The routine is the same every time I am scheduled to work. I wake up and dread the call that tells me where I am to report. I get the call and I rush around getting ready. I walk to work trying to clear my head with tunes blasting from my Ipod. I walk slower each time hoping that the hospital has somehow by miracle been mover or better yet has been destroyed by a well placed bomb, but my luck is never that good.
I arrive at work and find the floor where I have been sentenced. Usually within the first two hours I am texting home begging to quit! By hour four I am calling home begging to quit, but the answer is always NO!! The Bitch!!
We have compromised. I now have until December and can quit then. December seems hundreds of years away. Twenty-four weeks! I will never ever last that long. I proposed yet another compromise. In this one I will work in the vile evil hospital until September and do a travel assignment following that. I would end up being free and clear by the second week of December and we plan on taking a long holiday and maybe spend New Years back home.
In one scenario I have 24 weeks left and in the other only 12 weeks. I am hoping she caves in and lets me go!!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Saturday, June 12, 2010
every class has one...
There is always one in every class. You know the one person who has a comment or a story with each and every thing the instructor says. Well, I was due for ACLS and lo and behold there was one of those people in the class.
Sadly, I was forced to take the two day class thanks to my card lapsing. And for two whole days I was allowed the honor of hearing this fat chick speak at every possible opportunity. She answered every question loudly and was not the slightest deterred when she answered a great number incorrectly. I have a strange feeling she was under the belief that she was being paid by the word.
The EMT instructors were nothing to brag about either. For some reason the people who teach things are always fat EMTs that ramble on and on about how great they are and that people die if they do not save them and how they know so much more than all the nurses and physicians who are forced to suffer these classes. We were cursed with two blow-hards that would not shut the fuck up. They were both morbidly obese and were panting like a dog from pacing in front of the class. I cannot imagine either of these tubs of butter running to a scene to help people.
During one particularly long story by the bigger of the two he explained how in his job he crawls through car windows to pull people out. No fucking car I have ever seen could this butterball squeeze through - not even the old Pacers.
The class is behind me and I do not have to endure another ACLS or even BLS for another two years - Yippee! And hopefully i never see the two obese EMTs or the answer lady ever again!
Sadly, I was forced to take the two day class thanks to my card lapsing. And for two whole days I was allowed the honor of hearing this fat chick speak at every possible opportunity. She answered every question loudly and was not the slightest deterred when she answered a great number incorrectly. I have a strange feeling she was under the belief that she was being paid by the word.
The EMT instructors were nothing to brag about either. For some reason the people who teach things are always fat EMTs that ramble on and on about how great they are and that people die if they do not save them and how they know so much more than all the nurses and physicians who are forced to suffer these classes. We were cursed with two blow-hards that would not shut the fuck up. They were both morbidly obese and were panting like a dog from pacing in front of the class. I cannot imagine either of these tubs of butter running to a scene to help people.
During one particularly long story by the bigger of the two he explained how in his job he crawls through car windows to pull people out. No fucking car I have ever seen could this butterball squeeze through - not even the old Pacers.
The class is behind me and I do not have to endure another ACLS or even BLS for another two years - Yippee! And hopefully i never see the two obese EMTs or the answer lady ever again!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
who are all these people??
I had a not so pleasant evening yesterday. I am sent to a nasty step-down and given the worst patients on the unit (float nurse special). One in particular was nasty awful and foul. I was warned during report and I decided to see her first just to get the initial meeting/assessment out of the way.
So, I enter the room as the tech is leaving and under her breath I hear her say, "I am not coming back in this fucking room again." Yikes! I enter, gather some meds from the drawer and the patient starts demanding this and that. In my best customer service voice I attempt to explain that I am getting her meds ready and will get to everything she is demanding. I swear I am in the room 10 minutes and it is all I can take. I will not go into details of how horrible this woman was, but I walked out on her.
I was putting drops in her eye when she decided to scream out orders. It got to a point where I looked at her and said, "I am done here." "you are not listening, you are being unreasonable and I will return in a few minutes and we can try this again." She then demanded I call her physician. She screamed that I call her physician to which I said no.
I was pissed and had to get away from this fucking crazy bitch. I went saw my other patients and some overbearing family etc.. and returned to the evil one 30 minutes later. She was actually better and allowed me to give her meds and get done what I needed. I even gave her the phone and dialed her crazy daughter's number. The next 3 hours went along okay.
Here comes 1900 and I have informed the charge nurse that if they want me to hang around til 2300 someone else needs to take the crazy lady. The techs refused to enter her room and the other nurses will not go near the room. I explained how I felt lightheaded and may need to leave if I still had the crazy lady with the other patients I was given (four corners of the floor, 3 isolation, 3 with major psych issues and family drama).
She agreed to divide up the load to make it more fair and take the nasty lady away from me. It is 1900 and I begged the tech to come in the room to reposition the woman. We got her situated in bed and the woman actually thanked us. I am outside the room doing a last bit of charting when the nurse watching the monitor tells me the patient's heart rate is dropping in the 20s.
My first thought is she has displaced a lead or something so I go in the room followed by the tech. The woman is unresponsive and the tech ask is we need to call a code and I am like - go ahead.
The fat nasty bitch coded on me just when I was getting rid of her! This was the first code I have been involved with in this facility and on a freaking step-down! I felt out of sorts and did not know where anything was and seconds later the room was packed with everyone!
My thoughts were that the residents calling the code were disorganized and I wanted to just take over, but way too many voices. Plus it was so hard to find a pulse of this fat ass nasty woman.
She got tubed, we got a rate back and she got shipped to the unit. I kept hearing from the others how smooth the code went - not my assessment at all, but I am an outsider here!
It did make me really want to return to full time critical care! I miss it so much!!!
So, I enter the room as the tech is leaving and under her breath I hear her say, "I am not coming back in this fucking room again." Yikes! I enter, gather some meds from the drawer and the patient starts demanding this and that. In my best customer service voice I attempt to explain that I am getting her meds ready and will get to everything she is demanding. I swear I am in the room 10 minutes and it is all I can take. I will not go into details of how horrible this woman was, but I walked out on her.
I was putting drops in her eye when she decided to scream out orders. It got to a point where I looked at her and said, "I am done here." "you are not listening, you are being unreasonable and I will return in a few minutes and we can try this again." She then demanded I call her physician. She screamed that I call her physician to which I said no.
I was pissed and had to get away from this fucking crazy bitch. I went saw my other patients and some overbearing family etc.. and returned to the evil one 30 minutes later. She was actually better and allowed me to give her meds and get done what I needed. I even gave her the phone and dialed her crazy daughter's number. The next 3 hours went along okay.
Here comes 1900 and I have informed the charge nurse that if they want me to hang around til 2300 someone else needs to take the crazy lady. The techs refused to enter her room and the other nurses will not go near the room. I explained how I felt lightheaded and may need to leave if I still had the crazy lady with the other patients I was given (four corners of the floor, 3 isolation, 3 with major psych issues and family drama).
She agreed to divide up the load to make it more fair and take the nasty lady away from me. It is 1900 and I begged the tech to come in the room to reposition the woman. We got her situated in bed and the woman actually thanked us. I am outside the room doing a last bit of charting when the nurse watching the monitor tells me the patient's heart rate is dropping in the 20s.
My first thought is she has displaced a lead or something so I go in the room followed by the tech. The woman is unresponsive and the tech ask is we need to call a code and I am like - go ahead.
The fat nasty bitch coded on me just when I was getting rid of her! This was the first code I have been involved with in this facility and on a freaking step-down! I felt out of sorts and did not know where anything was and seconds later the room was packed with everyone!
My thoughts were that the residents calling the code were disorganized and I wanted to just take over, but way too many voices. Plus it was so hard to find a pulse of this fat ass nasty woman.
She got tubed, we got a rate back and she got shipped to the unit. I kept hearing from the others how smooth the code went - not my assessment at all, but I am an outsider here!
It did make me really want to return to full time critical care! I miss it so much!!!
maybe next time...
The travel position closed. The facility decided it did not need to fill the position after all. I am trying to hold tight for the remaining of June, because I really do not want to take off before the summer ends - we will see!
Friday, June 4, 2010
for hire..
I have worked as a travel nurse in the past and for many different companies. Some agencies were good and some were, well not so good!
My first travel gig was with AMN. I really liked my recruiter, but I hated all the corporate office people in California. Never ever ever would I receive a timely response from those worthless people in the California office. I eventually stopped working with AMN as they cut the rates provided to the nurse and decided to keep a larger share for themselves. Meh!
Then I went with a smaller company that had their own issues. The recruiter there was a freakin dumb ass and I did not stay long there, even though they email me weekly to this very day.
I ended up with another small agency where I like the recruiter as well as the office folks. These people have a bulldog like mentality when finding positions. They keep me continuously updated and follow-up on any issues that I may have. The trade off is that the money is not as good as other places, but they remain responsive to my many issues. I guess they would categorize me as "high maintenance".
I am still waiting to hear back about my current application. I sort of expect not to get this one since I was late arriving to the party. Apparently, it is a small hospital with a single opening. That means there are most likely 30 other applicants that have been submitted weeks ago - oh well, I will see want comes along next should this one not pan out!
My first travel gig was with AMN. I really liked my recruiter, but I hated all the corporate office people in California. Never ever ever would I receive a timely response from those worthless people in the California office. I eventually stopped working with AMN as they cut the rates provided to the nurse and decided to keep a larger share for themselves. Meh!
Then I went with a smaller company that had their own issues. The recruiter there was a freakin dumb ass and I did not stay long there, even though they email me weekly to this very day.
I ended up with another small agency where I like the recruiter as well as the office folks. These people have a bulldog like mentality when finding positions. They keep me continuously updated and follow-up on any issues that I may have. The trade off is that the money is not as good as other places, but they remain responsive to my many issues. I guess they would categorize me as "high maintenance".
I am still waiting to hear back about my current application. I sort of expect not to get this one since I was late arriving to the party. Apparently, it is a small hospital with a single opening. That means there are most likely 30 other applicants that have been submitted weeks ago - oh well, I will see want comes along next should this one not pan out!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
down the drain...
Ever feel like you spend to majority of your time swimming upstream? I have been fighting the blahs a bit. First, it came with a job that I hate. Second, comes the weekly down staffing that hits my bank account. Along the way I am fighting some awful tendonitis that is hurting my runs. Finally this week I had a tooth crack and break - ouch.
I am literally at my wits end! I do not have dental coverage and the crown and associated costs to fix the tooth will be well over a grand. With me only getting part time hours that is not possible.
So, with all the gloom and despair I applied for a travel assignment. I figure it was about time. I need regular hours and this tooth will need to be repaired. Oh it is hell to be poor!
I deferred my student loans to free up some funds, but this week I have only worked 8 hours. Eight of thirty-six scheduled. Not exactly hours that will keep me in the lap of luxury. So, I have started the good ole job hunt. Yuck!!!
I am going to hold off as long as possible, but by July 1st I will require a steady income. I may even be forced to return to Texas for a travel gig. God forbid it comes to that...
I am literally at my wits end! I do not have dental coverage and the crown and associated costs to fix the tooth will be well over a grand. With me only getting part time hours that is not possible.
So, with all the gloom and despair I applied for a travel assignment. I figure it was about time. I need regular hours and this tooth will need to be repaired. Oh it is hell to be poor!
I deferred my student loans to free up some funds, but this week I have only worked 8 hours. Eight of thirty-six scheduled. Not exactly hours that will keep me in the lap of luxury. So, I have started the good ole job hunt. Yuck!!!
I am going to hold off as long as possible, but by July 1st I will require a steady income. I may even be forced to return to Texas for a travel gig. God forbid it comes to that...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)