Dear Mr. P.:
I love you to death because, despite the loss of voice you occasionally have, you are so darned snarky and funny that you make me laugh.
But since it is over One Hundred degrees here in RehabLand, I must have the air conditioning on in your room. As Dad used to say, "You can always put on a sweater, but can't take one off if you don't have it." I wish we had rules on what the temps could be.
So here's your blanket, so I don't melt into a puddle in your room with my gown, gloves and other assorteds on, because I will if you keep that thermostat above 85 degrees again.
Sincerely (unless I melt into a puddle, then deal's off),
RehabRN
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Just when you think you've seen everything...
Something completely different happens. We got a person who came onto the unit at the Hotel who asked to be "checked in" right at dinner time. Rehab is not a unit people just typically appear on, so this was the first red flag.
Patient then says, "Oh, I was over in the unit down the way over 10 years ago. Can I just go back?" Patient then describes an experience between psych and drug rehab (they mistake us all the time--no surprise when the word "rehab" is on the sign). I call the supervisor who asks me, "Do you think he's a mental health patient?" Yes, I reply without belying that the super has asked if he has suicidal ideation, which he did not.
Thankfully, I managed to get walk-on to the ER, where I later found out that he told them a different story. He was indeed suicidal, so he won a free trip to the psych unit. Not sure if he'll rehab or not at our lovely Hotel, but if he does, I'm sure he'll see the drug rehab folks, and not the physical rehab folks that I'm used to working with here on our unit.
Sometimes people just want to go home again at your hospital.
Stay tuned...
Patient then says, "Oh, I was over in the unit down the way over 10 years ago. Can I just go back?" Patient then describes an experience between psych and drug rehab (they mistake us all the time--no surprise when the word "rehab" is on the sign). I call the supervisor who asks me, "Do you think he's a mental health patient?" Yes, I reply without belying that the super has asked if he has suicidal ideation, which he did not.
Thankfully, I managed to get walk-on to the ER, where I later found out that he told them a different story. He was indeed suicidal, so he won a free trip to the psych unit. Not sure if he'll rehab or not at our lovely Hotel, but if he does, I'm sure he'll see the drug rehab folks, and not the physical rehab folks that I'm used to working with here on our unit.
Sometimes people just want to go home again at your hospital.
Stay tuned...
Monday, July 18, 2011
How to tell if your boss is an idiot, part 1
Yes, more and more, either he/she's got amnesia or needs a vacation, I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that my boss is a first-class idiot.
Case in point: recall the post about uncompensated training recently? Guess what? I can be compensated per rule #xx in the handbook.
Our person who normally handles this is out of the office (on vacation) but the chirpy HR lady they switched me to at Central HR said, "Yep. If he/she can't let you use that comp time for a day off, you get your OT."
I e-mail this and proposed clinic training plan to boss.
His/her response: "Really?"
So glad I'm not working or I'd bang my head firmly into the wall...over and over. Just makes me wonder what else he/she's been messing up in the mean time.
More to come...it's one thing after another here at the Hotel!
Case in point: recall the post about uncompensated training recently? Guess what? I can be compensated per rule #xx in the handbook.
Our person who normally handles this is out of the office (on vacation) but the chirpy HR lady they switched me to at Central HR said, "Yep. If he/she can't let you use that comp time for a day off, you get your OT."
I e-mail this and proposed clinic training plan to boss.
His/her response: "Really?"
So glad I'm not working or I'd bang my head firmly into the wall...over and over. Just makes me wonder what else he/she's been messing up in the mean time.
More to come...it's one thing after another here at the Hotel!
Some things I wish I didn't know about...
1. An older nurse at work and her sexual escapades with other staff and patients. Surprisingly, she's still working with us, which is a whole other ball of wax as my Grandpappy used to say.
2. What happens when a prostate cancer patient has a bowel impaction and you have to digitally remove it.
3. That my favorite classmate from nursing school has cancer. I wish I could just make it go away.
More later...
2. What happens when a prostate cancer patient has a bowel impaction and you have to digitally remove it.
3. That my favorite classmate from nursing school has cancer. I wish I could just make it go away.
More later...
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Transitions, part 1
How hard is it? Plenty, when you're dealing with Manglement at the Hotel.
Here's my transition plan as of this week:
1. Get e-mail from Second-in-command Assistant Chief Nurse Mangler:
Go right ahead and see X, since she's been running the clinic while we've been waiting for you to get hired. We'll let you know when your start date is later, because we're waiting for people to come back from sick leave and the new hires to start.
2. I discuss specifics with my department Nurse Mangler.
NM: "Sure. Set up time with X and let me know what's going on."
3. I call X, set up appointment, come in on day off. I have to do this since NM can't possibly let me leave for a minute to go up two floors to see X for one hour, even though some of his/her favorites park in the cafeteria three blocks away while on duty for longer time periods than that.
NM is okay with this plan and it's confirmed via e-mail and verbally by conversation in hall with several witnesses present.
4. Meet X on my day off and get items I need to set up for a learning plan in the Hotels' Learning System. Total time for this, including printout of manual: two hours. As a result of this meeting, also advise NM that I have to attend another quarterly department meeting this week before I work an evening shift.
NM: Fine, just get to work on time.
5. Now after investing this much time in meetings, learning plan setup, etc., NM tells me I will not be compensated for my time to attend meetings, etc., until I start in the new position (which is the same department, but a different "cost center" per accounting.) Otherwise, "if I let you off for comp time, you're stealing time from this unit." (yes, this was a direct quote)
6. WTF?! Express "concern about lack of compensation" with a straight face and proceed to assemble everything for HR.
7. Notify X that I will have to start training later, which sets off its own cascade of idiocy all the way up to the boss of the center.
8. Get call from center boss. Center boss says "hold tight and we'll straighten this out. You won't lose anything"
And they wonder why people are so frustrated! If this was not my dream job, I'd run straight out the door.
Stay tuned for the continuing saga, because drama at the Hotel is new everyday.
Here's my transition plan as of this week:
1. Get e-mail from Second-in-command Assistant Chief Nurse Mangler:
Go right ahead and see X, since she's been running the clinic while we've been waiting for you to get hired. We'll let you know when your start date is later, because we're waiting for people to come back from sick leave and the new hires to start.
2. I discuss specifics with my department Nurse Mangler.
NM: "Sure. Set up time with X and let me know what's going on."
3. I call X, set up appointment, come in on day off. I have to do this since NM can't possibly let me leave for a minute to go up two floors to see X for one hour, even though some of his/her favorites park in the cafeteria three blocks away while on duty for longer time periods than that.
NM is okay with this plan and it's confirmed via e-mail and verbally by conversation in hall with several witnesses present.
4. Meet X on my day off and get items I need to set up for a learning plan in the Hotels' Learning System. Total time for this, including printout of manual: two hours. As a result of this meeting, also advise NM that I have to attend another quarterly department meeting this week before I work an evening shift.
NM: Fine, just get to work on time.
5. Now after investing this much time in meetings, learning plan setup, etc., NM tells me I will not be compensated for my time to attend meetings, etc., until I start in the new position (which is the same department, but a different "cost center" per accounting.) Otherwise, "if I let you off for comp time, you're stealing time from this unit." (yes, this was a direct quote)
6. WTF?! Express "concern about lack of compensation" with a straight face and proceed to assemble everything for HR.
7. Notify X that I will have to start training later, which sets off its own cascade of idiocy all the way up to the boss of the center.
8. Get call from center boss. Center boss says "hold tight and we'll straighten this out. You won't lose anything"
And they wonder why people are so frustrated! If this was not my dream job, I'd run straight out the door.
Stay tuned for the continuing saga, because drama at the Hotel is new everyday.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
I see friends shaking hands
Saying "How do you do?"
They're really saying,
"I love you"
-Louis Armstrong "What a wonderful world"
Yes, friends, it really is a beautiful world, Manglement or not. This is one of Bubba's favorite songs. Who would believe I'm the mother of a boy who loves the "really old stuff" as he calls it. I heard, "Mama, play Louie" more than once this weekend while riding around town.
Enjoy the day! I will, rain or shine.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Things that make me smile
Yes, even though some of our nurses say we should not nominate people for department awards for doing the little things as part of their job, it is the little things that people remember. It brings back all those lectures on servant leadership. Keeping things stocked and thinking of the nurse who follows you are two things that were impressed upon me in my first nursing job, and yes, it is everybody's business.
And as a result, the things that have made me smile recently during all this Manglement madness have been the little things.
1. Patient X goes home and calls me recently from a restaurant we talked about all during his stay. I even got the lowdown on the daily special.
2. Patients who say "please" and "thank you". There are just too many barbarians who have forgotten their manners. Mr. X., thank you for thinking of me and being polite, even when many of your other fellow patients do not do the same.
3. Dr. F. brought us all goodies this week. It made us feel important, too.
4. And finally, one of my patients came back to the unit, We had a really nice chat and I told him about his old roommate sending us a card, which was posted on our bulletin board. Before he left, he told me, "You know, I miss seeing you. You are the best."
Thanks Mr. D., and so are you. We loved the candy, even if it means another mile on the treadmill for me.
Stay tuned.
And as a result, the things that have made me smile recently during all this Manglement madness have been the little things.
1. Patient X goes home and calls me recently from a restaurant we talked about all during his stay. I even got the lowdown on the daily special.
2. Patients who say "please" and "thank you". There are just too many barbarians who have forgotten their manners. Mr. X., thank you for thinking of me and being polite, even when many of your other fellow patients do not do the same.
3. Dr. F. brought us all goodies this week. It made us feel important, too.
4. And finally, one of my patients came back to the unit, We had a really nice chat and I told him about his old roommate sending us a card, which was posted on our bulletin board. Before he left, he told me, "You know, I miss seeing you. You are the best."
Thanks Mr. D., and so are you. We loved the candy, even if it means another mile on the treadmill for me.
Stay tuned.
Monday, July 11, 2011
If it was good today...
On a Monday, what, oh, what will it be like tomorrow?
At this point, I don't mind that Monday breezed by. It was lovely. Patients were happy and did as they pleased with relatively little irritations for the nurses or the medical staff.
We did have some weirdness go on. Check out the following and see what you'd do.
Supplies, supplies, supplies.
Searching for them has been the story of our charge nurse's life. She spends way too much time being the unit purchasing and acquisitions agent.
Per usual on Monday morning, she gets her list and send it to the supply folks. Here are a couple of things on the list and what we got:
If the Manglement calls this quality, I'd hate to see what they call disaster!
Stay tuned...never a dull moment at the Hotel!
At this point, I don't mind that Monday breezed by. It was lovely. Patients were happy and did as they pleased with relatively little irritations for the nurses or the medical staff.
We did have some weirdness go on. Check out the following and see what you'd do.
Supplies, supplies, supplies.
Searching for them has been the story of our charge nurse's life. She spends way too much time being the unit purchasing and acquisitions agent.
Per usual on Monday morning, she gets her list and send it to the supply folks. Here are a couple of things on the list and what we got:
- tracheal suction kits: asked for 24 (for all our patients on trachs --about 4, so 6 per patient); got 4 kits.
- trach care kits: asked for 4 patient's worth, got one. One lousy trach care kit. I say we make the patients (or their nurses) arm wrestle for it!
- catheter bags (one for every current inhabitant with one--approximately 8 patients). What did we get? Three.
If the Manglement calls this quality, I'd hate to see what they call disaster!
Stay tuned...never a dull moment at the Hotel!
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Adios, arrivederci, sayonara
Middle age is when work is a lot less fun and fun is a lot more work. ~Author Unknown
We've got just about the average number of baby boomer nurses who are eligible to retire soon, and since Manglement is being so kind, a couple have taken them up on their offers. Two so far have announced they're retiring, and those two alone have 75 years of combined experience in a variety of bedside settings, including the last 10 in rehab.
It also helps that Manglement is threatening to upend the Hotel and send all the specialty nurses floating here, there and everywhere since they're saving money by not hiring anyone. This is sending morale into the crapper, even in the units that traditionally have been extremely happy. Many are just sick and tired of all the idiocy of nurses in Manglement who haven't seen a live patient in a floor setting in years coming out of the woodwork and saying, "Just do more with less."
Less is certainly what they're getting out of some of the folks who work at our satellite hospitals. It is just sad.
Maybe one day, the nurse execs will lose their bonuses over it for all the turnover, but I'm not holding my breath.
It's getting pretty unsafe in these here parts...can't wait to move to the new office, if and when they can get all the construction done. Stay tuned.
We've got just about the average number of baby boomer nurses who are eligible to retire soon, and since Manglement is being so kind, a couple have taken them up on their offers. Two so far have announced they're retiring, and those two alone have 75 years of combined experience in a variety of bedside settings, including the last 10 in rehab.
It also helps that Manglement is threatening to upend the Hotel and send all the specialty nurses floating here, there and everywhere since they're saving money by not hiring anyone. This is sending morale into the crapper, even in the units that traditionally have been extremely happy. Many are just sick and tired of all the idiocy of nurses in Manglement who haven't seen a live patient in a floor setting in years coming out of the woodwork and saying, "Just do more with less."
Less is certainly what they're getting out of some of the folks who work at our satellite hospitals. It is just sad.
Maybe one day, the nurse execs will lose their bonuses over it for all the turnover, but I'm not holding my breath.
It's getting pretty unsafe in these here parts...can't wait to move to the new office, if and when they can get all the construction done. Stay tuned.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
A truly new economy
I saw this article while I was online today and thought about another article I read recently, which said, "Welcome to the new economy."
It certainly seems like a different kind of idea to me. If you can have a nurse case manager or life care planner, why not a paid cemetery visitor?
Just sayin'...more to come. You never know what will show up in the news.
It certainly seems like a different kind of idea to me. If you can have a nurse case manager or life care planner, why not a paid cemetery visitor?
Just sayin'...more to come. You never know what will show up in the news.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Grandstanding
Dear Wannabe Lazy Grandstander:
Some people just don't get it. Working as a team does not mean showing off to the management, unions and the like to look like "you're so into everything."
No, it just shows how much you only think about yourself, when you attend multiple meetings instead of taking another shift's place so they may attend the meeting you already sat through once. How coincidental, since someone else gets to do all your work!
There is an I in our team, (you) and here's hoping someone erases it from the list one of these days. Then it will really BE all about you.
Sincerely not,
RehabRN
Some people just don't get it. Working as a team does not mean showing off to the management, unions and the like to look like "you're so into everything."
No, it just shows how much you only think about yourself, when you attend multiple meetings instead of taking another shift's place so they may attend the meeting you already sat through once. How coincidental, since someone else gets to do all your work!
There is an I in our team, (you) and here's hoping someone erases it from the list one of these days. Then it will really BE all about you.
Sincerely not,
RehabRN
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
A judgment for today...
Punishment is now unfashionable... because it creates moral distinctions among men, which, to the democratic mind, are odious. We prefer a meaningless collective guilt to a meaningful individual responsibility. ~Thomas Szasz
One of me favorites...
Oh, the days of the Kerry dancing
Oh, the ring of the piper's tune
Oh, for one of those hours of gladness
Gone, alas, like our youth, too soon.
When the boys began to gather
In the glen of a summer's night
And the Kerry piper's tuning
Made us long with wild delight!
Oh, to think of it
Oh, to dream of it
Fills my heart with tears!
Monday, July 4, 2011
Happy Fourth of July
Happy Independence Day, America!
And I never realized until today that there are so many verses to this song. Read and enjoy!
America the Beautiful
Words by Katharine Lee Bates,
Melody by Samuel Ward
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!
O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
Whose stem impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!
O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!
And I never realized until today that there are so many verses to this song. Read and enjoy!
Words by Katharine Lee Bates,
Melody by Samuel Ward
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!
O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
Whose stem impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!
O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Holiday fun
We could hear and even see some of the fireworks from the park down the street if you went outside. That was the closest I'll get to 4th of July festivities, since I'm working at the Hotel.
For the most part, the headaches are subsiding. I'll just chalk it all up to allergies to something. I've been taking all my meds religiously and adding a couple of OTC ones as needed. I hate doing it, but I also hate having a stopped up head and ears.
So far, besides Manglement issues, there's been no trouble at the Hotel. We can only wait for what happens next. I hope I'm spared some of the drama, but suspect I will have to deal with it soon enough. The great halcyon days of the Hotel are most likely over. It's just going to be interesting to see the kicking, screaming and jockeying that comes next.
Stay tuned...gotta enjoy the moments before it all starts again.
For the most part, the headaches are subsiding. I'll just chalk it all up to allergies to something. I've been taking all my meds religiously and adding a couple of OTC ones as needed. I hate doing it, but I also hate having a stopped up head and ears.
So far, besides Manglement issues, there's been no trouble at the Hotel. We can only wait for what happens next. I hope I'm spared some of the drama, but suspect I will have to deal with it soon enough. The great halcyon days of the Hotel are most likely over. It's just going to be interesting to see the kicking, screaming and jockeying that comes next.
Stay tuned...gotta enjoy the moments before it all starts again.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Corporate mayhem
Sure, you can work for a non-profit hospital, but yes, you can have corporate mayhem. That's been happening at the Hotel.
Upper Manglement has decided that we'll have some "town hall meetings" to make us aware of some changes coming down the pike, and none of the rumored changes are good. Census is down and costs are up. Our chief hospital honcho is coming down for not one, but multiple meetings and the rumored agenda involves funding, staffing, unit management and even a few transfers. No one knows the real agenda, but we've been told to be ready for anything, and be specific.
As a former corporate worker bee, I'm teaching my coworkers how to create opportunities--use talking points. No, I'm not Norma Rae, but after patients, nurses working in the front lines of healthcare keep the rest of the house open. Without 24/7 nursing staff, hospitals cannot run. So I'm prepping people who one of our senior nurses has asked to speak with talking points. It's like Toastmasters all over again. I finally have a use for all those note cards I couldn't use in nursing school.
It should be an interesting week! Stay tuned.
Upper Manglement has decided that we'll have some "town hall meetings" to make us aware of some changes coming down the pike, and none of the rumored changes are good. Census is down and costs are up. Our chief hospital honcho is coming down for not one, but multiple meetings and the rumored agenda involves funding, staffing, unit management and even a few transfers. No one knows the real agenda, but we've been told to be ready for anything, and be specific.
As a former corporate worker bee, I'm teaching my coworkers how to create opportunities--use talking points. No, I'm not Norma Rae, but after patients, nurses working in the front lines of healthcare keep the rest of the house open. Without 24/7 nursing staff, hospitals cannot run. So I'm prepping people who one of our senior nurses has asked to speak with talking points. It's like Toastmasters all over again. I finally have a use for all those note cards I couldn't use in nursing school.
It should be an interesting week! Stay tuned.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Something everyone needs
This would be a cool thing to have, but I'd never get Bubba away from the computer.
Wish me luck as I drag my migraine-muddled mind back to work today.
Stay tuned!
Wish me luck as I drag my migraine-muddled mind back to work today.
Stay tuned!
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