are nurses going insane?

Are nurses going insane? Has the pressure become too much?

Recently a nurse through a kidney that was supposed to be transplanted into the garbage. I guess I wonder how that would happen. Did she/he mean to throw away the kidney that was removed? Is that what they do with the old kidney? Who knows....

Another 68 year old nurse set like 17 fires because she had taken care of people all of her life, no one paid any attention to her or cared about her. Well I guess everybodys paying attention to you now...

I hate when nurses are in the news for bad stuff. Makes the rest of us look bad.

the moron list

Dear Mr/Mrs John/Jane Q. Public:

******A HANGOVER IS NOT AN EMERGENCY*****

REPEAT

******A HANGOVER IS NOT AN EMERGENCY*****

Your tummy upset is not our problem. I don't care if you literally puke your guts out. Do not come to your local emergency room. If you do, here is what will happen:

We will talk about you. The staff will talk amongst themselves about what an idiot you are.

If you take an ambulance into the ER for this you will go to the top of the moron list that we keep in a drawer in triage.

*****THAT IS ALL*****

Go about your business. Nothing to see here.

a change in barometric pressure

One of the things people who work in ER always wonder about is: WHY IN THE HELL DOES EVERYONE DECIDE TO COME AT ONCE??!!! Why is it that certain days, the teeming masses present at the triage desk?

Some theories:

1) Change in barometric pressure
2) Full moon
3) Nothing on TV
4) Get it over with before the big game
5) Nothing else to do
6) A voice told them to come
7) Out of crack, meth, heroin
8) Solar storms

After about 2 weeks working in ER you give up ever trying to make sense of it. Its random, there's no rhyme or reason.

So why, pray tell, do I bring this up? Because it has been so damn busy in the last couple of weeks. We're not talking regular busy, we're talking
****BUSY!!!!!!!****. Most people ever seen on one day in ER history this past week. 30% more than budgeted daily census. People waiting hours.

Did something happen that I don't know about? Was there some shift in the universe? A change in gravity? What in THE HELL is going on? I don't like it. I don't like it at all...

Are you busier?

living in the hospital fantasy world

I work in the land of make believe. Its a place where everybody pretends things are different than they really are. There are beings here who run this land of make believe. They are the ones who make the rules. Lets call them the rulers.

The rulers like to get together and think up new rules and change the rules they already made. That's what they get paid to do. They send the rules and changes they have thought of down to another group of people who deliver the rules, make sure the rules are followed. Lets call them the enforcers.

The people who receive the rules and changes and have to live by them are at the bottom of the pyramid of make believe land. They are the people who actually try to follow the rules as they do the work. Lets call them the nurses.

Here's the thing. The rules that the rulers make, and the enforcers enforce are rules that nobody can ever follow. There are too many rules, they keep changing. The nurses can't possibly follow the rules. There are too many. Its impossible to keep up with them. The changes are too numerous and often make things more complicated.

So the nurse eventually give up. They tell each other, forget it. I'm not even going to try and follow the rules. There is no point. I can't keep up. I'm just going to follow the rules I can and screw the rest.

Moral of the story: If you keep changing policies, increasing charting requirements, making things more complicated, the nurses will just do what they can and you won't get what you want. And when the rulers of the rulers, the kings and queens of make believe JCAHO) appear, everybody will be screwed.
)

you can't come here...not

In my state there is a program within medical assistance restricts those "who have used services at a frequency or amount that is not medically necessary and/or who have used health services that resulted in unnecessary costs to MA. Once identified, such recipients are placed under the care of a primary care physician/other designated providers who coordinate their care for a 24-month period."

This includes these people being required to go to only ONE assigned hospital for their care. Do they follow this program. OF COURSE NOT. They regularly come into our ER even though they are assigned to another hospital.

Here's the thing: If they go to a non-assigned hospital, unless it is a life threatening emergency, the bill will not be paid. Of course they have to have a medical clearance per our wonderful EMTALA regulations. After that they can be sent out the door to their assigned hospital. Does this happen? OF COURSE NOT. Docs still see them, order tests, etc. Why? WHO KNOWS.

Here's the thing, the person has no incentive to go to their assigned hospital. They don't care if it won't be paid. Even if they are billed, they won't pay it anyway. So in other words, this program is a joke. It no doubt spends thousands if not millions of dollars to run with no success.
Wonder why the health care system is going down the toilet? Here is one more reason...