Diagnosis Wenckebach

A fellow Monitor Tech shared this with me the other day. A music video about "Wenckebach", a disease of the electrical conduction system of the heart. If you know nothing about cardiac rhythms you may not really get the song, but to me it is so ridiculously funny it had me in tears. My coworker suggested we make a video of our own...not sure about that idea...

Don't say the Q word...

I'm shaking my head as I tell you ridiculously superstitious nurses are about jinxing themselves or being jinxed. My coworkers are often warning each other not to use the Q word - quiet. Someone might remark that, "things are quiet tonight" and suddenly instant chaos must come upon us! People I work with really avoid making such comments. One lady went so far as to say, "It's pretty calm tonight. I said CALM! I didn't use the Q word." Excuse me, but aren't calm and quiet synonyms? How is one supposed to be better than the other?
They even knock on the nearest solid object when making such comments (the whole "knock on wood" concept). Seriously, I can't help but just laugh. I'm so glad to be free from worrying over such nonsense.

Drug Seekers

I'd heard of them, but never really realized what they were like until we recently had one at the hospital. I'm sure they show up there often, I had just never been exposed to what they were like. The RN told me that patient had basically been banned from another nearby hospital. If he showed up there he would get arrested for trespassing because he was know for seeking drugs. Every time he would wake up even the slightest bit, he was calling for more pain medicine. Sometimes he would be knocked out again before the nurse could even get into his room. That's how drugged up he was. I can't imagine what would drive a person to be like that. Seems like such a miserable existence. They must be living a miserable existence to want that. It just reminds me how much I can't wait for all such problems to be gone forever...

Night Owl

Hey, everyone! Did you think I forgot about this blog?
I've been so busy adjusting to my new schedule I haven't found much time to post anything. But now I'm back! So, I survived training. I'm on my own now and I feel fairly used to staying up all night. It is easier than I thought it would be. Seriously, getting to work at 7am was torture in comparison. I usually keep busy all night so I don't have much time to get sleepy. Caffeine helps too! I'm now addicted to Pepsi Max. It's the bomb! :D

I really like my new job, though I've discovered I can pretty much do any job I set my mind to doing. Sometimes it can be stressful. Sometimes patients are a pain or coworkers are a pain. One of the best things about my new job is that I can pretty much make my own schedule. And I generally know my schedule months in advance. Right now, I already have my schedule through the middle of January! I never had that in housekeeping.

I guess I'm officially a "night owl" now. It's working for me, but I'm still trying to transition into day shift when I'm off work. That part is harder. Hopefully I get the routine down before long. Well, I hope to be blogging more soon! See ya!

I am a Housekeeper NO MORE!!!

I did it! I'm done! Saturday, August 27th, was my last day cleaning at the hospital. I'm free! It was a busy day, but a good one. I had a bunch of people congratulate me and say they were proud of me for getting the new job. I have to admit, I'm proud of myself. It wasn't as easy as it should have been. I couldn't believe how incredibly good it felt walking out that door and knowing that when I came back it would not be to scrub toilets. All those supervisors who made things so hard for me...now when I see them I can only smile. They can't touch me now.

Wednesday I'll be there again, taking a class that's required for my new position. I get to learn CPR and other basic life saving techniques. It should be fun! I'll also finish cleaning out my locker and get my new ID badge. The next trial will be getting through training. That's always stressful. And after that...getting used to staying awake all night. Once I'm trained I'll be working 12 hour shifts, 7pm to 7am. But I'm preparing a "work survival kit" which includes all sorts of goodies like hard candy, chewing gum, energy drinks and such to keep me awake.

Right now, I'm taking a deep breath as I step into the future. This song fits the way I feel quite well right now. :)

Cubicle Quotes

Office day today! And as it is slightly possible this was my last time cleaning offices at the hospital, I tried to really take it in. I have to admit the offices is one of my favorite areas to clean. I think this is not only because it doesn't get nearly as dirty as other areas, but everyone I'm cleaning around is generally very friendly. I see so many co-workers that you basically never see in patient areas. It kind of adds a whole other layer to the hospital that I didn't have a clue existed when I first started here.

Something I find amusing as I clean offices is the many signs or pictures people have in their work area displaying "words of wisdom". Here is a sampling of ones that I saw:

"If you can laugh together, you can work together."

"If you are good, but don't know why you are good, you are not good and likely cannot stay good."

"If you cannot laugh at yourself, I will be happy to do it for you."

"Few men have virtue enough to resist the highest bidder." (This one is really strange to me...)

"I'm a real optimist. I think people are half FULL of crap."

"I am Woman. I am invincible. I am tired."

"I spend my day snacking and surfing the internet for a good job. Luckily, my boss hasn't noticed yet."

It's Unofficially Official...I Guess

Well...nothing is in writing yet, but apparently the people who want to hire me are planning on me getting the job. Human Resources told me that because of some technicalities, I'm not actually able to apply for the job until August 18th. My original transfer request was thus considered invalid. So if for some reason the job is still available by then, that department really wants to hire me. Hearing this was rather discouraging because I understood they needed the position filled A.S.A.P. But the supervisors and director in that department have been telling people that I'm going to be transferring. In fact, whenever one of them sees me they smile and say, "Just a little while longer!" or "Are you excited about working with us? I'm excited." They talk like it's a done deal. This is incredibly reassuring, but I'm still holding my breath. It just seems too unreal that they would want me that much that they'd jump through all these hoops with HR and wait so long. Sure enough though, the job remains posted on the job board as available. They even filled a part-time position in the same department, but left the full-time one(the one I requested) open.
As long as I'm a good little housekeeper between now and the 18th, I should be free. HR reminded me though to be careful about my attendance and tardiness between now and then so that "nothing might interfere with me transferring". So you better believe my bosses are watching me like a hawk waiting for me to screw up. Didn't I tell you they enjoy ruining my life? Well, if they are looking for something they aren't going to find it. I'm getting out of here! ^_^