If it's time to celebrate an anniversary...

It's time for bedlam and mayhem here in the RehabRN household. Why, you ask? Let me count the ways...

On anniversary #1, Dahey and I had a wonderful hotel stay planned. On our way to the restaurant, we got locked in the parking garage. While we were at Chez Fancy, we got a call that WildDog was throwing up. (Crazy aunt left chocolates unattended while at church)

On anniversary #2, we got someone else's hotel room during that hotel stay. We got a new room on the side of the hotel where all the ambulances would speed by on their way to World Renown medical center.

On anniversary #3, while Bubba was a baby, and Dahey was returning from a TDY job out west, our sewer backed up in our basement. (Cause: random rug in storm sewer main.)

Frankly, I stopped counting after the first three. However, this year, since our celebration was delayed, obviously the mayhem was on hold until we celebrated at Old Restored Building's swanky restaurant. Before we went in, my best friend called to tell me her 40 something year old husband was weak Friday, but now could not walk, so what should she do. This nurse told her (and hubby) to get to the hospital pronto. She couldn't get him in her car, so she called an ambulance to take him and his interesting medical history to the nearest Saintarama hospital (where he normally goes). He's still there, awaiting a diagnosis as to why he cannot move his arms and legs. He passed all the usual guesses yesterday. Neuro hopefully will solve the mystery today.

And while I was savoring a delightful pot de creme, my brother Jethro, decided to call to tell me he was locked out of his apartment. He has a keypad to get in, but no key, and the batteries for the keypad were dead. Since there is no maintenance on site, I had to go over and provide my credit card so the locksmith could unlock his door.

Time to unlock: about 7 seconds. Cost $75. It took him longer to walk to the apartment than to unlock the door and run my credit card.

Alas, no matter when we celebrate, it's always something.  Thankfully, Dahey puts up with it.  Happy Anniversary.

I think I'll call...

Grumpy made me think of a phrase we hear often at the Hotel. Amongst the rabble, er, employees at the Hotel, we say it in jest. However, the patients take it seriously.

"I'm going to call my Congressman(woman or Senator)!"

While I was doing a follow-up call with one of our folks, he/she was really close to uttering that famous line. I was fortunate that I was able to resolve the problem thanks to one of my office pals.

What happened to a consult for an AFO that was submitted electronically? It went everywhere internally it could go. Things got messed up when it went to the vendor on paper (who'll actually make this one). Somehow the paperwork from the vendor never ended up where it should have.

That's not all...when  Patient X called right around Christmas to see what happened with his/her paperwork, someone (of course they don't have a name) told Patient X, "Well, you know, I'm sorry. We've been busy since So and So retired." Customer service? I don't think so.

Pal enlightened me. "Nobody retired over here, RehabRN. Don't worry, Mike, the assistant chief will call Patient X."

And he did. And Patient X was happy. And so was the Congressman/woman and the Senator.

Yes, you can

You can, now buy everything at Costco. Chips, dips, even caskets.

Does your PCP need to get into the 21st century and get an electronic health record (EHR) just like the Hotel and all the other big hospitals? If so, have him/her head on over!

Must be in aisle 2014...stay tuned.

Nursing practices and current trends

It surely sounds like I'm ready to go into an infomercial, doesn't it? No, I just got out of my state's "What's new in nursing" continuing education class recently.


The first part of it was, "Here's what YourStateNursingAssociation is doing in the Legislature", which is often very dry. When they started going over how a bill turns into law which turns into nursing practice, I had to imbibe in my highly caffeinated soda, since I got sleepy. Thankfully, we got a break right after this part.


After the break, we had the biggest, most rousing part of the seminar--the use of Propofol and nursing section. I almost felt like I was in the new Harry Potter movie, since the presenter and some others referenced "the recent case" (about Michael Jackson), but they never said any names. This issue is a big deal, not just for nurses, but also for physicians who use this drug. Just reading the package insert opens up a whole new world of liability if CRNA is not after your name in the right setting. Lots of ERs in our state are using this for small procedures, like dislocated shoulders, bone setting and stabilization, etc.

We also had fun stuff, too. A collegue of one of my mentors in nursing school gave a presentation on electronic records which was really cool, especially the one that compared drug prices for patients in our area. The disparity was glaring. Atenolol 20mg in one county was $3 for 30 days and in another section of the same county, $30. There were a couple of glitches in the presentation, as happens with just about anything technical. It would have been even more interesting if all of the government websites she referenced were actually working. I guess those pesky hackers are still loose!

Outside of that, I'm still taming the paperwork monster. I'm starting to view our paperwork queen for scholarships as Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde. One day, it's one thing, the next day another. I'm not sure why Paperwork queen wants all this stuff now, when I was told to wait for a cold day in the hereafter mere weeks ago, but I'm pushing the paper back and forth as fast as I can. They must have unearthed some money somewhere, somehow...and I'm not questioning it.

And school starts in a few weeks....and I already have homework. I'm so glad vacation is coming soon.

More later...