Can you say...inappropriate?

One of my returned calls today:

Me: Hi this is RehabRN returning your call Mr. RehabEscapee (aka almost AMA).
Mr. RE: Yes, RehabRN, I know we need to do that appointment. (RE whispers)
Me: Sure, is it a good time right now? I notice you're talking lower.
Mr. RE: Well, I'm at the emergency room.
Me: For you or someone else? (I've gotten some weird calls before, but...)
Mr. RE: Oh no! I'm helping out. For someone else, so I have a few minutes and I figured I'd talk to you.

What Mr. RE doesn't realize that I have a long set of questions to ask him. And no, he might not want to answer them in the ER, since they can get personal.

If you're there to support someone else, wouldn't it be nice to pay attention to them?

I convinced Mr. RE it was. His wife might like him later if he does.

More later...

What a wonderful Monday

If you call getting prepped for the upcoming full moon wonderful. Sure!

My day in a nutshell:

1. Go to do your first rounds and they're looking for Dr. X. I go to the clinic Dr. X is usually in, and they say, no, Dr. X is off today.

2. Get on the elevator to go to your next part of rounds (your unit) and Dr. X. sends me a text saying "I'm here, where's the patient."

3. Call the cavalry, explain Dr. X. really is here now, so go find the patient. Cavalry is successful.

4. Run down several flights of stairs, find Dr. X and then see the patient coming in. Whew!

5. Return back to the ranch to figure out what is going on with a pending problem. No one is around. Finally get answers after two text messages and three phone calls. Problem not resolved until tomorrow.

6. Find out person you have worked with for five years is leaving her current job.

7. Find out people are retiring in droves due to pressure, illness and just plain ready. Sad on some, not on others.

8. Try to fix a patient's problem, but the help for that is not working today.

There were some good things, though.

1. The day was beautiful.

2. I went home for lunch and made a BLT. It was good, even though I set off the smoke detector.

3. I saw an incredible Buckeye butterfly today. It stopped long enough for me to snap a photo and send to my dear husband Dahey who collected butterflies as a child.

4. My friend's husband is getting stronger. He will also be getting a longer course of treatment. Neuro wanted five more doses, nephro wanted no more. They decided to meet (almost) in the middle: two.

Sure beats watching a neurologist and a nephrologist duke it out in his room.

I'm resting up hoping tomorrow is even better. Stay tuned.

Just another Monday

Still Nurses' Week..YES! The psychology staff are celebrating on Florence Nightingale's birthday at the Hotel, but they have to send an e-mail every day so people don't forget.

I celebrated today by having lots of technical difficulties in my clinic. Now I have to find a creative way to get a gift basket of coffee, Mountain Dew, chocolate and other terribly fattening things to my favorite support technicians. Yes, it's been that kind of week and this is only Monday. We have a "special notes" section of our intranet, so I recognized two of the folks today. I had to...those two saved my derriere so much already.

Bubba got out of school early today and is counting the days when school ends here in RehabLand. Since his school had no snow days (we had a school boss from Minnesota who wasn't scared one icy day) this year, they'll actually finish on the day they said. Bubba, however, may notice those last days are different. For the first time ever, he has final exams. Should get him ready for high school!

Now Bubba is at his friend Jorge's house, helping him get some of the music homework done before the big party this week at the last band class. If Jorge gets the magic number, he'll be in. Bubba, his partner in crime, wants to provide moral support so it happens.

Stay tuned...one more day of Nurses' Week left. Enjoy every moment. You deserve it!

Frittering...

I should be doing something productive, but I'm not. I was busy orienting a new nurse who got to spend the day with me in the SU.

It looks easy, but it's not. At least, she got some experience in what might be useful in my world.

And right on cue, I had a couple of folks I had to do walk-in support for today. I told her it only happens every so often...

I didn't even have to call them. They just found me. It's fun.

That is all. Enjoy your week!

The end of the line...

Only if you have an old computer. Yes, Microsoft is finally retiring support for Windows xp, unless you work for certain governments who have ponied up for support.

Despite its failings, at least I don't have to worry about this any more. I made all of my xp problems disappear by downloading this version of Linux free. My hardware was just old enough (and underpowered) that it would not support Windows 8.

Be warned: it is a change. I opted for this because I wanted something easy that would support my attached goodies.

Still tinkering...enjoy your day!

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?

Monday Fun Day

As one of my coworkers from nights says, "What's not to love about Mondays?"

There are
Meetings,
Madness, and
Minute after minute on support calls trying to get problems fixed (actually only 30 minutes with a quirky guy who asked me out when I was done).

Nevertheless, it's over now. Back to school for me. There's an evidence-based practice article waiting with my name on it (I wish I were kidding.)

More to come...

Merry Christmas to me

No it's not a mistake. I still have the Christmas tree in my office, but it is put away. I put away a lot of stuff in the office, since I got my Christmas wishes fulfilled recently. The office that's as old as some of my Generation X coworkers, finally is getting painted. Yes, some of the retirement age painters at the Hotel remember painting offices that "Government Beige" (their words about the color of my office) color in their early careers.

So Rex and Mike, the two former occupants of my office space will be invited to a "officewarming party" as soon as the painters are done.

On top of that, I also got some equipment I need for another project. We have a support person in our area who deserves a medal for what she does. Suzy has been around forever, and really does know where everything is. Thanks to her and a lovely lady in another area named Rose, I got my supplies. I've been trying to get them since I started my work in the SU months ago.

Thank you Santa. It's all just what I wanted...even if it's late. Those elves are the best!

More to come...

I am thankful

Despite all of the horrible things that have happened in the past month at work and at home in the RehabRN household, we are so very, very lucky.

No one in our family (or extended family) will be spending the holidays in the hospital. Hooray!

Bubba is much happier now that he is out of the horrible situation he was in, and I am so, so, so thankful for the caring and support he has gotten at school from the teachers and the staff.

Slowly, but surely, I am seeing progress in my work, even though it's only been a short period of time since I started in my new job. The lights are going on...people get it, patients get it. Now all I have to do is get it all together, synched and working.

I have been one lucky human this year.

Happy Thanksgiving all, wherever you are!

If I ran Hotel Rehab...

Dear Boss:

Yes, after a recent meeting in which the nursing staff was errantly dressed down by management for flagrant patient violations of house rules, here's what I'd do if I ran the Hotel Rehab.

1. Yes, bring in the guys in the uniforms (our security force) and make them lay down the law.
Rule: you break it, you buy it, which means as soon as you can, you're outta here, pal.

2. Have psychology work rotations 24/7 on call. What a pain it is to have no support at odd hours when you need it. Psych's busy enough with all the commitments, suicidal ideations, etc. Come on down and peel this "not sick enough for psych" character off the ceiling so I can do my work. And stop the groper from groping my fellow staff members.

3. Really discharge non-compliant patients. You're perfectly competent, but choose to disobey rules and make yourself sick enough to require emergency care? Out you go...

Just my two cents. Maybe it'll stick if I repeat it enough.

Yours truly,

RehabRN

Revelations

It's always fun to find out you've forgotten to pay a bill, then wonder why something doesn't work, which happened to me this week.  Luckily, everything was quickly resolved.

Some people you work with can be supportive at one moment, then totally against you the next, and back again by the time you walk out the door to say goodbye. I found this out when a philosophical discussion went awry today. The older nurses still look down on anyone with more advanced degrees than they have, no matter how good the person may be.

One e-mail can make you think of a lot. I found out one of my last Saintarama patients died recently. D. was a Marine who dropped out on a maneuver one day. They thought a shell hit him but he was hit by disease which left him paralyzed. D. told me I'd make a fine nurse at Madison and he'd probably see me every so often. I saw D. frequently on the unit. D. was a leader in a major organization in our region that assists people with disabilities. I didn't know it until later, but D. was also a guy who protested and even got thrown (or threw himself, depending on the protest) out of his wheelchair.


D. gave me confidence to be the nurse I am today. "You are a great nurse," D. told me in my very first year. "Go out and get them!"

And so I go again, amid slings, arrows and every manner of object they can hurl, real or imagined. As Momma used to say, "every knock's a boost".

More later...

Dashed dreams

Yes, the full moon is coming, and craziness is just down the way. Lately, though, the mood has been mixed, somber and silly, crazy and cool at the Hotel.

I heard part two of a story about one of our new nurses. Funny thing, both stories about the same incident were completely different from nurses with many years of experience, one present for the whole thing and one who heard about the incident from the nurse directly. It just reminds me that scuttlebutt is just that...lots of rumor and not lots of substance.

For our pending Magnet application at our facility, we had to fill out the yearly satisfaction survey. I usually make a line down my paper, straight down the middle of all the dots. I chose not to do that this year. If they really want us to get Magnet, they really need to know what's going on. Difference tolerated? You must be kidding...Is your manager supportive? Sure, if you can come to work every day and not ask for anything out of the ordinary. Are your peers supportive? I nearly fell on the floor dying of laughter on that one, especially after the incident I mentioned earlier. How do we support and nurture new nurses if we don't talk to them rationally and make everything a turf war where someone has to "win"?

One of our patients recently went for a series of GI tests. One revealed a very large gastric "polyp". My heart sank when I read the procedure report. The colonoscopy revealed some issues, too, but none like that. They also ran the usual bug tests to see what else is going on. Now all we can do is wait.

The patients, however, were still the same, rolling around, going to therapy, watching TV.

And the story continues...stay tuned.