Annual Dog & Pony Show

[Davey Do]

Yes. It's once again time for the ever-dreaded mandatory all-day dog & pony show inservice that I would prefer second only to marathon tag-team gum surgery.

Four hours involve a boring four hour presentation by a droll self-important hypocritical short man syndrome certified CPI administrator ask-kisser. He reads from the booklet we all have a copy of things like "only an LIP or RN can terminate a restraint", yet does not follow the guidelines.

For the whole story, you may want to read this thread:

Thank you. Just putting together this thread has helped me to feel better.

[Daisy4RN]

Sounds like fun. And what could possibly be more fun than 1 all day mandatory dog & pony show inservice (aka skills day), that's right, a 2 day, all day mandatory skills day dog & pony show. I just love walking booth to booth listening to either those who speak like they are talking to kindergartners or those who act like they were pretty much forced to be there. Unfortunately I have been the latter, but I was always nice to those who somehow hadnt heard the material already 1000 times.

Good times!

[KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN]

I feel for you, Davey!

My new job requires credentialing in a hospital system, so I went through privileges process in three facilities. At least it was only one application, so no multiple copies of the same stuff. Everything went smooth, but then...

Initial education and "personalization". Here we go:

- "please provide full contact information for at least two persons aged 21 or over other then your SO, info of whom you' provided already". All right, once I get a lover or two you guys will be first to know ? ?

- three pages long "initial test" with those ubiquitous "what the second S in PASS stays for". Done three times. In one day.

- driving an hour and a half one way, in my free time, to pass "location challenge". Will get a Snickers if complete within 45 min. It is about a facility I am not even supposed to visit, only provide phone coverage.

- do you really think that your definition of "bloodborne pathogen" is really so different that you must see me reciting it over camera?

- you do not need "just to know more about me". I am not going to tell you where my husband works and what he is doing there, my favorite candy bar (please, thank you, no candy bars near me) and my favorite TV show (for the absence of thereof). As well as I am not going to tell you "at least 3 months beforehead" if I get a new car.

And so forth. The main facility which will be my base has almost nothing of it. But the remaining two "critical access" with daily census less than a routine RN assignment in city hospital make me thinking what else people there are doing to justify their salaries and not to die out of boredom.

[Davey Do]

Your empathy is overwhelming, Daisy, for I feel as you truly feel my pain.

In order to feel as though I have some control, I'm wearing what Belinda would call my favorite grunge outfit: Faded black Hard Rock T-shirt, black jeans, and worn-out tennis shoes.

I won't be the most stylish belle at the ball.

[Davey Do]

2 minutes ago, KatieMI said:

All right, once I get a lover or two you guys will be first to know ? ?

This caused me to laugh out loud!

And thank you for sharing with me your own professional Trials of Hercules, Katie. Mine pale in comparison.

If your pain is a ten, mine is only about a four.

[JKL33]

At the risk of sounding unsympathetic and heretical, some days I miss the dog and pony show. The alternative is unceasing and ever-increasing modules pushed out through the intranet portal, which staff-level persons are "responsible to complete while on duty or else on your 'own time' by [date]." All of this is proffered with an attitude that the staff-level breed of nurse is simply irresponsible and needs to learn how to take responsibility.

At least with the full-on ?+? there were some limiting factors, such as only being willing to pay for 1 day or X number of hours of inservice. I thought they actually used to build some camaraderie, too (as long as that wasn't the goal, of course. ?). Now there is no fun and no end to the Super Helpful Intranet Trainings in sight.

(Call the waaahmbulance, I know).

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

You're HEEERE.

I will say that I was not looking forward to the Dog and Pony Show when we got back to school but I did learn a thing.

We had Stop the Bleed Training (my third or fourth) BUT - it was taught by a great, humble paramedic who had some useful tips, including:

In a real emergency, you will not have enough tourniquets. Find something you can use as a tourniquet, like a belt or strips cut from a t-shirt. Wind with a sharpie or pen.

In a pinch, you can stop a sucking chest wound with vaseline applied to as much gauze as you have, taped onto three sides of the wound.

And - the person to whom the tourniquet is applied will try to take it off. S/he/they will bleed to death if this happens. If you have a bystander who is willing, ask the bystander to distract the person and redirect. Because I did not realize how bad a tourniquet must hurt.

[Davey Do]

1 hour ago, JKL33 said:

At the risk of sounding unsympathetic and heretical, some days I miss the dog and pony show. The alternative is unceasing and ever-increasing modules pushed out through the intranet portal, which staff-level persons are "responsible to complete while on duty or else on your 'own time' by [date]."

But the thing that I like about the mandatory modules online is that they can be taken in digestible bites instead of a cram everything down your throat all at once, JKL.

And I don't have to deal with yawn-producing peers or presentors! There's always someone who wants to belabor a point, tell a story, or just profusely pontificate with which we have to deal.

[amoLucia]

16 hours ago, KatieMI said:

- "please provide full contact information for at least two persons aged 21 or over other then your SO, info of whom you' provided already". All right, once I get a lover or two you guys will be first to know ? ?

Menage a trois, anyone?

[Davey Do]

Well, this Dog & Pony Show was anything but boring, primarily due to a disagreement between me and the CPI instructor, Clark. The next three paragraphs are excerpts from my own personal documentation:

As we were discussing page 15 which states, "the RN is responsible for patient care" and "RNs have the authority to initiate and stop the restraint" Clark said, "Anybody can initiate or stop a restraint".

I spoke up and said, "I disagree". I stated that only an RN can terminate a restraint, that there is a process, and the RN makes the final decision, for which I received argument. Clark brought up theoretical cases, stating "What if...what if...?" and "some nurses will leave a patient in restraints even after they've calmed down". I replied that I was "not speaking of opinions, perspectives, generalities or other nurses". I stated, "When I'm the RN on the unit, and I am in charge, no patient will be released from restraints until I deem so".

...For years at past CPI trainings, a question has always been asked, "Who can initiate a restraint?" with the answer being "Anybody." The question that has always followed was "But who terminates the restraint?" The answer has always been "Only the RN."

There's a lot more to this documentation, but I wanted to give you the gist of it. During the discourse with Clark, I also made a request. These next two paragraphs are excerpts from more documentation:

I had to request that the CPI instructor Clark refrain from "flagrant profanity". Clark used obscene words like "p****d, a**, b*******', f***" a total of about 18 times before I finally voiced my request.

Clark's argument was that he was merely repeating what a patient had said. This was untrue, in that his presentation was sprinkled with profanities, as I kept track on the pages of handouts. Also, Clark was not entering verbatim words used by a patient on legal documentation, he was merely repeating profanities as an example of patient behaviors. Clark could have been more appropriate by using euphemisms, or the first letter of the profanity. We all know what "F this! F that! F! F!" means without having to hear the actual obscenity.

I'm considering using the documentation as communication to administration. I may just keep it for my own records. Any input from allnurses members will be appreciated.

To end on a positive note, my supervisor, RoofElmo, during the inservice gave me recognition for my recent interventions and subsequent documentation. RoofElmo was referring to an adult male psych patient who medically decompensated last Friday. She also mentioned that the CNO praised me.

I told my medical nurse wife Belinda that the situation would be one with which she routinely deals. But when a psych nurse medically makes a good call, they're a Rock Star Nurse!

Or, in this case, a burned out 70's DJ Nurse!

[KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN]

15 minutes ago, Davey Do said:

Well, this Dog & Pony Show was anything but boring, primarily due to a disagreement between me and the CPI instructor, Clark. The next three paragraphs are excerpts from my own personal documentation:

As we were discussing page 15 which states, "the RN is responsible for patient care" and "RNs have the authority to initiate and stop the restraint" Clark said, "Anybody can initiate or stop a restraint".

I spoke up and said, "I disagree". I stated that only an RN can terminate a restraint, that there is a process, and the RN makes the final decision, for which I received argument. Clark brought up theoretical cases, stating "What if...what if...?" and "some nurses will leave a patient in restraints even after they've calmed down". I replied that I was "not speaking of opinions, perspectives, generalities or other nurses". I stated, "When I'm the RN on the unit, and I am in charge, no patient will be released from restraints until I deem so".

...For years at past CPI trainings, a question has always been asked, "Who can initiate a restraint?" with the answer being "Anybody." The question that has always followed was "But who terminates the restraint?" The answer has always been "Only the RN."

There's a lot more to this documentation, but I wanted to give you the gist of it. During the discourse with Clark, I also made a request. These next two paragraphs are excerpts from more documentation:

I had to request that the CPI instructor Clark refrain from "flagrant profanity". Clark used obscene words like "p****d, a**, b*******', f***" a total of about 18 times before I finally voiced my request.

Clark's argument was that he was merely repeating what a patient had said. This was untrue, in that his presentation was sprinkled with profanities, as I kept track on the pages of handouts. Also, Clark was not entering verbatim words used by a patient on legal documentation, he was merely repeating profanities as an example of patient behaviors. Clark could have been more appropriate by using euphemisms, or the first letter of the profanity. We all know what "F this! F that! F! F!" means without having to hear the actual obscenity.

I'm considering using the documentation as communication to administration. I may just keep it for my own records. Any input from allnurses members will be appreciated.

To end on a positive note, my supervisor, RoofElmo, during the inservice gave me recognition for my recent interventions and subsequent documentation. RoofElmo was referring to an adult male psych patient who medically decompensated last Friday. She also mentioned that the CNO praised me.

I told my medical nurse wife Belinda that the situation would be one with which she routinely deals. But when a psych nurse medically makes a good call, they're a Rock Star Nurse!

Or, in this case, a burned out 70's DJ Nurse!

I never go on any meetings, education and such without this or the like thing unsuspectingly placed on the table:

https://www.amazon.com/16GB-Digital-Voice-Recorder-Students/dp/B07R1SCK5C/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=pen+voice+recorder&qid=1579191246&s=electronics&sr=1-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExNTJFSFpLWlBHVDNUJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNTA4NDYzM0tFQlpLU000MEZXRCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMzgyMzQ1NFBINVpPQUdSU1hYJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

If any questions arise, telling a little story about the utmost importance of education always sounds nice.

[RNNPICU, BSN, RN]

Davey Do:

Interesting exerts. For the record number of profanity. Perhaps on an evaluation or for recommendations on future in-services, you could say something along the lines of .....

"For everyone's benefit it would be helpful to have other words used besides profanity laced descriptions. While a patient may actually use the words, as medical professionals in professional settings such as an inservice we are educated enough to only use an abbreviated version to illustrate the point. In a recent inservice, a speaker used full profanity 18 times when this could have been greatly reduced and even eliminated. Although I understand we are all co-workers, in professional setting we should be handling ourselves as the medical professionals we are."