My "no I don't have problems" moment today

After I read this article about a botched operation, I realized that no, I really haven't had any problems at work.

At least nothing of this magnitude.

Here's one for the nursing/medical/contingency planning books.

Back to the weekend...enjoy yours wherever you are!

Puttering suits me...

So glad it's the weekend, and a long one for me. All the chores I don't cram in today, will work get worked in somewhere later.

WildDog is reveling in the ecstacy of his favorite rug's return to the house. (after the annual trip to the carpet cleaner for cleaning, deodorizing and dogproofing.) Right now, he's passed out on it.  WildDog is from a rescue program and he is domestic to a certain point, but he absolutely will not sleep on a dog bed. He was looking a little forlorn lately, so I was happy when the company called to ask me to pick it up.

Since there was a special on rug cleaning, I took the substitute rugs to the cleaners today, so he's happy again.

Dahey is reading an article I'm writing for a publication (related to an industry conference). He's my favorite copy editor. Cross your fingers that I get selected.

Now to vegetate for a bit while the laundry chugs away in the laundry room...

Stay tuned.

TGIF!

Yes, I'm glad it's Friday. The heat and stormy weather may be back, but the weekend is here.

Hooray!

Stay tuned...who knows what fun Bubba will find this weekend.

There's no DISLIKE button

On Facebook, and there's not a HATE button, either.

I'd really like one today...the whole freaking place is a mess. One thing after another. So glad it's two long weekends in a row for me.

Stay tuned...

It could have been worse...

I could have had a whole lot of meetings today. Two big ones were cancelled, so I HAD to do my required education at my desk and close the door to keep the rabble out all afternoon

But, never fear, friends, I still had lots of other entertainment at the meetings I did attend.

I got to hear about Dr. R's trip to the Big Ditch and the ride on the mule. In some spots, you can't see the bottom. Good thing for that sure footed creature!

We got to discuss our patients in our weekly meeting (that's what rehab centers have to do on a regular basis). I got to discuss my interventions from my office to keep some patients out of trouble. (Always fun.)
I couldn't do anything about the character offering to "help" another patient with his stash of marijuana.
No matter what we do, some of these folks just don't get it that we are not in a state that allows Mary Jane for medicinal purposes (keep driving west, please!)

And for a finale to my day, I heard rain outside my window. It was only S, the rec therapist with the patients watering the garden below. Everything was fine and dandy, and S. went back to her office and brought patients inside. Well, we thought they all came in...Mr. G., a particular character decided he was going to move the sprinkler. When he did that and started rolling in the front door, he started dragging the hose inside underneath his electric wheelchair.

A man in the lobby saw Mr. G. coming in and helped him get the hose out from under the chair, just as he was dragging the sprinkler inside. Thankfully, only Mr. G. got wet. A Good Samaritan turned off the hose, so Mr. G. wouldn't flood the whole front entrance.

All in all, it was a pretty good day. One (or even two) less meetings in life is a very good thing.

More later...

Yes, I had a Monday

Power outage, rascally equipment, surly coworkers, you name it. It was a Monday.

But I'll also probably have one of those Tuesdays (meeting day from Hell-back to back for four hours), Wednesday (hump day) and Thursday (madhouse clinic day).
.
I am so glad the folks at the BBC could find researchers willing to solve this terrible problem of Mondays, by saying it's not just Mondays.

Still makes me want to go buy a winning lottery ticket and/or look for some other random financial windfall so I can stay home when I don't want to work.

Stay tuned.

Acoustic Sunday

Heard this while driving around this morning on a local radio show which plays acoustic versions of various songs.

Weekend madness

You know your weekend is going to be interesting when...

Friday afternoon you take time to attend a sick relative's consult appointment which is only 30 minutes. Talk to MD and he orders lots of labs (most of which he/she actually needs)...but the phlebotomy people in their office are gone for the day. Go to the outpatient center. Find out they close at 5PM. Then walk completely around the hospital campus to main registration, then to the main lab. Wait for nearly an hour while they call the Mayo Clinic to figure out which tube they want the oddball lab to go into. Finally, help phlebotomist get lab drawn after two sticks (not her fault...just thick blood and 8 tubes to fill). Elapsed time: nearly 4 hours, including the traffic jam on the way home.

Today, wake up and favorite coffee maker breaks. It's 13 months old and has a 1 year warranty. Make coffee in backup pot (hallelujah!). Eat breakfast.

Child is sitting with geriatric dog in living room and screams. GD had accident. Hustle him outside to complete the task. Child runs outside to get away from smell and vomit in bushes. Clean up dog poop and deodorize.

Finally, get in the shower and enjoy the water running over your head. Meditating under the shower head is very, very nice after a wild morning.

Now I'll just cross my fingers that Dahey can hold down the fort while I go run errands...stay tuned!

On your last day

Of summer vacation, you could just veg out and play your video games all day.

Nope. Bubba hung out with Dahey and had a grand old time. First, the daring duo headed to Ye Old Pancake House, where Bubba did a number on a Two of Everything platter (2 eggs, 2 sausage, 2 bacon, 2 pancakes) and helped Dahey eat about 1/2 of his waffles.

Next, after that big meal, Bubba and Dahey headed to the links at the driving range/golf course. Nothing like hitting a bucket of balls with Dad, then using him as your caddy on nine holes. Dahey says at least Bubba's not putting with his shoe like Granddad who often cheated, I mean "shoe putted". This was one of the first things I learned about my father-in-law when I got married from his brother.

Then Bubba and Dahey went to lunch. (yes, after all of that!) I called at actual lunch time (about 1130ish) and told them I was ready to leave the Hotel after my training in the morning. I came home, took them to one of my favorite lunch places where Bubba decided he needed to eat half of my bag of potato chips and part of Dahey's brownie.

I took them home after lunch and went back to work. The boys vegged the rest of the afternoon and played baseball after Bubba had dinner.

"I had a lot of fun with Dad, Mom." Bubba said. And both of them looked content.

So it really was a great way to spend the last day of summer vacation: dad bonding with lad.

Ways to lose your license in RehabLand

Yet, another version of MiddleOfNowhere SBON Newsletter appeared in my mailbox recently and it has the most interesting revocation notices in  it. Sadly, most of the infractions noted are due to drug diversion or alcohol abuse. Once you have substance issues and get caught, you have report to monitoring agencies in order to complete probation and get your license back.

Some things, though, are downright scary. You can lose your license if you do the following:

1. Threaten bodily harm. To other staff members, to patients, to visitors. Probably the worst threat overheard and recorded: "Oh, don't worry about X (an obese patient) for evacuation. He/she will just have to die if there's a fire, since we won't be able to get the bed out of the room."

2. Prescribe drugs for your family, that your license does not allow.

3. Forget to tell the Board about that conviction you had several years ago for drug dealing and embezzlement. No, kids, you didn't just forget...

4. Get a facility handbook from your hospital system that says, "no loafing" After that, proceed to sleep on the job and get caught not documenting on your seven patients on multiple occasions.

And finally, if those weren't scary enough:
Work as the only licensed nurse at an assisted living facility, when you're listed as a resident AND you're disabled enough to have your own guardian, who thinks you're just filing records all day in the office.

There is a God in Heaven...

At least for me...the planets have aligned and I've been given what I'm due. The scholarship program I was enrolled in (and thought I'd lost when I went to the SU) has to be given to me. Program director told me recently, "You earned it, they (meaning Human--aka Useless--Resources) haven't changed anything for you so I have to give it to you."

The psycho woman can't take that away from me if she tries. Relief! Yes, it was indeed a Happy Monday!

Stay tuned.

Lookin' for the bright side...

Of this blasted migraine. Where is Eric Idle when you need him?

I'm ready

To jump/Don't look back now, baby.

There's only so much you can learn in one place.

Can you tell I have senioritis? And the last semester hasn't even started yet!


Back to grooving away until the last classes start at the end of the month.

Weekend delights

Child who stays up late wakes up early...at 0500.

Why? There's a leak in his room from the dehumidifier he noticed when he got out of bed.

Husband's cell phone has an annoying chirp whenever the battery runs low on power. This started going off before 0500.Trying to hunt it down in the dark was a treat, since it only beeps every 30 seconds.

Dog is now barking, because, don't you know it's 0600 and you people usually feed me by now.

Will be so glad when they leave to go to the driving range so I can go back to sleep...

Childhood memories

One day when Bubba was little, he made a collage from magazine photos. It has all sorts of random stuff on it, so I asked him to explain his artwork.

He carefully pointed to each item and explained every item and its significance to him.

On the last one, he said, "And Momma, that's a coffee cup, because when I see one, I think of you."

Reflections and observations

My reflections aren't going to be nearly as meaningful as these from atyourcervix, but here goes...

They don't say it in so many words, but the bigwigs are rationing access to training and travel at the Hotel. I had the pleasure of meeting with a committee recently set up following one of our illustrious inspections by random credentialing agency.

This committee is now auditing how the travel and training committee allocates funds and is structured. How was it before...let me just say this: we paid for "observation" at a resort in a tropical state. Why? Because one of the cyclical meetings that goes around the country was coming to the Hotel and this committee member needed to "observe" how the proceedings were held before we had them in our backyard.

I'm sure the observation was via chaise lounge with a mai tai...or could have been a whiskey sour. She "observed" a lot, and a few other people, including one of my coworkers, did most of the scut work, like running the planning committee, registration and volunteer section when the meeting came to the Hotel.

Now, as a result of the uproar from that "observation" (which the psych nurses say should have occurred in restraints) is that ANY training out of town has to be vetted for necessity, etc.

If you're new in your job and can get out of town training, you'll only be sent if your a manager level staffer.

The peons (who run the ship BTW) like me will just have to fend for ourselves.

Nice! How many more years am I stuck here since I took that puny sign on bonus to pay student loans? Can't wait until the chains are loosened.

Complaint department

I'm near a busy spot in the Hotel, not far from the lobby, so I hear a lot of the comings and goings among the staff, patients and visitors. Here are a few of the more memorable ones.

The employees complain about complaint procedures. Fill out this form in this many days and wait.

The patients complain about the food. While our food wasn't quite as scary looking as this, the dietitian tries. You just never know what that kitchen staff will do.

The visitors complain about the parking, the signs, the lack of wheelchairs in the lobby. One of our housekeepers remarked that he heard patients took our wheelchairs home. "Of course," I said, "Do you know that's why they don't have those folding wheelchairs at Saintarama and other big hospitals."

Tomorrow, I'm getting a sign like this. I'm sure someone will complain.

Monday madness, part 107

Oh, I love Mondays, when they go quickly without incident. When does that happen, you ask? Maybe once or twice a month, if I'm lucky.

Today just was classic.

1. You're waiting for two patients to show up. One shows up for clinic. One doesn't show.  The four calls you made to his/her nursing home to get him/her to the appointment were a waste. I really love transportation companies when they screw up!

2. The crazy specialist you have to work with forgets how to code his encounters. The coding staff are off today. He/she decides to do something crazy and puts his notes in incorrectly. Nice...

3. You forget your lunch at home...in the fridge. All the while, as you wait for Dr. Crazy, you're dreaming about lunch.

Despite the weirdness that appeared, disappeared and reappeared, things did get better.

1. I escaped! Out of the building! For my ENTIRE lunch time. Hallelujah!

2. Since all the patients were done for the day, I drove down the road to my favorite coffee place and got a pound to take home and a drink. I was running late so a lady waiting for another store gave me her place in line. I thanked her profusely and gave her my coupon for a super cheap drink while she waited.

3. I finished the day, slowly, surely and very nicely. And away I went...

Stay tuned...

Virtually cool stuff

Every day, there's something interesting to read about. Efforts to help our troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan makes sense for many reasons.

There are even games that can make a difference when we take care of patients by reducing pain when drugs can't.

We live in an interesting time and I love it!

Stay tuned for more goodies...

Flashbacks to the last conference tonight when Bubba played this

Now, just imagine a hundred or so nurses, young and old, hamming it up in a stuffed shirt old money style ballroom.

Ah, memories! Cheers boys and girls!

Turning the tables...

Usually, I have lots of stories, so I decided to turn the tables and tell you all about some of the stories I've heard on the unit from people passing through the Hotel.

I don't check for veracity, but I do enjoy a good story, true or not. And no, I'm not going to tell you about the stuff they tell us to get drugs. (The ER nurses like my classmate Q. get a new one of those every day.)

Police stories:

Dim bulb

In some professions, people developed a heightened sense of awareness of things. Police officers are trained to be highly alert, but some of the scenarios Good Cop (he called himself that when he roomed with another former cop--Bad Cop) told me about were just crazy.

GC was out on patrol one night and noticed a guy had his license plate light out (an infraction that would win a ticket in his town). Once GC got to the window and took the guy's license he said, "I didn't do it."

GC said something about the way he said that wasn't right. He asked again, and the guy says the same thing and "I didn't rob that liquor store."

GC asks Mr. Chatty to step out of the car. GC proceeds to cuff and stuff him. Before he knew it, the call came out on the radio about the robbery. GC calls his coworker back and asks him if he wants him to bring Mr. Chatty back by the liquor store (about 4 blocks away). Coworker says "come on over." Meanwhile, Mr. Chatty keeps talking...

Mr. Chatty is identified as the perpetrator by the store owner, and off he went to the police station and booking.

Get it straight

GC pulls over a man for speeding. Mr. Lam is apologetic and GC says, "I almost let him go. Just seemed like a really nice guy."

But Mr. Lam was not a nice guy. He was a fugitive wanted on federal warrants for murder. The warrants were 16 years old.

So how did GC figure out Mr. Lam wasn't who he said  he was? Well, if you give a bogus drivers' license to a police officer, make sure you sign the same name that's on the drivers' license you give to the officer. If you sign your real name (not your alias), someone, like GC, might figure you out.

Perspective

One day you get a terminal diagnosis, like Mr. X. Madge, our NP, briefs the staff by saying, "Mr. X. may complain of a sudden pain and that will be it." Lots of people are worried, about you, but we do a pretty good job of bluffing sometimes.

You finally realize that maybe you should go to hospice, because, even though your siblings love you, they just don't know if they can take losing you by themselves at home. As usual, for some people, the Hotel becomes their home for many reasons, as it did for Mr. X.

Our docs get ready to send you to the hospice unit. You say you're okay with that and wheel around in your chair. Your relatives come and even bring your little dog, Fido, who's missed you ever since you've been gone on this odyssey of one life-threatening event after another.

That day, your sister comes for lunch and brings you the biggest burger from Burgers-R-Us nearby, which you tell us are the best ever (just like the sign out front says) and you eat your lunch out on the patio.You go to bed, telling staff you're happy, after a wonderful, sunny day.

Early the next morning, Sasha, the night nurse, finds you. Unresponsive. Gone. She wept and wept. It was her first death on the unit.

She wept for all of us.

We'll miss you, Mr. X., your family and your little dog, too. Godspeed...

Too darned hot, part 77

First part: get an e-mail from the gal in HR processing an incentive program for you. Have to escape the office to drive to her office on company time (yippee!) Hot, hot, hot. Had fun, though. Susie, always has the darnedest stories about the idiocies of trying to recruit for the Hotel and Washington and our system.

"Hey, if they need you, you get the incentive period. Don't know why Idiot X in that department cares. Needs to get her panties out of a bunch."

I love Susie. Wish she could order more executives around!

Later, sitting in the drive-thru of the chicken place Bubba chose as his "eat out nite" place was brutal today. As Murphy would have it, we had to line up behind a van load of people with special orders.

Technically, it's was only 102 degrees Fahrenheit, but the temp gauge on my old car said 120 degrees.

Glad that twenty minutes of my day is over and done.

More to come...

A rainy postscript

Dear Spirits of the Water:

Yes, I did wash my windows to get it to rain recently.

However, I did not return back to work recently so it could "rain" inside when the idiots from maintenance found out why that shower clogged in the restroom above the office next door.

It's really better for equipment that costs way more than a nice BMW to stay clean and dry at all times, not just on some days.

Thank you maintenance for fixing the problem quickly. I love working in an old building.

Truly dry now, I am,

Sincerely yours,

RehabRN

Hallelujah, it's raining!

Keep it up and maybe my flowers will stop wilting!

No silly, just rain, not men. Hearing that phrase did make me think of this song though...blast from the past.




Happy weekend everyone wherever you are...

It's official!

Only one more semester of grad school left...and hopefully, not one more group project, since I won't have my partner, Q. on my team anymore (we won't have any more classes together but will graduate together).

I made darned sure I celebrated...woo hoo! Happy weekend to me.

Off for three or so weeks, then the countdown begins!

Stay tuned.

Working vacation

Around the house. Since I've been a busy grad school student in addition to work, I have been neglectful of my duties as chief housekeeper so it was time for an intervention. Yes, I finally buckled down, and decluttered my son's entire room (I left some stuff for him to do, though).

After that, I vacuumed, dusted and cleaned the floors. I also washed all the linens and curtains in the room. I will wash the windows before I go back to work if it doesn't rain (or I'll cure the drought with my window washing!)

Another fun task: bagging up, washing and distributing old stuff (clothes, toys, books) to one of the local charity thrift shops. Bubba doesn't want it--it's going to them. They are more than happy to sell off his stuff he no longer plays with for me. No craigslist, no weirdos coming to my house or meeting me in a nearby mall parking lot. So much simpler!

Today, I finished up some more cleaning and decluttering in my room. It's not completely done, but the start is better than what we had! So, so happy.

If only every vacation could be as productive as this one!

Stay tuned!

My kind of gal

Yes, I'll admit it. I really enjoy reading some obituaries. I particularly liked reading this one in the New York Times recently about a children's author.

Her mother told her to never get a tattoo or she'd regret it. She got one anyway, and it was a great story.

Makes me think about the patient who had a four leaf clover on his hip. He got it just because he always wanted to have one...

Spot on

I do have to say, despite not considering myself a politico of any sort, I do enjoy political debates. Some of the personalities, however, drive me nuts.

As a student in the 1980s, like a lot of people my age, I thought Bill Bennett was the crazy schoolmaster intent on robbing us of having a good time and simply thinking up more rules we didn't need.

He even has his own conservative radio show. I don't listen to Rush or Bill or any of the other characters either. But while perusing my nightly off-topic reading (my escape from work life and school), I ran into this article William Bennett wrote about the "Aurora Three", posted today.

It made me realize that this is not a conservative value he's talking about...it's a human one.Those young guys really were heroes, especially to their girlfriends. They are also a reminder of the potential hero in everyone of us.

An old saying

The complete phrase is "my word is my bond" meaning that just by giving your word, one can be assured that the promise will be kept.
 Too bad no one really means it any more when they tell you they'll do something. 


More later....

An amazing man

One amazing journey...around the world.

Wish I had a car like Otto! (just keeps running...)

Call me a cynic...

But I found this quote highly ironic in one of the "winners" press releases for the award:

"The annual U.S.News rehabilitation hospitals list is based on independent surveys of randomly selected board-certified physicians specializing in rehabilitation medicine who were asked to name the hospitals that provide the best care to patients with serious conditions, regardless of location or expense." 

Why on earth would outcomes actually count for anything? (scratches head)

Just my $0.02...

Ever have a Monday? I did.

My Monday:

1. Get up, drive Bubba to camp, have gas light come on.
2. Drop Bubba off at camp, go to gas station.
3. Get blocked in by monster truck (luckily monster left before I was ready to go.)
4. Get behind every slow idiot who does not understand the difference between a yield sign and a merge sign. For some reason this is a HUGE problem here in RehabLand.
Remember kids, yield is red (may need to stop), merge is yellow (go slow, don't stop dead)...
5. Go to work and find out you need to sign more useless papers. (Don't sign them because they are as useless as the last ones.)
6. Find out that the scheduled opening of the patient unit really isn't  as scheduled. This means your programs have to find a new home until it is open.
7. Spend a good chunk of the morning doing admin work on room arrangements, etc. Secretaries don't do that...that would be WORK (a 4 letter word)!
8. Finally get all the details done, e-mails sent, arranged, rearranged and technical details scheduled. How much of this really required an RN?
If you guessed absolute zero, you are correct.
9.  Meanwhile, secretary is still attached to desk phone whispering each time I pass the printer. Would love to audit her phone log! (Which would require an Act of Congress). If I had a dollar for every minute she wastes, every copier she leaves run out of paper, ink, toner, etc. (and every single one is no more than 20 feet from her desk)...
10. Eat lunch, attend a conference call.
11. Get a call that Bubba is sick. Dahey to do pickup duty.
12. Get on conference call that starts, stops and sputters. Give up when I can't hear a thing.
13. Finally get everything done and go home.
14. Start to wind down and relax...and another telemarketer calls.
15. Thank goodness for online complaint submissions!

Interesting services on the street

They've got lots of different entrepreneurs in India. I don't think our NP is going to hit the streets doing this...yet.

If we can do drive-thru flu shots, who know what's next?

Summer...according to Nat

Roll out those lazy, hazy crazy days of summer...


Enjoying my Sunday. Hope you all are too, wherever you may be! Back next week...grad school Hell will indeed end! Stay tuned.

A political message

(WARNING: political message)

I noticed a lot of themes in President Obama's and Mitt Romney's messages for the Colorado shooting victims:
love, help, cooperation, compassion, coming together, reaching out.

Now can we keep up the sentiment for the rest of the year? Would be nice!

(end of political message)

Sadness in Colorado

To my friends in Aurora, I'm praying for all of you after all the craziness today.

Some people...

Just get my dander up being veritable 'holes, if you know what I mean. They are the "holier than thous" who really are downright mean to patients and don't even notice.

Unless, of course, you do something really damaging to a patient, like move the internet router from his/her room so it can be shared across the hall for others.

This particular hole is very irritating. So glad tomorrow is Friday...and I'm sneaking out early.

Rejected

You know it's a bad day when....

Mr. X, our guy from yesterday, is told he needs to get emergency surgery. Washington takes him via ambulance, then, the surgeon there says, "Nope. It's too complicated. We can't do anything."

Said surgeon gets on the phone to World Renown, the major medical center (ranked way up there in all those polls/surveys/popularity contests) which performs ground-breaking medical procedures.

Patient goes to World Renown to Uber Surgeon. We get a call at the desk from Dr. F. Mr.X. has been declined for surgery. Uber Surgeon says he is not a candidate. Report is called to the floor and Mr. X. rolls back in with a red baseball cap on looking tired and squirmy on the stretcher.

"Nice cap," I tell him, and give him a pat on the arm, as the drivers brought him back to the unit and I passed him in the hall.

I wish there was more I could do. What do you say to a man who got his terminal diagnosis today?

Very, very sad...

I know I'm not having a bad day

I knew I was not having a bad day when I heard/observed the following:

1. One of my friends announced on Facebook that she got fired from a firm that she had worked for a very long time. Reason: she took too many sick days? Why? She has a medical condition exacerbated by stress.

Oh, you lawyers, karma's a b*&ch as they say...

2. One of my patients, who was up rolling around while waiting for his sister to come with his little dog to visit before it's too hot said, "Bob, I can't play cards at lunch today. I'm going to have to leave by then. The docs told me I have to have emergency surgery. I hope I make it back for another time."

One of the docs wrote in his notes: "Patient has been made aware that the surgery may be fatal."

We can only pray...and that made me say, "No, I am not having a bad day at all."

Got a couple of customers for this one

Thanks Grumpy for this ass-tonishing story. (Yes, stop groaning...bad pun, I know).

There are a couple of our Hotel customers who surely could use one set of these with all the complaints we get from them.

Not quite the dust bowl...

But close. The farmers in RehabLand aren't getting much. Some are harvesting their dried out fields not for grain for the elevators, but enough greens to feed  the animals, since there's not much hay.

Our home health nurse D. saw the signs on the highway saying "Extremely dry conditions. Proceed with caution." but the person who threw his/her cigarette butt out the window didn't. Meanwhile, D. saw a brush fire on her way to a patient's home. She called the authorities and when she came back, it was out, but many yards along the shoulder were scorched black.

It's miserable for patients, too. One guy's van broke down on the way to the Hotel. Now he has to find a place that's not a dealer, since the dealer wants to charge him $4000.

When you drive cross country to get to us, that's just too far to go in this heat. We're hoping a Good Samaritan mechanic (and the social services folks) will help him and his wife get on their way home.

Stay tuned...

Don't let the door...part 2

Not my favorite vintage of whine, but nothing new...

RPIA Doctor: "You mean I have to do the paperwork for that appointment?" (audible, loud, obnoxious 14 year old sigh).
RehabRN: "Yes you do. I'll get you some help." (calls tech support)
Dept. Tech: (shows RPIA what to do with in-person demo) "Okay, well I guess I can do it." (RPIA walks away)

Dept. Tech and I banged our heads into the nearby desks. Ugh!

Some people just don't get that bad four letter word...work! Technology is a means to get it done, don't you know?

Hits too close to home...

In so many ways, I can't even count.

Thanks Grumpy for your post about Karl. Brain cancer is a bugaboo I hope, one day, will be resolved and cured.

That bad joke...only real

My relative used to tell this one all the time...giggling like a schoolgirl.

Q What do you call a person who graduates last in his medical school class?
A. Doctor!

Only, it's not so funny when you can't read an x-ray and get busted by the cops.

Have fun in jail, Doctor!

Slipping away...

Time is precious and it's slipping away...thank goodness! So glad there's not much left of grad school like this.

Makes work seem like a picnic...

Attention all student nurses

Looking for stuff to prep for NCLEX that doesn't cost an arm and a leg? Check out the Elsevier Student Life site. For fun, I like to help student nurses prep for the test, and this is my absolute favorite book of all time (and I have used several tools).

Try it out and enjoy! If you find something better, post a comment, and share with the rest of the group. ;->

NOTE: they only asked me to do this. I'm not getting any free books, so you'll have to check them out and buy your own.

Good luck!

Don't let the door hit you on the way out...

Quote from one of our docs who's leaving to 1) go to greener pastures or 2) is having a late mid-life crisis.

When I asked him/her if Mr. Z. one of our patients who saw a specialist could get an order printed for his nursing home printed out, he said,


"Oh, I don't believe in using that stuff like Dr. S. I think it's hocus pocus, so I'm not going to write that order for the nursing home."

Said doc is patient's primary care provider at the Hotel, but I don't think he/she gets the EBP part.

Good riddance.

Heard on the unit...

In the offices, under the bed, outside, in the halls, you never know what people will say.

"What? Mr. X was 'ambulatory' at the scene of his slow motor vehicle accident? It's a miracle!" --Nurse Q.

Mr. X hasn't walked in years, partly because he doesn't have two legs. Q always is so observant when reading the notes the referral centers send to us.

"Mr. X was 'clean' according to the note. WTF? Did he have his accident in a car wash?"--Nurse Q

Yes, Q is a little too funny. Mr. X hasn't been clean in all the years I have known him, Q told me later. Said character is afraid he'll melt in water.If you can picture Pig Pen all grown up and missing a limb or two, you know what I mean.


"No wonder that pump didn't work. It did flip flops in his/her abdomen."--Nurse Madge

Nurse Madge is in charge of filling medication pumps at the Hotel. One patient's pump flipped so many times, it required surgical intervention to fix.

"It's better to ask forgiveness than to ask permission." --Doctor Barnum, our new boss.

Not when you piss off your referral nurse, it's not. Referral Nurse had to set boss straight, because they need to talk to get patients admitted to the Hotel. No customers is not good business, especially to the big bosses.

Stay tuned...the people I work with (and even the patients) say the darnedest things!

Hurry up, Saturday!

By Saturday, I will only have two weeks left in my last (jumping for joy!) summer semester graduate school class.

With the quirky instructor we have now, it just won't get here soon enough! Where is Bob (one of my favorite professors) when I need him?

Stay tuned...

Back in the saddle...

Traveling partner and I had a grand old time doing the bowel and bladder show for a local non-profit.

I won! My presentation was on bowel and I had more questions that she did.

You just can't see the props on those remote teleconferences. :)

More later...

Sharp and tingling

It's the time of year that they start selling prickly pear sherbet in these parts (my guess is that it's imported to RehabLand from the Southwest).

Just wish I could try to make my own like these folks did with their cactus sorbet.

I think mine really would have been better with tequila and a squeeze of lime!

Stay tuned. It might even be under 100 degrees tomorrow. (A girl can dream, can't she?)

Yes, I'd like one...

It's so blasted hot yet again...

Fun things to do on the weekend

1. Herd the dog and the kid out of the way. Why is it everyone hunkers down right near where I need to be?

2. Clean (since you've already herded the kid and dog in #1) Start by vacuuming. Hope the door stays locked and the kid stays interested in what he's doing in said locked room, so dog doesn't come out to attack the "invader" (aka the vacuum).

3. Keep kid and dog off freshly mopped floors until dry. Bribes work best (cookies for all--dog and kid). Just make sure kid knows not to feed dog the chocolate chip ones.

4. Start laundry before it becomes 150 degrees outside. Sure, I could dry it all outside, but the birds don't like me right now (see car for proof) and the clothesline I ordered is not in yet.

5. Finally, sit down, relax and enjoy that coffee...ahh!

The moments of the weekend won't last for long. Monday will be here in no time!

Stay tuned!

Almost here, halfway done

The Paralympic Games will be held in London this year. There is inspiration at every turn. Even more exciting, Oscar Pistorius will run with South Africa in the London Olympics.

Looks like 2012 is going to continue to be a heck of a year!

Heaven is a place on earth...

But it's sure not here in RehabLand! It's been so hot lately that some of the locals are taking to cooking outdoors: frying eggs and bacon on the sidewalk, and baking cookies on the dashboard.

When life hands you lemons...stay tuned for radiator chicken next (that's what Dahey's asking for.)

Too bad my commute isn't 50 miles longer...

'Tis a happy Friday, indeed

See I didn't run away forever! I'm back. It was wonderful traveling to a place that is so unlike the Hades RehabLand has become in the last week. I sure miss outdoor air conditioning.

I didn't have to go to work today, but being the type A personality I am, I had to go see something in my office. First, I spilled my coffee all over and made a huge mess. Then I found it.

At 1150 something last night, one of the service chiefs read her e-mail. She found out what I was going to share with the bigwigs when I got back to work, because they sent her an e-mail.

Yes, yours truly won a prize. Mostly bragging rights, but big enough. I won the top poster contest at Mongo nursing conference. Not just a regular local, state or regional outfit...nosirree, I won a prize in the big leagues, almost Olympics: an international conference.

What was my reaction? Shock really. I hope no one taped it, because at first, I couldn't see the screens at the front (since I was sitting with my new traveling partner Lucita in the back having a good time) with my poster, my name and my employer, Madison General Medical Center on it, either.

My advisor actually gave me the stand in certificate, since they're sending the printing of the real one to Geneva or somewhere and it will come in 6-8 weeks. "RehabRN, you're shaking" she said. "Sorry," I replied. "I just can't believe I won. I went through hell to get to go to this conference."

And she knew that I did. I was rejected by every level of official I talked to at Madison and elsewhere in order to get funding to go to this conference--local, state, district, service line--you name it. Madison couldn't give me time off because my presence was not "of substantial benefit to Madison." (Yes, that's what the Chief Educator said) But, there I was with the lady who gave me the courage to keep going. She got me partial funding, and once I saw the program where she and several other PublicU instructors would be there, I told her, "I don't care. You got me some money. I'm going. I'm going to meet Bob (the other instructor)."

However, in a long career, SK has always looked to make nursing better. And I'm damn proud I could return the favor by winning a big prize in the name of PublicU. Bob even gave me a hug. (He's a prince, really.)

And as Kay, one of my local mentors told me to do, I said hello on her behalf to several of the superstar people (she gave me a list of who I should talk to). They were a bit startled that a nobody like me would seek them out, but since they all know her, they laughed once I relayed her message.

"That's something Kay would do...send a student with a message." one said, chuckling. "Tell her we miss her when you get back to RehabLand."

And so I did. Kay just smiled.

Happy Friday all wherever you are. Dreams sometimes do come true. Stay on them like glue until they do!

Collecting my thoughts...

Yes, I'm still around. Just been a tad busy.

Stay tuned...will fill you all in on the exciting news very soon.

Irony

Two legs of a flight last two hours total (with a brief layover in one of the world's busiest airports I try to avoid--couldn't!)

It's always nice to know, when you don't eat lunch, because you don't want airport food, that you'll stand around for two hours doing stupid stuff, like getting out and getting your luggage.

Should have packed that lunch...

One more day

One more day to get ready for the conference.

One more day to read and look at my homework before I take off.

One more day to refine and check my position paper...ugh!

One more day of work and getting everything ready so Dahey, Bubba and WildDog survive without me while I'm gone.

One more day...

Very, very...

Tired.
Why on earth does graduate school just suck the life out of you?

Thankful.
That my boss let me have vacation next week.

Lucky.
That after a struggle of over a year, HR finally admitted someone was indeed sabotaging my promotion by losing the paperwork. Not once, not twice, but three times.

The promotion will happen retroactively. Retroactive ain't soon enough, especially since the perpetrator will get little more than a reprimand for his/her "work".

Happy.
Nevertheless, I am happy. I took care of a patient who waited forty years for one of these and the recognition that goes with it.

I guess good things really do come to those who wait...if you can endure! Stay tuned.

Come to the dark side...

We have cupcakes.

Bribes are just another way to get patients (and children) to do what you need them to do.

Back to homework...

Let's talk about...

Sex. (No I'm not going to sing THAT song...) It came up quite a bit in conversations around the Hotel lately.

When you have a life-altering operation and you think you won't have sex again, it really is a big deal. It certainly was to one of our young, newer patients.

"Man, all I could think about was not walking, not having any more kids..."

Another patient has a physician who wants him to have a Foley. Great idea, if your "lady friend" isn't afraid of it and the changes you may have to make in your sex life after a spinal cord injury.

Finally, my personal favorite...Mr. Y is going on a vacation. He will run out of alprostadil and asked for it one week early so he could take it with him on his vacation. Pharmacy's answer: nope. You just have to wait.
Not because of insurance, but because the pharmacist said so. Patient (of course) calls the provider to tell him what happened and patient called the ombudsman for the clinic.

Heaven forbid Mr. Y. go have some sex on his vacation!

It is nice to know providers aren't afraid to talk about sex. Just wish we had a few more of them.

Fallen

Sometimes, that's what it feels like. With the amount of homework I have, I feel as if I'm under an avalanche of paper.

Only a few more weeks...

I needed a laugh

Dr. K, one of our specialists who works with us in the SU, was part of a profile article on our program for the local paper. All the PR Hotel staff approved, said all the appropriate PR incantations and they came out to take a photo of us seeing a patient. Patient signed release (and a couple of autographs for his neighbor on the unit who egged him on, out of earshot, of course.)

When I told Dr. K. a few minutes before he came into the room, he says, "Darn it. I should have worn a tie today."

"Why wear a tie?" I said, "You never wear that or your white coat anyway. No one would know who you are."

Monday again

Surprisingly, I did not have hundreds of e-mails when I returned to the office. I had about a dozen.  One of these days, the crazy admin who works for us will figure out that we ALL really don't need to receive a 9MB attachment on every e-mail she sends. (I bounced this request to the tech people today).

I worked with a patient (Mr. X) who always seems to show up in my office. Some therapists need to be working with him, but they're off doing other things, so I think of things for him to do. I allot about 30 minutes a day on this. I wish I could bill for my time in a clinic visit like the therapists do.

Meanwhile, Mr. X thought he was evading the medical staff on rounds by hiding out in an area near the remodeling being done in our part of the Hotel. Nope. They saw him. I managed to coax him out of the corner so he could talk to his doc. Once she arrived, I was out of there.

I also got a referral to one of our docs today. Patient found us on a website, made a phone call, and ended up in my voice mail. Before I could call, he called me. Mr. Persistent wants a second opinion with a specialist who works with us. He has a disease that requires a choice between two medications that will keep his disease at bay, but one, if he's got certain conditions, could actually kill him. Once specialist is back from his family jaunt across the country, he'll be on his consult list.

One patient made my Monday melancholy. Mr. E. has been coming to our place for a few years. His wife has never really coped with his issues very well. The caregiver stress they talk about in nursing school is starting to show. Mr. E. came in to a clinic visit with a week old beard. This is highly unusual for him, since he tends to shave every other day. Mrs. E. didn't come in with him, either, which is unusual.  She told us he had some issues and that she thought he was sick. She was correct. He got admitted.

Staff are getting bend out of shape about Mr. E. not being cared for. He's not the only one. I think Mrs. E. has finally broken. The strain of caring for her loving husband, who was once a tall, strong, highly educated man is killing her. Her back is strained from the weight. The role of loving wife and partner has been permanently replaced with caregiver. It's not what she signed up for. She doesn't say it, but the vacant look in her eyes tells you. The folks who promised to help just aren't doing it anymore.

The burden has fallen to us to carry at the Hotel,  as we wait to see how the rest of the questions in our minds will be answered.

Stay tuned...

Look who's going to rehab

OMG! One of the classic comedy duos from my yout (yes, I left the h off for a reason). No, I'm not making this one up.

Michael McKean (his real name) was injured in an accident recently and sent to rehab. Bet those folks will have lots of fun. Hope therapy's got some fun stuff for him to do.

So glad Friday is over...

You know you'll be saying, "TGIF" when...

1. You finally get your husband prepped and ready for a colonoscopy. After a year of cajoling, coaxing, and finally just scheduling an appointment with the GI, Dahey got his done and survived with only one little polyp. He'll get the results of the biopsy next week sometime.

2. While you're in the waiting room at the GI lab you get a call that another relative just might have to be hospitalized...again. (Said relative was just discharged Tuesday).

Glad it's your readmit rate and not mine! So much for effective communication.

3. You take Bubba to the soccer game, he plays goal, and you cringe every time he dives head first for the ball. Yes, the emergency  room is close, but I'd like to keep my copay, thank you very much!

Now, to enjoy the weekend, since everyone's survived so far.

Sometimes I wonder...

How in the world you go to the mechanic for an oil change and car inspection and come out several Benjamins lighter in the pocketbook. I remember now. I like having breaks with intact lines!

Not nearly as much fun as buying shoes, though.

While we await the fun-filled weekend with Bubba watching the National Spelling Bee, I finally got Dahey to get to the lab to get the orders the doctor sent over a month ago drawn. I called the nurse and once I told him that she said one lab had to be sent out and he'd have to wait two weeks to hear what happened, he decided to go. I got to accompany him.

So much fun. Lots of labs, but luckily only three little tubes.The best part: the look on his face when the phlebotomist told him he'd have to give 13. Priceless!

I don't think he's going to goof off in the lab anymore...stay tuned.

Misspent vacation day #23

1. Go rounding up your own medical records for a specialty appointment later this summer. Now do you understand why I like linked, interactive electronic health records? Time spent: 1 hour and 30 minutes. I had to fill out one hospital authorization, wait for one CD of images, and go to two physician offices which were, of course, each on the different sides of the campus.

Thankfully, one doc was near where I parked the car.

2. Dig through garage to find bike that husband has lovingly piled the dining room baseboard on top of in the pile. Get bike to gas station and only one tire inflates. Other tire zero.

Time to take old reliable bicycle to the shop.

Outside of the fun administrative details, I did get to see Giacomo again. Haven't been around his parts since Spring Break with Bubba. He's heading for the hills for two weeks soon but has to come back on weekends since he can't get anyone to work for him. Such is the life of those spiritual leaders, except this one.

I also got to have lunch with my old right side seat mate from nursing school. Yes, we sat way up in the front row and had a grand old time with all the instructors. I miss being around her. She is so darned funny. Reminds me of one of my very best friends. One of these days, the two of them will have to meet.

Now I'm off to my regularly scheduled rendezvous with Bubba. Joy! Any day away from work is fun!

Stay tuned...

Always remember...

These heroes are dead. They died for liberty - they died for us. They are at rest. They sleep in the land they made free, under the flag they rendered stainless, under the solemn pines, the sad hemlocks, the tearful willows, and the embracing vines. They sleep beneath the shadows of the clouds, careless alike of sunshine or of storm, each in the windowless Place of Rest. Earth may run red with other wars - they are at peace. In the midst of battle, in the roar of conflict, they found the serenity of death. I have one sentiment for soldiers living and dead: cheers for the living; tears for the dead. ~ Robert G. Ingersoll

Thank you Uncle Max. You gave your life in World War II far from home crossing a river I lived to see in peacetime even though I never met you.

Thank you Skippy, injured in the jungles of Vietnam. You wore your scars every single day I knew you.

Thank you, all veterans, who gave your lives for the cause of freedom or died later as a result of it, on this Memorial Day.

We remember you and we remember freedom isn't free. You paid the ultimate price.

You know you're a nurse when...

1. You get excited about dressing really horrible wounds. I like to consider myself the Queen of the WoundVAC since K. retired.

2. Input and output doesn't faze you.

3. Vomit? How much and what color, you ask.

4. And if the doc recommends this (as a transferring physician did recently), you know exactly what it is.

In honor of our disabled vets

The NY Times has a story this weekend about the Joe Bonham Project at Walter Reed.

And some thing I forgot....

If you're due to get your annual or infrequent cancer screenings, whether they are mammograms, colonoscopies, or your visit to your favorite dermatologist, please go!

I don't care who you are, what your name is, you need to GO, as recommended, based on your own personal history.

Too many people I know have had those big CA diagnoses this year, and some of them are not pretty.

That is all...stay tuned!

The week that was

So happy the Memorial Day weekend is here, because I'm free from the idiocy of the Hotel.

What a week!

1. Bubba decided to goof off at day camp and injure himself. Hello Next Door Neighbor Peds ER. I think he'll be careful about goofing off in the pool next time if he wants to stay in it.

2. The new nurses started in the SU satellite clinic and have lots of good ideas, some of which may actually work with some of the primadonnas on our medical staff. One nurse was promptly pulled back to the floor because well-meaning manager never thought anyone would call in sick on payday before a holiday. Sounds like a writeup is coming!

3. I got to educate more people. Computer education, health education, you name it. I hope those educators don't get wigged out. There's way more education needed than what we're allotted to do.

One of my coworkers is working on a leadership project in my area...which happens to be the NBT (Next Best Thing) in healthcare. The Manglement puts articles on the employee intranet, on Facebook and Twitter, yet the non-clinical people have no clue what it is. D. is gonna have to do some education herself.

4. I get to work on a memorial project for our deceased patients at the Hotel (this started  last year). The support staff working on it are just too damned cheery for me. We'll see how it goes.

More to come...the big project starts next week in advance of the big trek.

A lifetime later

A killer confesses to a crime that changed childhood in much of urban and suburban America.

I cannot even imagine...

It's shouldn't be limited to physicians

I ran into this article about physicians and Facebook via e-mail recently.

From the things I see at the Hotel, they should extend this to everyone on the Hotel staff who has regular contact with patients.

I like my license and I plan to keep it. Consequently, if you're one of our patients, I won't be your friend on Facebook.

More to come...

You think you have it bad

Here are some items I saw recently in the news, thanks to the folks over the pond at the BBC.

Can't pay your hospital bill and you just had a baby? Be glad you're not in Greece.

The man who invented the remote control died this week. Should we blame him for selfish husbands who hog the remote and monopolize the TV?

Cherry wood and crystal in a car? What? Apparently this guy has that in his car.

I thought I had some obnoxious relatives until I read about hers.

I don't feel so bad anymore...

I'm going back...

Not to Massachusetts, but back in time. I was eight going on nine years old when Saturday Night Fever came out. The group behind the music was the Bee Gees. I saved my allowance to get the soundtrack and I even found the Greatest Hits (marked by mistake, but they honored it) on sale.

RIP Robin Gibb.

A little recon

Dear Referring Officials in Said Happy City:

Despite patient comments stating that you all are saying we're an "Army barracks" and "no one wants to go there," you keep sending us patients. Yes, we had a patient family member tell us this yet again that you've said things that are not true.

Yes, we're not the newest Hotel du Jour Rehab, but you're forgetting a few things. Here's the truth:

1. We do our work AND it works. Yes, we have a fine reputation for healing people and we do it over, and over and over again. It's true our specialist physician only calls on certain days, but we are so fortunate to have staff physicians who really get it and know when to say when about calling him/her back for backup if needed.

2. We have a beautiful neighborhood. It's scenic, with bluffs, river, sky and all sorts of wild critters that make it  perfectly picturesque. Many patients tell me they try to get by the windows at dusk, or go outside, just to see the deer and other critters mulling around. For many folks from rural areas, it reminds them of home, even though we're not far from the bustle of the city down the road.

3. We have a wonderful place for visiting families to stay. In fact, if it were open to the general public, it would be overrun with those Civil War (and other war) reenactors due to the fact we're so close to historic sites where they go visit. Many of our patients are loathe to leave after staying there (it's that nice).

4. Besides, we are closer to one of the BEST (yes it was rated that way) cultural institutions and it did beat the c$%p out of your nationally rated one because we care...and ours is free to all.

So, please be sure to do your research first from reliable sources, 'cause your recon ain't so good.

Sincerely not,

RehabRN

Yes, I'll have another double

Espresso after reading the latest article about coffee drinking.

Hooray!

A day in the life...

Here was my day:

1. Show up and get report from the NPs. This is my favorite part of the day. One of them (we call her mom) is getting ready for her child's wedding. We get an update every day on child, the dogs and the new house.

2. Check e-mail and respond. Realize I'd better get going to my assignment on the other side of campus.

3. As a member of a quality team, I am responsible for visits to certain departments quarterly, thanks to former big boss volunteering my services. It was a stupid move, but since no one will take my place, I'm making the best of it. It gets me out of the office for a morning each quarter.

4. I finished the quality visit, then walked back (outside) to the office slowly to enjoy the glorious weather.

5. When I got back, the therapy staff had lunch for all the nurses (they don't want to intrude on nurses' week, so they always wait one week). It was nice.

6. The rest of my day was playing fix-it. Fix this, fix that, find this, find that.

7. At the end. I set up a meeting with the boss, including a conference call for the nurses on nights to attend. We actually got some callers. I told them how to mute the lines, but somehow, we still heard Stacy getting her hair done (water, etc.)

The boss finally asked, "Are you in a bar or in the bathroom? If it's a bar, tell me which one?"



Happily, the meeting was brief and to the point. People left happy...reasonably speaking. We need more of that on the floor.

Stay tuned...

Summertime's a comin'!

Signs of summer at the Hotel Rehab: certain characters call up with life-threatening "illnesses".

Here's what my travelling partner, the NP, told me today.

"You'll never guess who called me today?" she says.
"Who?", I ask
"It's the month of May. Who always calls in the month of May?" NP asks.
"I have no idea." I say
"Hint" she says, (squirrely voice) "I think I have sinus drainage that's green".
"OMG! Not again. Where's the hole now?" I say. (patient has a history of doing nearly ANYTHING to get admitted, including puncturing him/herself.)
"No hole. He/she just called and got a Z-pack." she says.
"Nice. I should have known" I said "It's air conditioning season again. Just wait. He/she will be back."

More to come...summer's on it's way!

In the notes

Since I don't always see everyone in the Hotel in the SU, but I'm still on the team, I have to read the notes to stay current on all the patients we take care of. To do so, I skim the notes.

This was my favorite from one of our consults to audiology (who never tells their patients that they're really in the basement next door and half of them end up in my office...).

"Patient's bilateral ears full of cerumen. Please irrigate and re-consult this service, as testing cannot occur at this time."

Hello?! WT...? Nice. I know the NP who's in charge of ear wax removal, is going to love this one. I'll bet we're not going to send anyone to Ms. Audiology without those Debrox drops first!

Another favorite: we had  a patient who needs a urology service consult while he/she is an in-patient. Patient is leaving for the great Rocky Mountain state next week.

RN in charge of this clinic writes in the consult (for the secretary to schedule):

"Please schedule xx urology procedure at earliest date, as patient to discharge by 5/21."

When does the stellar secretary schedule? Consult read: "Patient scheduled at 0930 on 7/30/12 per request". (head plants firmly in desk)

Urology's idea of urgent, surely isn't mine or this patients,  either.

I only made it halfway through the patients before I had to get away....stay tuned.

Happy Mother's Day

A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.  ~Washington Irving


Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there wherever you are, especially those of you working on the floors today.

Mom, I love you and miss you always.

A fun oddity

Here's a guy with priorities: he needs something to eat while playing those late night card games.

Happy 250th birthday of the sandwich.

Nurse as patient? Not!

Sometimes, I really don't like being the patient.

But now, (or earlier today) I was. I had to go see my favorite specialist. Dr. RG has known me since I was this (motion hand to waist) high. He's an international expert on all sorts of weird things in his spare time (usually the not so nice things you might find in a house figure into his work) He became my primary specialist once I aged out of the Children's Medical Center next door to PrivateU. All during college, work, PrivateU again, he'd seen me, at least once or twice a year.

I even sent my husband to him, once he was on my insurance and lo and behold, I find out that Dr. RG has known my husband's family for years because of a relative. We had much joking after that, but from that moment years ago, Dr. RG (who's always attentive) became even more attentive.

When Dr. RG's wife died a few years ago, he surprised me. One, he gave me a hug, because he said he realized that some of his patients (who had been seeing him forever like me) needed one and life was too short. Two, he was, and has always been the doctor to whom I could ask all those weird questions about research and other stuff. He is a font of knowledge. I knew when he gave me advice recently, it was the advice my relative would have given me if he were here. He wasn't, but Dr. RG was.

So now, after the usual checkup, I got a referral to two specialists. One was a second opinion (no bother to me) and another to a neurologist. Dr. RG thinks my problems could be something else, and I need to get them investigated.

Dr. RG told me something else. He's finally retiring. Not to worry, he said, there are plenty of good specialists at PrivateU to take his place. His replacement is nice, but I've decided to see Bubba's specialist. After all, I know he's been trained by the best, because I saw him when he interned with Dr. RG a few years ago.

Dr. RG is going to fulfill his life's ambition and work in a health clinic affiliated with PrivateU part time. He's thrilled and while I'm sad he won't be my doctor, I'm happy he'll still be around taking care of people who need him.

Stay tuned...

3...2..

Almost 1. It's finally the last week of the semester and I'm ready. (Been ready!)

Just have to get my computer to cooperate and get through this last week, complete my assignments and enjoy the weekend.

More to come...stay tuned!

Shut out

I almost went 3 for 3 today.

1. The patient portal I was supposed to get patients registered in for the SU was down...yet again today.  I get to try tomorrow for the complete shutout for the week.

2. I got the dreaded Professional Development e-mail, "Sorry, you (a nurse) don't deserve time off on duty to speak at xx International Conference."

It just doesn't matter that you have your boss, your boss's boss and the boss's boss's boss sending letters on your behalf. No, but "you can do this on your vacation time."

But, your colleagues in the department (not nurses) get an all-expense paid trip to their conference.
Idiots. Will be happy to consult my HR/lawyer friend. I smell a rat.

3. My computer keeps acting up. If it dies, I doubt the cheapskates at Madison will let me have another before the end of the fiscal year.

I will be so happy when this week is finally over!

In the news

 A few different stories out there recently on my internet meanderings.

Nurse chooses palliative care over aggressive treatment (Washington Post)
I read this article today in one of my newsletters and I agree with the saying that good doctors treat the disease and the best doctors treat the person.

Death of a Charger (from espn.com)
Could the death of Junior Seau be related to concussion syndrome?

World's fastest toilet (from bbc.com)
Who knew? I would have never guessed.

The tales of woe

The word of my day was woe.

"Woe is me." I heard from the specialist who's complaining that the other specialist at X Hospital is bad mouthing him to our patients. Who tells specialist this tale? The patient. Specialist has taken care of patient forever, before he/she ever even went to X Hospital in our system. Patient told Specialist the truth, and he decided to tell me.

Kids, haven't you ever heard that maxim, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."? "No surprise" I told our Specialist. "He (and his hospital) have done weirder things lately." Frankly, I'm surprised upper management isn't reigning them in yet.

It was woe for our staff, too. I couldn't believe it when I saw our home health nurse doing assessment documentation on a newly arrived patient. She's usually out on the road somewhere, but for some reason, she got called into an admission that should have been completed by the floor nurse.  Not sure why the boss let that happen, but I'm so glad it wasn't me!

There was woe for one of our patients' families. Said patient died over the weekend. We really liked him (at least most of us did). Rudy was a very opinionated character who almost made it to his speed limit birthday, but he had a heart attack and never regained consciousness. He and I got along very well. I was the person who set up his Fritos whenever he was on our unit (he was a Frito maniac).

Rudy told me he wasn't afraid to die because, during one of his many spates of illness, he had had a near death experience. "Heaven is beautiful", he told me. "I saw it and I really wanted to stay, but they told me I had to go back. I saw the Devil, too."

"Really?" I asked. "How did you know it was the Devil?"

"He looked just like the pictures...and he had a bottle of Jack Daniels, trying to get me to go with him."

"No way!" I said. He just shook his head yes.

So from then on, it was our inside joke about Jack Daniels. I told him one night when he spiked a temp late in the shift, "Rudy, I know Heaven was nice, but could you just wait to go there until my shift is over? And whatever you do, don't take the Jack Daniels." Rudy eventually recovered and we laughed about it.

Happily, all of Rudy's last year wasn't a tale of woe. Rudy got to see his grandchildren born and he was so proud. I saw him from time to time and I always gave him trouble. On his last visit to the unit, I told him he had the most seniority (as in he'd been coming to our unit for so long) on the unit, so he'd better help us train our new staff.

"And Rudy," I told him, "if they say you're mean and quit, I'm gonna call you up."

He just smiled. I opened the last bag of Fritos I ever gave him during that stay while his family looked on bemused. Sure we spoiled him sometimes, but he was like our family. I figured out in the last couple of years, I'd spent more time on the unit with Rudy than I have with my own family.

Rudy was a Marine through and through. He loved the Corps and educated me that the Marines wear scarlet not red.

And like the old Marine saying goes, I send it out today to Rudy, not Chesty this time: "Goodnight Rudy, wherever you are." I'm praying you're in Heaven where it's beautiful and not with the Devil and Jack Daniels.

Godspeed, dear friend. I'll miss you and all your Fritos, too.

Still here

Plugging away on grad school homework. Not many days left to this semester (just short of 14 to be exact).

Will pop in an out as time permits. It's been a wild, wild week here in so many ways--school, work and the weather!

Stay tuned.

Dear Google

There really IS a reason why I didn't switch to the new interface.

It sucks.

Gimme my old one back.

Sincerely,

RehabRN

People wonder

Why some people want universal health coverage. Why some want simple, basic care with a little kindness.

This is why. Some hospitals think it's okay to sprinkle in the odd debt collector into their staff, and share data that is protected by HIPAA.

All I have to say: Accretia, please publish a list of  your customers. It will make life easier when choosing a provider.

When I want care, I want care, not harassment.

Stay tuned...

Far fetched? Maybe...

Dear Public U:

As much as the University loves technology, please don't buy this robo-grader thing until I'm done. I still have a few papers left to write that I think real people need to read.

Sincerely,

RehabRN

As the old saying goes...

Even the blind squirrel can find an acorn under the oak tree.

I got lucky and found the instructor's error from one of our assignments. So glad he's got a sense of humor.

Let the week begin. I'm ready to go jump on in! Here goes...

It is wonderful

'S wonderful...'
'It's awful nice/It's paradise'

Yes, indeed it is.

Happy weekend all, wherever you are, may your day be marvelous!

Run, run, runaway!

I have escaped. It may only be for a day or two here and there, but I get out when I can. The folks on the unit get incensed when they find out I'm not where I'm supposed to be in the SU, but it is nice to feel free.

Christmas came early when a lot of the junk (I mean VALUABLE medical equipment) finally got moved out of the SU after I pointed out that I was reporting the equipment staff to the hospital director. I guess the threats didn't fall on deaf ears, after all.

I went out with a bunch of other nurses from Madison, and we celebrated the local nursing awards. Big Boss nominated K. before he/she transferred out for this Local Hero Nurse Award, given to RNs in our area. It was at a big, swanky hotel, with a nice dinner. I even saw a couple of my nursing professors from PrivateU. It was a fun evening to celebrate a wonderful fellow nurse.

Stay tuned...more to come!

Multi-purpose rooms are one thing

But do we really, really have to store all unused items in the SU exam room because of its proximity to the parking lot?

This makes patient appointments challenging.

Yet another fun thing to put under "other duties as assigned."

Strategizing...

Going to have to justify away why the SU should continue. Boss is helping, thank goodness, or we'd be going to Hades in cutesy lil' basket.

Stay tuned...