. Do not forget to document drug wastes.
Always, always, always waste drugs per your facility policy (we have special containers for various classes of drugs) and make sure you document appropriately. Your license really does depend on it.

Many happy returns and best wishes for a long nursing career!

TGIF (aka counting the days)

This has been a busy, crazy post-holiday week. I'm so happy it's over. I'm adjusting to my new home at work by floating. I have equipment that allows me to work all over the Hotel, so I'm taking advantage of it.

The volunteers are nice, but the real dust-stirrers this week are the construction guys, but thankfully, the dust is contained. They are drilling stuff in our building (which is also being repaired for settling). If you didn't have a headache when you got to work, you might have one when you leave.

Bubba decided to give me a headache. He got in trouble. I got a call from the principal and now he'll be on in-school suspension for two days. He opens his mouth and inserts foot a lot. He is very filterless sometimes, and the think it-close the mouth-let it go mode doesn't always work with him. He is also not yet the master of the double entendre. I am baffled why my child has to be punny at school when the education system has zero tolerance for anything.

It's not as easy as when I was a kid. If you said the wrong thing, the nun (or other teacher) gave you the dope slap.

You never did it again.

So happy it's the weekend! Hope you enjoy wherever you may be!

Oh, it's Monday

Since I had an earworm the other day, I very well could have had this as one today. It really was a Manic Monday.

When competent (but lazy) RNs refuse assignment, you just have to wonder.

OMG.

Where are the Magliozzi Brothers when we need them?


 
Blame it on the train/But the bus is already there...

Some things are better left unsaid

Some days I ponder the meaning of life and who the he-double hockey sticks left some of the people in Manglement at the Hotel in the management track. The bang head on desk scenario and the infamous dope slap happen far too often (or in the latter case, NEED to happen)...

Here's some recent snippets.

1. "I really don't know what you're supposed to be doing." --Boss
WTF? Hello? Did you not read the job description HR sent, nor the information I forwarded you from those Clinic Trainers about my new job, the one you're supposed to be managing and mentoring me on?

Thank heavens, after surviving the Hades of nursing school and other businesses, I am pretty good at assembling memos documenting my skills and what I'm expected to do, with Hotel corporate procedures (since I actually read the established ones) and winging it when there are none.

Just 'cause I'm nice, I'll document it for you so you can put it into my personnel file when YOUR boss comes looking for it.

2. "Do you really need an accessible office?" --Hotel Real-estate agent (aka office manager)
Well, yes, honey, I do, when you expect people with walkers, canes and wheelchairs to actually come into my office (which also needs a door BTW). A hallway with a computer in the corner, with no walls and doors, just won't cut it, especially for the folks who enforce HIPAA.

You can start by evicting that supposed secretary who does not answer the phone half the time and loses appointments when the docs give them to her. Her office (she actually has not one, but two desks in two places in the clinic) would be a great place for me.

3. "I'd never work the floor again if I were you." Nurse assistant who was talking about me moving to my new job.
Thanks dude. Should I take that as a compliment or a slap? Hmmm....So glad I'm good at that selective nurse hearing.

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.