Truly_Blessed

I am going to print out a couple of these responses you guys are giving as they will help me. Nooooo, we don't have a privacy compliance officer. It's not a huge company it's small, locally owned and employs 30 to 45 employees at a time. There is no privacy compliance anything!!!! From what I'm seeing supervisors are on their own so it's up to them to set the standard for their shift. Bleh. It should be a cohesive company standard but whatever.

I should have clarified what I meant by telling the patient to have their nurse call. A lot of the doctors do want their calls screened.....they only want "emergencies" BUT, how are these operators supposed to know what qualifies as a real emergency? I've often wondered this....I'm usually the go to gal when someone wants to know if something is an emergency. Uh, no....some a&p, psychology classes; and a semester in an lvn program does not make me qualified me to figure anything out....I don't have a scope of practice. I answer phones. The problem that arises is that I get yelled at by physicians after the patient is put through for one of two reasons: Why are you putting calls through if they are in the hospital? I've actually been told..."Use some common sense." by a doctor. lol The other reason, after the patient is connected...not even 5 minute later their nurse is calling. So, that call is connected..and oh joy, 5 minutes after that the doctor is calling back having a fit because he's just been connected for the same thing twice!!! Oh em gee, I forgot "psychic abilities" was part of my job description. Perhaps it's one of those darned if you do darned if you don't situations. Good thing....this is allowing me to become acquainted with the fussy docs and that might be helpful later when I actually have a nursing career. The operators can listen because when they are connecting patient to nurse or doctor it works like a 3 way call, but after the call is connected we are supposed to hang up and leave the other two parties on. The operators simply hit a mute button on the console and sit and listen to the entire call. They do this with hospice calls (we do have hospice and funeral home accounts); actual death calls, OBGYN calls, you name it they will listen to it. I'm not new, actually been there for a couple of years but just took a supervisor position...there is a high turnover rate there and I believe this is part of the problem. People are not being trained correctly nor are they required to become HIPPA certified. I am definitely not afraid of making waves. I don't go to work to make friends, I'm there to do my job...if I make friends along the way it's a bonus. Me coming here is basically the beginning of doing some research and I pretty much want to make a presentation to my bosses. I think educating the operators is the best bet and HIPPA certification is the way to go. It's just a matter of justifying the cost to pay for certifications. I would think telling them that they could possibly lose the majority of their customers if one doctor finds out which means no more business, no more $$$ for them, etc. would be enough justifying. I know of one answering service who requires their operators to be certified and management says they have no problems. Yeah I called around to see if there were any other places who took physicians calls, lol I'm relentless at times. So yes...I will be ruffling feathers soon and I'll get my way because...well, it's the right thing to do. I feel so gross and unprofessional working in a place that isn't serious about the service they provide. It's embarrassing.

Hello all :) It's been a very long while since I've posted anything here and I have been a lurker the the past hmmmm, lets say 4 or 5 months. If anyone cares to read a some of my last posts you will see what my situation was and why I still am not a nurse. *sigh* lol That's a whooooole other post. Anywhoo, while I am STILL trying to rectify my past situation by earning enough cash to head back to school and not have to worry about $$$, I have accepted a supervisor position at a physician's exchange. In other words, I work at an answering service....booooooring. lol My questions to you ladies and gents are: 1. We answer for an NP. The operators here are h*** bent on calling her a doctor when her patients call in. I've told them several times that they cannot do that but they look at me like I'm crazy and I don't know what I'm talking about. I've tried to explain to them how maybe that could be a potential problem and that she practices different from how a physician would...nursing perspective. Can she get in trouble if the wrong person calls in for her and one of these operators answers, "DR. (blank, blanks) office answering service?" Could that ever turn into a problem for the NP? I don't think she is aware they are answering that way. 2. When a pt. or the pt.'s family calls from the pt.s hospital room(they have already been admitted) am I correct in telling my operators that they cannot call the pt.s physician after they have been admitted? IMO, I feel for the operators here to disregard the nurse who is in charge of the patient's care and call the physician is disrespectful and not following the chain of command so to speak. The calls usually consist of an angry patient who is not satisfied with his/her nurse, hasn't gotten their meds yet, didn't like the way the nurse looked at them, they are not satisfied with the course of treatment the nurse is giving, etc. It is not my place to explain to a patient that their nurse is following orders given by their doctor, blah, blah, blah. So, I tell my operators to tell the caller they must tell their nurse what the problem is and have the nurse call us or contact the physician directly. Am I doing the right thing here, or do I need to get the Dr. on the line ASAP? 3. I know very well that HIPPA is a big deal. I don't know how I am supposed to get my operators to understand that listening in on a medical call then turning around and gossiping about a) who the call was about b) what the patient's problem is....well, it's just wrong and it's violating some sort of HIPPA rule, policy, or whatever it's called. Keep in mind, I don't live in a tiny town...it is a city with about 110,000 people in it. Although, it's not small nor is it huge....word still travels fast around here. Am I crazy to think this sort of behaviour is wrong? The person calling in with a medical problem has a right to privacy....how do these women think it's ok to listen in on the conversations between patient and doctor or nurse? They say, "We work for the doctor...it is our business." SMH. I'm not sure what to tell them about the legalities(I'm not sure if that's even a word, lol) of something like this. Your thoughts are greatly appreciated. I spend a lot of time trying to educate people on the role of nurses...and lemme tell ya....wow, how the views of nurses are grossly distorted, misconstrued, or simply off the mark in the worst way. It's made me have more respect for the profession as a whole....I REALLY see what an uphill battle it is for nurses when it comes to non nurses opinions. You've got my utmost respect and total admiration:) K, discuss! Oh wow, I just looked over the length of the post...I'm sorry about how long it is!

LOL, omg too funny!

Well my clinicals last semester were spent in the nursing home where almost everyone was bowel incontinent and alot of stge III & IV ducubs...so I would say 80% of my time was spent dealing with things that made me cringe. The other 20% I was charting.

That is such a touching story, thanks for sharing:) That is one amazing family.

I plan on donating my books to the school when i finish. They change editions so much, it wouldn't be right to try and sell them and then some poor soul get stuck with a book that doesn't go along with everyone else's.

Yes, we get caps. I am really psyched about that. I am at a community college. My instructor explained to me that in universities is where you used to see cappings the most. She said that students were capped at the beginning of their senior year. It's really a rite of passage for seniors, but she has one for us to mark the midway point of our program.

Well, my class has set a date for capping which is at the beginning of February. I am making invitiations so I can send them out mid January. I am wondering if anyone has seen any poems or anything pertaining to this rite of passage to put in my invitations? I thought it would be nice to include something that stressed the importance and the spiritual significance of this ceremony. Does anyone have any ideas?:) Thanks for any and all suggestions.

My school says no jewelry except for a smooth surface wedding band and a plastic watch, anything else is unacceptable. I am all for piercings. I have even had some myself. But when it comes to work, especially in a healthcare factlity, I would never wear one. That tiny little "insignificant" diamond can harbor pathogens which can be transferred to pt.s. I care about the ppl I am taking care of, therefore I will always choose to not wear jewelry even if jewelry is ok w/the healtcare facility I am working at. I am not there to impress anyways, I am there to work. #2 I don't think it looks professional, but that's just for me personally. Some others can pull it off beautifully.:)

ours is also tenting/not tenting

My drive to school isn't so bad....it's about a 30 to 45 minute drive. Clinicals will be about 45 minutes away from the school. 3rd semester it will take about an hour and a half to get to clinicals....I think those will be at the state mental hospital.

I assume they are just a part of nursing school curriculum. We've had 2 so far this semester. You just have to get used to them. I have severe anxiety, and an extreme fear of getting up in front of people to talk...so you know what I do? I volunteer to go first Always. If I can't get up there first I try my hardest to get in 2nd or 3rd. #1 No one is listening to you. Why? Because they are going over their presentations in their head and looking over their notes. #2 You will be so relieved, and you will be able to sit back and enjoy the rest of your fellow classmate's presentations. You gotta get used to it....you will be teaching ppl for the rest of your career...that just doesn't mean 1 person (your patient)...but perhaps a room full of family members? You never know. It's all in learning. Just relax and enjoy it....group presentations are alot better than flying solo. Don't wait so long to go up there....you will "think" yourself into a little tizzy.

I assume they are just a part of nursing school curriculum. We've had 2 so far this semester. You just have to get used to them. I have severe anxiety, and an extreme fear of getting up in front of people to talk...so you know what I do? I volunteer to go first Always. If I can't get up there first I try my hardest to get in 2nd or 3rd. #1 No one is listening to you. Why? Because they are going over their presentations in their head and looking over their notes. #2 You will be so relieved, and you will be able to sit back and enjoy the rest of your fellow classmate's presentations. You gotta get used to it....you will be teaching ppl for the rest of your career...that just doesn't mean 1 person (your patient)...but perhaps a room full of family members? You never know. It's all in learning. Just relax and enjoy it....group presentations are alot better than flying solo. Don't wait so long to go up there....you will "think" yourself into a little tizzy.

well, I am one of those horrid disgisting ppl who started smoking again because of the stress of nursing school. so everyone...stand your 20 ft. away, I know I am a nasty smelling mess. I by no means wanna corrupt the perfect ppl:p Anyways, I was smoke free for a year and a half. The stress got to me, and I started again. I have controlled it pretty well, I only smoke at school, the pack stays there. At home, I find other things to do. I will not be smoking at clinicals...I care tooo much about the patients to make them suffer with me leaning over them to do things and making them gag with the smoke smell. I am sure it doesn't make them feel any better(smoke smell). I don't crave them really, and smoke only after a huge exam or a pop quiz. My only advice is not to pick up the nasty habit...especially if you just started and have never done it before. It's nasty, and it really does stink. Run, don't walk the other way. I all around hate the fact that I even see the need in smoking after a stressful event.