Faster

I love our support staff. They work so hard!

The point I had hoped to make as the OP was what I consider to be the double standard on the part of the nurses. I noted that the nurses complained about my clerical staff person falling asleep at her desk, while they felt it was fine for them to do so. No one seemed to get that point so I assume I wasn’t clear.

I didn’t have authority to fire nurses. I managed the non-clinical clerical staff. My point was that I was struck by the double standard of the nurses.

I used to work in a large hospital in Boston. I was the manager for the front desk on patient care units, overseeing non-clinical staff. I would often get reports from nurses about my overnight person falling asleep at the desk. One nurse even took a picture of one of my staff sleeping and passed it around to other nurses, making fun of this person.On a few occasions I would come in during the overnight shift to check on things and would frequently find at least one nurse asleep at her desk, using a folded up cotton blanket as a pillow. Obviously a planned “nap.” i also found out that one of the nurses most vocal about my desk person falling asleep, would at times get into a bed in an empty patient room, under the covers, and have a good sleep!

I wonder if there is a risk to your defense by posting your story online.

Five nurses at a Denver hospital were suspended for three weeks when they opened a body bag and commented on a dead man's genitals: Denver Health nurses suspended after opening body bag to see man's genitals.

The MHG is the helicopter landing pad designation. Most landing pads are identified that way, as the H standing out as Hospital, so the insignia would stand for Hospital, Mass General.

maybe this will be helpful for you. also. look up the trichotillomania learning center on the internet. excellent resource. illinois chicago, near downtown and/or northern suburbs chicago area support group the chicago-area support group is just getting started! this will be a free weekly group for adult and young adult hair pullers and skin pickers. our first session is scheduled for sunday, november 16, from 3:30 pm until about 5:00 or 5:30. initial location: in west rogers park, near touhy and mccormick. (near evanston, skokie and lincolnwood, with easy highway access and free guest parking.) future locations tbd (suggestions welcome!) for the latest details, directions, or to get involved, please contact lauren at [email protected] we look forward to seeing you! contact: lauren email: [email protected]

Isn't it amazing when you finally learn that there is a name for this, and you aren't the only one that does it? My very best wishes for you.

the breaking of the hair in half is part of the disorder. some people with trich will bite the hair after it's been pulled and some just touch the pulled hair to their lip. if your friend wants information and/or support, she could contact this person. leslie is a great resource. contact leslie at tlc: [email protected] or 831-457-1004

During the summer of 1965, at the age of 13, I experienced the onset of a little known disorder that would come to define those still early years of my life and remains with me to this day. Over the past year however, Trichotillomania has lost much of it's power over me. Trichotillomania (TTM) is chronic repetitive hair pulling. It is a disorder that causes people to literally pull out their hair. Sites include scalp, eyelashes, eyebrows or any other part of the body. It is currently classified as an impulse control disorder, however assigning a specific category in which TTM can be placed is still a matter of much debate among researchers and clinicians. Recent research suggests that this impulsive action has many of the characteristics of other obsessive control disorders (OCDs), body- focused repetitive behavior and Tourette's syndrome. Those are the clinical classifications and gratefully, there are many highly talented scientists and researchers that continue to focus their skills on learning more about it and how to treat it. TTM most often begins at the ages of 11 to 13, years which are very important in a person's life. I don't recall the month or exact year in which mine began. The most clear recollection I have is at first one of wonder, surprise and confusion towards myself. Also, of course, fear. A numbing, stomach clenching fear as the sense that I was crazy overcame me. I didn't dare to tell anyone what I was doing. I didn't want my Mom and Dad, my brother and sister to think, or rather know, I was crazy. The risk of their love lost, or maybe their revulsion of me was too much to bear. I couldn't understand what was making me pull the hair out my head and I COULDN'T STOP!!! How could anyone else understand when I couldn't I was never a very extroverted child but I quickly and easily responded to warmth that I detected from people and I enjoyed raising my hand in school to answer questions posed by my teachers. Being asked to come to the front of the class to work out a simple math or spelling lesson had prompted that fun/awkward feeling of one receiving "special attention", being seen as one out of a group of others. Once my Trichotillomania had progressed to the point in which I had visible bald spots on my scalp, that same attention became a threat. In response to the none too subtle comments and jeers from my classmates..." Look at his head!"...."What's happening to him?"...my hand stayed at my side in the classroom, my eyes averted when my teacher scanned the class for a volunteer to go to the chalkboard. Even when a classmate in my vicinity spoke up to answer a question, I would shrink, with my heart racing with anxiety as all heads in the room turned in our direction. Adults also found it difficult to not stare. I didn't fear taunts or ridicule from them, but I would become tremulous when I saw them gazing at my scalp and I'd turn from them as I saw them struggle with whether or not to ask me a question about it. At this point, I couldn't discern concern from curiosity. The former was hard to believe, the latter all too common. My shame and humiliation were literally visible to everyone. Several years later, in my High School years, my chronic hair pulling slowed and almost stopped completely. As I reversed the social development which had just barely begun, I developed traits that are still with me. I am a 56 year old man now. Still, I'm hesitant to initiate first contact with people. Instead I step back warily, watching a person who is speaking to me or walking towards me. Initially, I prefer to stand on the periphery of a group, staying in the background until I feel I am in a safe environment. This, even as my TTM, is under control and not visible. Once I detect a person's genuine interest and warmth towards me, I react with an almost total devotion, over compensating and thus pushing them away. I have to walk and interact among others very carefully, maintaining very deliberate, conscious and measured relationships. Over the past year, I began working through personal issues with a group of people in a very informal setting. Our group leader encouraged open communication among us and I decided that for the first time in almost 40 years, I would actually say it out loud and tell a group of my peers about what I had done. These people were not repulsed by my story, but instead were supportive and encouraging. I felt a lot of confusion on their part, and some genuine curiosity, but led through discussions with them, I could feel the burden of keeping my Trichotillomania a secret begin to break apart. Speaking of it, actually telling someone, face to face about it, diminished it's power over me after all these years. I also became more active a national organization called the Trichotillomania Learning Center (TLC) and began to work on ways to make people aware of this destructive disorder. As my pain lessens, I know that another child's pain is about to begin. It has been determined that 100% of teachers will have a child with Trichotillomania in their classroom at some point in their career, so it is important that educators be made aware of the signs of TTM and be able to gather resources for the child. School nurses and Guidance Counselors should know of this disorder. Barber shops and salons should be aware so that children or even adults suffering from TTM can use their services without being self conscious or afraid of insensitive questions. (I recall a barber asking me if someone was shaving my head as punishment and asking what I did to deserve it.) TLC has educational materials available to assist in these efforts. Last year, Governor Patrick granted my request that he issue a State Proclamation designating the week of October 1 - 7 as Trichotillomania Awareness Week in Massachusetts. I've requested that he do so again this year and I've been told he will. Progress is being made. For me, all these years later, the pain is remembered but not felt as strongly as it once did. I'm replacing suffering with relief. What was once my unspeakable secret is now a subject that I can barely keep from talking about. I hope public awareness provides relief for a child that is unknowingly prone to Trichotillomania and is still a year or so away from it's beginning.

MuddaMia, please check this link. It contains information that will help your daughter. www.trich.org/about_trich

I was in Junior High School when I started this and I had obvious bald patches on my scalp. Other kids in school were brutal with their teasing. The embarassment and subsequent isolation had lasting impact. I'm only now, 42 years later, beginning to talk to people about it, my brother and sister included. I hope that kids now can get some support. There is a lot of research being done and behavior modification therapies directed towards it .

Hi everyone I'm curious as to whether any of you are familiar with a disorder called Trichotillomania. This is a very unusual compulsive disorder, in the family of Tourettes', that cause people to pull the hair from their head, eyebrows, eyelashes. I'm 55 years old and started pulling hair from my head when I was 13. At that time, no one knew what wa going on. Only in the past 15 years or so has this disorder been given a name. Have any of you seen young children with these obvious signs? How do you follow up on it if you do?