Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Am I the only one around here who gives a shit about the rules?

Well, I wasn't sure that shit up here could get any more foolish, but recently it has. Winter always sucks- this was about the time last year when we were running a mini ICU in addition to the ER with half the staff. Lucky for us the patients aren't as sick this year, but unfortunately they're making up for it with twice the crazy.
It's pretty sad for you and us when you're familiar enough with the hospital to even know that a house supervisor is a thing- it's even worse when you feel like you can call them for your own ticky-tacky stupid bullshit. Listen. When we have 16 holds in the ER and and 10 ambulances an hour in our 40 bed ER, we're really sorry that you have to wait seven hours to be seen for an upper respiratory infection that you've had for a week, but compared to the guy who checked in 5 minutes ago who's having a stroke, we don't really care. You know who cares even less? The house supervisor. Yes, while she's dealing with our issues, med floors and ICU at capacity, all the hospital's call ins, and various other madness, you will not be rewarded by interrupting her from doing real work by calling her from the waiting room so she can listen to you complain. On a realated note, when the only purpose for your ER visit is to get readmitted to rehab, we are very sympathetic to your problems and want to help you, but the doctor must help the 5 other actual emergencies that just came in. Your admit orders may have to wait just a minute. It's how emergency rooms work and not an issue the house supervisor needs to be called about.

Oh, and we've stepped the drama and physical aggression up a notch, too. Fake syncopal epidsode lady came back. In case you were wondering, she hasn't stepped up her game at all, so when her usual didn't work, she just tried to push her way back with the patients that were brought back to rooms and proceeded to run to the doctors station to yell and demand they see her. Was that enough for the police to throw her out? Nope. Not at Hood Hospital. Now, you may ask, what does it take to get thrown out? Spitting on the floor in the waiting room just to be a douche, immediately after screaming at the medic in triage that the waiting room was too effing dirty? Nope, not that either. So far, the only offenses worthy of this punishment include coughing and spitting in the nurse's faces whilst calling them bitches (even in this case, the doctor had to refuse to see the patient and order she be escorted out) or beating the shit out of your underage girlfriend in front of staff and other visitors (not before the girlfriend pepper sprayed the dude indoors, secondhand pepper spraying everyone in the fast track area, including her 11 month old). Yup, response time on that last one was ten minutes, even though we used the "oh shit" button. Reassuring.
It's only going to get worse, as bonus shifts are still not a thing- recently they've gotten desperate enough to offer it 2 hours before the shift starts- very helpful. Supposedly, the travel nurses they're hiring are supposed to save us, except the newest one showed up drunk to her first shift.

I'd be more upset, but I'm still just kind of in awe. Who does stuff like this? Who raised these people? In the words of Walter Sobchak, "Am I the only one around here who gives a shit about the rules?" It would not even enter my mind to act this way. When I was a kid, I learned that waiting was a part of life and I just had to deal with it. When someone tries to help you, even when they can't get you everything you want, you say thank you. You talk to people respectfully and you don't make a scene in public. I've been dealing with this shit for two years now, and I still don't understand the thinking or the environment that make people act this way. Can anyone enlighten me?

16 comments:

  1. I am thinking that parents do have a lot to do with how they raise their children. Also, not much in the way of social responsibility, never mind also the "me" mentality of today, mixed in with the demand for instant gratification. The sense of entitlement, which isn't just the "hood" people.

    You see this same behavior in the behavior of politicians too. Somehow people think that change is supposed to be instantaneous and that one can turn around a country in one or two years after decades of damage.

    Oh well.

    But you are correct. Not the way I was brought up either.

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  2. How silly are these stories I hear and how sad for that pepper spray incident and the 11 month old. Yikes people... and no I wasn't brought up to be inpatient and demanding especially in a health care facility, how frustrating indeed.

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  3. Silly? HOLY SHIT is more like it.

    And What-the-fuckness does not even cover it.

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  4. Honey, I have no idea where this kind of attitude and behavior comes from.
    Even though it isn't really *PC* to talk about; I know that when I was younger, if I had made a scene like that or disrespected a teacher/police officer, my parents would have beaten my ass. There was no such thing as "time out".

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  5. Indeed. With my ER experience and my husband's high school teaching experience, we have definitely come to the consensus that corporal punishment is at least part of the solution.

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  6. Just saw the drunk travel RN story posted to an MD blog. Either that chick gets around or you have a very funny MD in your department who also blogs.

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  7. i don't think corporal punishment is the solution, but i do think that discipline, in general, is falling by the way side & that needs to be addressed (at home, by the parents) or no one will ever learn to be accountable for their behavior

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  8. That is serious fuckery. And I'm with you - I was raised right, never thought I was entitled, and learned patience as a kid...mostly because I knew my parents would beat the snot out of me if I was a little brat.

    That's what we lack today.

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  9. That other blog has the pepper spray story on it now.

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  10. Haha, it looks like you've got a fellow blogger at your hospital! Or the two separate blogs are a cunning ruse designed to further obfuscate your identity.

    http://serenitynowhospital.blogspot.com/

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  11. Serenity/Hood hospital staff FTW!!!

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  12. If only I was that clever, I would not have to work at serenity hood hospital.

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  13. "we're talking unchecked aggression here, Dude."
    Seriously.
    Don't feel alone - our ER has been overrun lately. And craziness prevails. Our ED Director did an interview on our local TV station about recent over-population in the ER (and what is 'appropriate' use of the ER).

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  14. YESSSSS!!! I think you"re the only person who acknowledged my Big Lebowski reference. I wish our ED director would do that.

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  15. My comment really tied the room together ;-)
    I love the Lebowski.
    I talked to our ED director today about his interview and he said "I just very politically correctly said, "Don't come to the ED with stupid shit."
    Ha!

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