Count Down

Geez, I cringe at the thought of returning to work on Monday. I can already feel the plethera of clusterfuckedness. It's not even happened yet, but I know it will. You KNOW what I'm talking about. I wonder what Monday's 'bag of misery' holds in store for me. What kind of Shit Handshake will I end up with....Much like the same handshake we all get everyday, I am sure.

Pick any group of patients and you will have the same 'ole crap from beginning to end....Trauma, Problem, Complaint, Bitch, Piss, Moan, Family, Anxiety, Pain, Crashing, Vomit, Issues, Stink, No help, Phones ringing off the wall, Call Bells Beeping endlessly, Pharmacy Out of Stock, No supplies, Late Admissions, Crazy Blood Sugars, Incontinence, Incontinence, Incontinence, Out of Whack Potassiums and Magnesiums, Infiltrated IV's.......whoa........God Give me Strength.

Almost Forgot

I write in this blog to bitch about nursing. Yesterday I got so carried away with mundane stuff, like myself, that I failed to bitch. So, here goes.

There has been one charge nurse that has Called me to see how I was doing in the past two weeks. The other charge only called to ask me to come in and work. I was even told on one phone call to Name Your Price because they were so desperate. There were two coworkers that called me to see if I was still alive. But, what bugs me is that I didn't receive one phone call from my nurse manager!

This place I work is Crap. I mean if I was the nurse manager I would be in contact with an employee that wasn't there for awhile. Nothing says You don't fucking matter more than that.
I know it is not personal, it's just thoughtless.

This manager we have is fairly new in management and it's all gone to her head. She's obviously not reading books on how to manage and hasn't heard or read yet that As a manager she actually is working for Us and that Employees are her best Asset. For now she is unable to pull herself off her pedestal to mix with us minions and as a result getting huge resentments copped against her. No one really takes her seriously. She's all into her 'management' stuff in the office. Far be it from me to think she is managing nurses.

I called the hospital one day to talk with the nurse manager. The phone was put on hold. I called back and no one answered. I called several more times and no one answered. Finally the dietician answers the phone on about the 15th ring. She tells me nobody is at the desk but is able to transfer me to the managers phone. I left a message for the manager but she never called me back.

I called the manager again on another day and this time I actually got to her, but it was after alot of transferring, ringing, etc. We talked about PTO and EID pay. I'm glad I followed this call up several days later, otherwise I wouldn't be getting paid this week. She didn't follow through on anything because she ... 'wasn't sure what I wanted'. You are fricking kidding me right? I mean we only had a conversation about this a few days ago???? Dumb Ass. This is a GREAT example of how NOT to work for your Employees. Do ya feel my loyalty just go out the window here?

She has been very kind, however, in telling me to take as much time as I need to just heal and get better. However, one should be able to call a hospital and have someone answer. One should be able to leave a message (or two) and receive a phone call from that person eventually. One should be able to Trust that the manager will do what she says.

How do you put this shit on a piece of paper for the Suggestion Box? It's the little things that count. Feeding me pizza every other month for nurse appreciation is nice, but I would prefer more help for answering that phone, a manager that takes care of business, i.e. MY PAY, and a manager that knows my fucking name and calls me if I'm sick!

See, even after two weeks of being out of the loop I can still bitch about nursing!!

Yeah, I'm Back!

Wowsa, wowsa....I have been sick! Finally I am coming out of the fog and enjoying life once again. Not enjoying it quite to it's fullest just yet, but atleast I'm not miserably ill like the recent past. I'm staying away from work again this week. I was concerned I would have a Viral Relapse (whatever) due to the intensity of the job and the long hours. So, the doctor agreed for me to stay out one more week. I need to be 100% to do that job and right now I'm maybe 85.

The last two weeks have been a fricking blur and I am hoping I will actually be able to participate in my life stuff and get caught up this week.

Here's what I learned from being sick:

I'm a whimp.

Darvocet works for severe body aches. Advil doesn't.

I think when people get so sick like I did that they won't know if they die and probably don't care if they do.

I have a renewed compassion for my patients.

When patients cry from not feeling good, they don't feel good.

When patients whine about how hard it is to get out of bed and they don't have the energy, believe them.

It's harder to bounce back the older you get.

Daytime Television SUCKS!!! And, It's hard to kick back and read a book when you're sick.

You actually start to notice how much you go to the bathroom in a day when it's not been a conscious thought to you before.

I'm going to be a better friend when someone I know is sick. People really do need help when they're sick. Most people say they will help in anyway and they mean it, but what's hard is telling them what you want or need when you are sick. What I learned is that you just take the sick person a smoothie, chicken soup, bottled water, or whatever.....just do it without them having to ask. Change their pillow case or sheets for them, run their dishwasher... I don't know...just do little things like that.

Anyway, good to be back.

Ps. I can see blogger hasn't fixed the paragraph problem. I see all the words I've typed all jammed together. It's not me folks. blogger is trying to conserve cyber paper.

I love Scrubs

Yeah! Scrubs is Back. The first show of the season was the usual giggle-fest for me. Scrubs Rules. JD Rocks.

Okay, I'm gonna have to change my mean, hateful ways. I am recoving from a long illness. Boo. While I got caught up on some much needed sleep I came to the realization that I am quite mean and uncompassionate about some of my patients. Its a strange moment for me, but I must try to reel in the anger I find myself experiencing at the end of every workday and take it out on someone other than my patients. How about Administration?! Of course Patient Family Members will still take the hits. They are still gonna be fucked up in hospital-land. Why? Because, They Are!

It's all Good

I haven't written for a week. Everything at work is okay. No major traumas, no employee melt downs. No personal meltdowns.

Oh, there was one thing....Some dumb ass night nurse is taking report from me and says that I charted Mr. So and So is aphasic. And, what's the problem I ask? She wants to argue with me for an hour about how he is dysphasic or something. fucking idiots. Just shut the fuck up if you don't know what you're talking about. Oh, I had to remind her that it's nice to be able to have the time to read the nurses notes. I think I've done it once in my career, maybe twice. maybe I should consider going nights? nah, I don't care to read nurses notes that bad. I told her I'm going to keep on charting what I want to chart and she can chart whatever she chooses to chart. Furthermore, I will continue to keep my concept of what aphasic means intact. She should have been prepared because she only made herself out to be the dumbass. I love it when malicious people get bitched slapped from themselves.

Another thought:
It's strange sometimes how we grow cold to people dying and wonder why it's taking some of them so long. My friend who is currently a nursing student was disturbed at how nurses sometimes talk about patients. I told her to just wait. :-)