28 posts tagged “work”
There is a photo contest at my Job (for the entire 7 hospital system). I'd like to enter, but I am not sure I have anything really great. My choices are:
I sure wish i could sometimes find a more exciting title for life's little updates, but I don't think I'm that creative.
So, the Employee of the Month or something or other at my hospital gets to park in this Designated spot...
Oddly it's never me, I am just not a joy giver I suppose. It's sometimes hard to be a joy giver in an Emergency Room. (THough I did deliver a Baby about 3 weeks ago, the staff was waaay more excited than the Mom.)
Just another quirk of FLorida Hospital. Good Hospital, Good Place to work, but has some odd trends. We think this sign combined with the photo posted earlier....creates a definite atmosphere...
Well, I surely have been working Overtime. Here's XTC to pay tribute to my effot....
Lets see if this works.
This week I did 15 hours of OT. This next week, starting today I am doing 21 hours. I am feeling a bit tired, but better than I expected. We have had some interesting patients as of late, which is always nice, though sometime a bit nerve wracking.
I'm a little sad that I am not seeing much of the olympics. I;m watching, but at the times I can watch there seem to be very odd sports being shown. Or I guess stuff I am not that interested in. So far I've seen Team handball, Hockey, Soccer, and beach volleyball. I go to bed so early I miss part of the prime time broadcast even!
Running is going well. At short distances (5-6 miles) I feel good. I'm running good times. My pacing is still off and frustrating, but I assume over time I'll figure it out. (Tips?) I have not been running as fast as I am now in a long long time, so I think thats part of the problem. I have not done too much at the gym except run because of the insane work schedule. This coming week should be a bit better in spite of the extra shifts.
I'm starting to get very excited about running the Half in New Mexico. I just want to be careful not to have any expectations. There is going to be thin air, and with travel etc, I might just not perform up to my own expectations!!!
Oh i am soooo sick of work. When I first started here, I wanted Overtime. They didn't let us travelers do OT because we are expensive. Now of course, there has been upheaval, the manager left under duress (And I thought she was alright at her job...) So a lot has changed. A lot of overtime is now available. And how perfect that it comes when I feel broke. (I still have about 2 months of savings in my readily accessible account, BUT....I like to have at least 4-5.
I've been taking opportunities as they come. This week though will be a doozy. I worked Sat for 12 hours and Sunday for 6. Today I do 12. I have tuesday off. Wednesday I do twelve. Thursday I have off. Friday I do 12, Sat and SUn I do 10. monday I am back for 12. and on it goes.
This usually goes one of two ways. Either I get very cranky and somewhat resistant to getting basic stuff done. (Not for the patients, but the paperwork suffers etc.) or I get so used to being at work that everything gets done and when I get a day off I am unsure how to use it.
It's also a ramp up week for training for the Marathon.
If I can make it through August, I should have a built up my savings a bit, feel more secure and be able to go back to normal hours for a while.
Have not heard from my special guy in a week now, as he has some stressful stuff coming up. So on top of all of the work, I feel stressed due to that, but oh well....it's not as if he doesn't know where to find me...and it's pretty much gaurenteed that I'll be there, except for sleeping hours!
Not that much.
Running is improving slowly. I tend to try to downplay anything except big improvement, but I am seeing a slight difference. I'm managing hills better, and distance. I need to work on some speed, and also controlling speed again, as I seem to be just all over the place when I actually look at my pace. I'm enjoying it a little more as well.
Work is interesting. I've been asked to extend my contract and I have agreed to do so. I had been asked a few weeks ago, but then didn't hear anything more about it. Then yesterday I literally lost my temper with a Physician who was being un-cooperative. One of the biggest parts of my job is to advocate for the patients. In this case I was helping another nurse's patient (Other nurse was getting a new patient settled). And all the doctor could do was harass me about this and that and the other thing. I do not know why, but he really pushed my buttons. Luckily the Charge Nurse was there, and seperated us. Later the Charge said he didn't believe I could get that angry. He said I actually scared him a little. But, in the end, the Doc was spoken to, and straightened out. And it was acknowledged that while I can be apparently nasty, at least its over as soon as its over. I don't stew over workplace stuff. Its just stress.
Oddly, after the big blow up the Manager came by to tell me she still wanted me to extend. Essentially she let it slip that she needed one traveler and she preferred me to the other one thats there. I confessed to losing my temper with the Doc and she responded "Good for you...he probably deserved it" So, i guess for the moment I am Golden.
Teulu does not love the heat. He has somehow developed a nice hot spot on his hip. :( I'm going today to get him a new Elizabethan Collar to help it heal. And some oatmeal soothing bath, which I hope will make him feel better. He is still cheerful and tail wagging, but...I hate the hot spot. I always feel as if I am not entertaining him enough.
My New Camera has Shipped!!!!! I am very very excited. When it arrives, I will be posting tons of Florida Photos.
I decided to run the New Mexico Half. Even though its at altitude. I miss my friend, and maybe I'll get a chance to say Hi to her too. The course is pretty flat, so I wonder what that means with all the hills I am ploughing through here in Clermont.
Apparently, I am not eating normally, though I could have sworn I eat like most other people. I'm a little freaked out about this...which is a good indication of a problem. Will see this Nutritionist on Friday and see what she has to say. Food is fuel, but...sometimes its a bit hard to get enough fuel...and other times I have more fuel than I need...I hope this gets sorted out, but I am sort of afraid that I'm going to have to "be different" and I am not sure I'm ready for that.
I finished my second day at the hospital yesterday. it was much much better than the first. The first had me very alarmed for variety of reasons, but thats over now.
The emegency area is not all that busy perse, but there are a few things in the culture that are going to drive me nuts. firstly it takes forever for a bed to open up upstairs. I held a patient in the ER for 13 hours, waiting on a bed. She had been admitted on paper at 11:30 at night, and was still in the Emergency Dept at 7 am when I came on. I got her admitted sometime after lunch. We get real hospital beds for these patients, so it isnt that bad, and actually she went from a very nice private ER room to a semi private upstairs, so not so sure her husband would have complained so much if he knew that! So those admit and hold patients take up a ton of space. If we could move them within a few hours, we would almost never have anyone in the waiting room.
Secondly, I think it takes inexcusably long for a doctor to go see the patient. The docs in general are a little pompous. They fit in well with this population who have that expectation that the doctor is going to be "all knowing" etc. so it isn't that they are necessarily rude, but they definitely are not very collaborative with the nurses. I am used to working with docs, not for them, so this should be different. Since we are not able to start a patient with labs etc, we have to wait for the doc to write the orders. So I might see a guy with a moderate complaint, start an IV, draw the blood, and then it is siting in the lab doing nothing for 30-45 min waiting on the Doctor to see the patient. If thye would let me order the stuff and sign off on it (as is practice in many many places) by the time the do moseyed in there, he might have all the values back. I know tha sounds like i am overstepping my bouds, but it is very very common practice because we seem the same stuff everyday, we know what tests are going to be done.
Thirdly: there is very little teamwork between the nurses. Admittedly, people are very busy with their own patients, but I always like to help out when I can. My first day the other guy working my "side" with me kept thanking me prousely because I came in and helped with some stuff when I had time. I know why now, people just somehow remain blissfully unaware of the other patients in the department, but well, thats all fine. I think over time I can actually change that part of the culture by continuing to help out and then expecting it in return. Over the past 2 days I've noted that the nurses are surprised at that, but that they do readily come and help me if I specifically ask. Sooo, we'll see.i have no major plans to change culture, but it will be an interestng experiment.
The acuity of the patients is in general high. The population is mostly eldery and of course with the elderly everything is more severe. If they fall they really hurt themselves, fi they get a respiratory infection or a urinary infection it can rapidly lead to all sorts of complications. So, most of the patients I worked with ended up being admitted.
good things are that in general the nurses are nice and friendly. It's one of the few places where people have not questoned me extensively about my background. They seem glad to have the help, and happy to tell me places to go and do stuff in the state.
Coffee is FREE for employees!!!!!! I especially like this fact. My favorite thing to do around 4 pm is have a cup of coffee, so I now do not have to spend 1.75 anymore.
There are enough supplies to get stuff done. and the rooms are actually stocked and set up for emergent stuff.
The PA's are younger and so far are fun to work with, smart and more collaborative with the nurses. thir role is super limited though, probably by the pompous doctors!
I have yet to see an infant with an uncontrolled fever. Yaaaay!
the patients do know their history and their medications for the most part, making everything easier.
Not sure I am going to love the pace and everything, but this seems to be do-able for thirteen weeks.
Now today i must go and get a cable splitter...so I can watch tv and use the internet (Laxy me) and contact the NTI and see how much they want to charge me for their services....
Lovely weather!!!
On the road again, In Amarillo TX.
Last night of work went out with a Bang. To Begin with JACHO showed up at the hospital on that day so everyone was in a panic. Joint Commission is a huuuge deal and there are definitely some issues with violations there, so we were all nervous. I had lost my ID badge so I was feeling particularly not good. But of course, they do not come at night, so that worked out.
Then I apparently willed crud to happen. We cleared out the ED at about 2 am. So being that it was my last day, we had Pizza, Ice Cream cake, and a variety of snackies, so we were all sitting around telling "War stories" between the 4 of us we have 75 years of experience, so we have some good stories. I told one that I wont relay here, because it just wouldnt be understood well. M told us a few about using intracardial adrenaline 30 years ago... etc etc. H just listened as H is wont to do.
Then suddenly at 3 am peope showed up, within about 15 minutes we had one patient acutely short of breath, a man having chest pain, a lady with pelvic pain, a migraine headache, and an older lady with confusion. Keep in mind there are only 2 nurses in the back plus a green orientee. So I go to help said orientee with Chest pain man. We sort of get him settled and then get some of the other things done. and then start to wait on the labs. Chest pain man labs come back waaay abnormal, and we debate between the MD and myself for a while about whether his underlying disease is causing the abnormal result. Finally, we decided it probably isn't, and that he may be having an MI.
I give some other patients some medications and do a few lab draws, and order a repeat EKG on Chest Pain man.
EKG tech is in the room, when suddenly Orientee says, "well, would you look at that." Chest Pain man has gone in to Ventiricular Tachycardia (A lethal arrhythmia) so, H. goes into the room and is surprised to find the EKG tech still blindly doing the EKG. At the same time, I get the Defibrillator. Then I go get some conduction pads because ours are for some unknown reason, all dried up. and the code cart. For two seconds I grab the peds code cart, then suddenly mumble, "Oh shit, its got colors" Orientee says, so what...I am unfortunately not a good teaching under pressure, so I say nothing, I get the adult code cart (which is right beside the pedi one thank goodness) and H and I proceed to shock the life back into Chest pain man. (Peds code carts and color coded for weight of patient using a Braselow tape device to give a quick estimate based on length so cearly doses in there are too small for a normal sized man.) We then start 4 drips, 3 more IV lines, and the patient is suddenly looking so so tiny surrounded by 2 monitors, 5 IV pumps and 12 bags of a variety of fluids.
The most unfortunate thing, is that this mans wife had fallen very heavily asleep right before this episode. She awoke to 3 of us rushing in the room with a variety of equipment, and shocking her husband. She was entirey bewildered and of course, scared to bits. Luckily our Front desk person took her out of the room and took great care of her.
Patient did reasonaby well, regained conciousness, had no recall of the event. and was then transported out to the hospital with a 24 hours cath lab. I think he will be alright, and I do wish i would have the opportunity to find out how he did because he and his wife were lovely people.
Half way through all this the doc looks up and says, well, we are sending you out with a big bang. (ha ha).
So by 6:35 he is shipped out, we actually dc or admit all the other patients and when the cranky day shift arrives, the place looks like nothing ever happened.
H, M and I went and had huge plates of Huevos Rancheros. and commiserated. WHile TV shows make it look like we defibrillate patients daily, it isn't the case. Some paces more often than not, and more often than not patients dont survive or the do not survive well. so this night was particulary nice because he did survive and things went well, after the event (which was short since it was witnessed as it occurred) he was mentating well.
H. invited me to come work at the other hospital where H. is in charge. I am considering it very seriously for the summer. The 2 of us work pretty seamlessly together, as if we have been knowing each other for years. I'd be staying in H's guesthouse near Santa Fe. and you can bet it won't be winter!
For now, I am concentrating on my April-July goals which include some running, dog training and some study for certification. That and getting home in one piece.
It turns out it was not only the altitude that was giving me problems. I apparently am sick with something. As always I failed to recognize the symptoms until I was actually running a fever, and finding it hard to swallow and people were mentioning that I looked ghostly. I thought I was just cranky. I hate being sick, and of course this is also messing up my training plan, but...I'm slightly relieved to know that some of my low performance may have been due to this infection. as the infection will go away and the alitutude won't!!! It's been going round the Emergency Staff and Police and Paramedics all winter here apparently, so now I really am one of them.
I slept all day today, and then went out and played with Teulu around the yard....consisted of throwing small pieces of brick for him. (Now he hasn't gotten over his love of the brick.) and petting him. He is such a tolerant dog, though a bit loud at times, and STRONG!
Work still going well. Had some more "sick" people last night...in need of real emergency care, which was nice. And my Fav. A young person who had had a fever for 30 minutes. Didn't take any tylenol, or anything, just came to the ER...
At any rate things are going fairly well. I want to get up very early one day and get some photos of this area, as the local people aren't keen on people pointing cameras at them, or their houses.
BUt for now, I feel lousy, and I have to go to work. So I am conserving all my energy. O fcourse having it be hard to swallow has again limited what I want to eat, So, I might be able to have another pound of loss. I hope so.
It's a funny thing, I am feeling a lot more positive, but my body feels like someone from The Patriots (Phenomenal season!) drop kicked me!
So, I've completed two days (nights) of work now at my new job. It's an interesting place.
My only complaint is that it's pretty far from my Apartment, so when driving there I worry about being late, and then when coming home, I worry about sleeping while driving. It would help if there was a good coffee shop on the way home, but NO!
The Nursing Staff of the ED are not as fun as the hospital in NH, which is unfortunate. Most are actually ladies in their later sixties, so that makes for an interesting mix. To them, I seem very very young. They have been very helpful and are pleased to have travelers (Another woman, in her late 60's of course started with me). They are friendly, but they think I am strange for running and exersising...I will add, not as a snarky comment, that they are almost without exception overweight. I am hoping I can convince a few to start moderate exercise. (slowly though)...
The Physicians are almost all Locum's which means they are generally not the older family physician types I worked with in NH. They are board certified in Emergency Medicine and I discovered this means they play by the established Emergency Medicine "Rules" I feel much much more confident in them than I did in the other physicians in NH. So far, I can see that they are following the national protocols for Chest Pain/Stroke, etc and this is a good good thing.
So, I think I will enjoy my situation, as long as I can adjust to nights. The adjustment so far has been difficult, making me not feel like doing much after one AM, but of course there are still occasional patients.
So, the job is fine.
I'm feeling better about my running/diet/exercise situation. I am looking into a half marathon in the future, but my biggest challenge is to decide which one, because it will undoubtably need to be where my next contract is. I'm not really sure where I want to go.
But this may call for a new post for the "Let's Run" group!!!
