So How Was YOUR Week?? (Rant!)

Published

Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

did i say i love my job?:uhoh21: :chair: :sofahider

actually, i do love it. i do not, however, love my boss's job, which i'm doing in addition to (read: instead of) my own while he's on vacation for 2 1/2 weeks. i don't enjoy the glad-handing, the marketing, the political stuff, the financial management.........yet that's what i've spent 90% of my week dealing with. :o

ironically, i managed to fill the building to capacity by renting the last four apartments just this week alone---a feat my boss hasn't been able to pull off in his three years as administrator---which tickled the heck out of corporate and made me their new best friend. the paperwork, however, is a nightmare.......all the money and the insurance stuff that i know little and care even less about. then there are quarterly service plans which have to be written up; the service plan meetings where i get to be grilled by the medicaid caseworker and the families about things that haven't been done right for months or even years; staffing problems; dealing with the 'when the cat's away, the mice will play' mentality of a few marginal workers; apartments that haven't been cleaned and beds that haven't been changed in 3 weeks because the housekeeper's injured; and the phone that never stops ringing........at least not for me. :uhoh3:

in the meantime, everyone expects me to be doing my own duties with my customary efficiency---the home health nurse who wants copies of her client's 10+ med sheets for the nine hundredth time this month and wants them five minutes ago; the residents who need me to check their new skin tears and sore toes; the 70-year-old son who wants to know why his 90-year-old mother isn't eating 100% at every meal (despite the fact that she has never been a big eater, and not being a nursing home, we don't keep i & o's on the residents); the anticoagulation nurse with report on the latest protimes and changes in coumadin doses for seven residents; the med aide who needs delegation for the resident who just got put on daily fingersticks; the interminable discussions with family about this one lady who should be charged extra for what i call "pita points", because she's on that call light every 2.2 minutes around the clock, and then claims not to know what she wants when you get there but won't let you leave.

and if all this weren't enough fun, there's the hospice nurse who got her knickers in a twist today because she wanted us to give her patient some extra morphine (without an md order:madface: ), and neither the med aide nor i was available to take her call. the med aide was trying to serve out lunch and answer miss pita's call light for the tenth time in an hour, and i was on another line with a doctor who wanted to give telephone orders for some vitamin "a" for miss pita. the poor office manager was beside herself running back and forth to find someone, anyone, who could deal with the call; then ten minutes later the hospice nurse storms into the building yelling because 'no one will answer the phone!'

now, i'm a fairly patient woman, but she chose the wrong day to get in my face. not only have i been seriously stressed out this week, i was also steaming mad after a conversation with another home-health agency nurse who'd dropped my mrsa wound patient like a hot potato yesterday. she was extremely rude and condescending to me on the phone, as if i were a slow-witted child (so i'm supposed to know all the stinkin' home health rules when i've never worked in hh?!) but what really set me ablaze was her refusal to come in and discharge the resident today, call him and his family to let them know why she couldn't do his wound care any more (some medicare regulation that prohibits working w/ patients who are able to go out for other therapies), or even leave me written instructions for the wound treatments. let me tell you, i was seeing red---you don't leave my residents in the lurch like that!!:angryfire so i spoke with her supervisor this morning, and suffice it to say that this nurse will never set foot in my facility again as long as i'm in charge of resident health care services. i won't allow it.:angryfire :devil: :trout:

so when this other nurse started in on me about "nobody will come to the phone", i told her, "i'm warning you, don't go there". of course, she did, and that's when i lost it: "i'm doing two jobs here, lady, so don't you dare come in here and snap your fingers at me or my staff!" there was more in the same vein; but to make a long story short, she got smart and backed off, and later we even ended up laughing over it and apologizing to one another. and according to the staff who've been there a long time, this isn't the first time this nurse has gotten into a facility nurse's face, but it will probably be the last time she does it to me since i called her on it.

now, when i get really, really tired and really, really stressed out, i tend to get a little doofy, and when i get doofy, i do some really odd things. so late this afternoon i finally managed to get to the bathroom (after about four hours of needing to 'go' and not having the time), and while i was in there i heard the care coordinator say in her texas twang, "i've lost my boss!" only it came out sounding like "i've lost my balls", and i just broke up. :lol2: then it occurred to me how weird it must sound to a resident or family member walking past to hear me cackling madly in the restroom---and that only made me laugh even harder!! :bugeyes: :lol_hitti :rotfl:

now........in theory, at least, i have a nice, relaxing, three-day weekend coming up. in practice, i'm sure it won't be as idyllic as i'd like, and i've got still another week of this craziness to get through. but the day is coming when i will hand marc's job back over to him with a big grin on my face, tell him he can never take two consecutive weeks' vacation again, and return to my own happy place in the universe.;)

and that's the truth. pffffffttttthh!!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

[bANANA]ouch, wow, better you than me since you could laugh at the end of the week, congratulations, consolations and hugs[/bANANA]

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critical Care.

Well I was in SoCal on vacation, er. . . at the AACN annual conference all week.

~faith,

Timothy.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
Well I was in SoCal on vacation, er. . . at the AACN annual conference all week.

~faith,

Timothy.

OK, so now I'm totally jealous............slacker!:clown: :roll

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Oh, Marla....I did that and got the t Shirt. The only thing that got me thru those types of weeks was a twisted sense of humor and a really funny social worker.

Hang in there!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Why can't I be lucky enough to have a week like that mjlrn97?

Sorry it has not been great. I think that you and the boss ought to have a chat when they get back. About raises, your vacation....:roll

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
Why can't I be lucky enough to have a week like that mjlrn97?

Sorry it has not been great. I think that you and the boss ought to have a chat when they get back. About raises, your vacation....:roll

I was thinking the same thing.........I'm gonna NEED a vacation when he gets back!!

At least, I haven't had to deal with any of it today---it's almost suppertime and I haven't had a single phone call from the facility. Maybe my staff feels sorry for me; or maybe the place burned down and I won't have a job to go back to on Tuesday. Or maybe I'd better go check my cell phone and make sure the battery's still charged......:chair:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med-Surg.

Whew, I need a break now.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in A myriad of specialties.

WOW--I'm SO sorry for the terrible week you've had---you SO need this long holiday weekend! Have a good one! By the way--what exactly does PITA mean? I see various posts using this abbreviation.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

PITA=Pain In The Gluteus Maximus:D

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I was thinking the same thing.........I'm gonna NEED a vacation when he gets back!!

At least, I haven't had to deal with any of it today---it's almost suppertime and I haven't had a single phone call from the facility. Maybe my staff feels sorry for me; or maybe the place burned down and I won't have a job to go back to on Tuesday. Or maybe I'd better go check my cell phone and make sure the battery's still charged......:chair:

So sorry you had all this going on, Marla, but I love your sign.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion