The Weekend of... 7-12 to 7-15-19

[Davey Do]

It was another eventful weekend on my three 12 hour MN shifts at WRMC (Wrongway Regional Medical Center) and I plan to give you some highlights in story and song as this thread progresses.

Being assigned to act as a door for two hours periods gives a body a lot of time to think. Oh- for those just tuning in, you may want to get some background on "being assigned to act as a door" and check out this thread:

As I sat in the dim light acting more like a doorstop than a door, since all the patients were sleeping, I began reviewing specific situations that made me want to become a nurse:

As a kid, I liked to catch and cut up frogs, but I think that really only exposed me to A&P, and was not the reason I would eventually want to become a nurse.

I enjoyed grabbing onto my little sister's wrist, dragging her over to the electric fence and giving her shock treatments, but I think that was more of a reason why I became a psych nurse. I enjoyed studying her behavior- you know, the stimulus/reaction sort of thing?

The fact that my high school sweetie's Dad was a doctor may have influenced me a bit, as I truly enjoyed hearing his tales of medical adventures.

But I came to the conclusion that it was my destiny to become due to the result of a situation which occurred in 1976 when I was 19 years old:

Yeah- I think that situation inspired me to take a first aid course in 1977, become certified in CPR in 1978, an EMT-B in '79, NREMT-A 1981, then eventually become a nurse- an LPN in 1983 and an RN in 1990.

[Daisy4RN]

23 hours ago, Davey Do said:

I learned how to mix colors while working in a paint store some 42 years ago. The elderly lady who taught me how to mix colors told me, "Don't let anything distract you while you're mixing colors. If you are distracted, you may make a mistake".

I learned a truism here on all nurses which goes, "All bleeding stops eventually".

As I set up the patients' HS meds last Friday, with the phone ringing in the nurses station that is adjacent to the med room, I thought of both of these situations from which I've learned:

This reminds me of an "elderly" nurse that I knew when I first started nursing. She had been at the hospital forever and still worked per diem, I also worked per diem (but had a home unit) so I was always first to float. I ran into her quite often and it was always such a relief when I saw her on the same unit I had floated to also. She was always so helpful and taught me many tasks I had not ever done as well as giving me encouragement and helpful tips. One of those was to let the phone ring, we didn't have carry around phones yet but the one's at the nurses station (where we charted, read MD orders etc) never stopped ringing, and she always told me to just let it ring, literally the phone, but also use the same concept with other interruptions/distractions. One of, if not the best, pieces of advise I ever got! I have tried to pass that on to newer nurses but they have never been able to "let it ring", maybe the push for customer service, I don't know..

[Davey Do]

2 hours ago, Daisy4RN said:

let the phone ring... but also use the same concept with other interruptions/distractions. One of, if not the best, pieces of advise I ever got!

I say, "AMEN!!" and thank you, Daisy, for reinforcing my perception.

I tell myself, "What you're doing right now is the priority so don't risk bungling an important task for some unknown variable which, in 99.9% of the cases, is less important!"

[RNNPICU, BSN, RN]

15 hours ago, Daisy4RN said:

One of, if not the best, pieces of advise I ever got! I have tried to pass that on to newer nurses but they have never been able to "let it ring", maybe the push for customer service, I don't know..

I think the customer service piece is the key. I remember being told that you need to answer the phone within three rings. The idea was that it could be important or a family member wanting updates. I think this is crazy. I still think of this - three rings - and wonder who could have thought this up? I imagine it was in a corporate non-health care world. Really three riings would make or break customer satisfaction?!!

I sometimes do let my phone ring more than three times if I am teaching a family or in the middle of a procedure, etc. Meds would definitely fall into the more than three ring category. It is kind of satisfying finishing the task without breaking from the task at hand.

[Davey Do]

17 hours ago, RNNPICU said:

I remember being told that you need to answer the phone within three rings.

There's a member here on allnurses with whom I am quite fond and she goes by the username of "3ringnursing".

This is her avatar:

[Daisy4RN]

On 7/18/2019 at 5:12 AM, RNNPICU said:

I think the customer service piece is the key. I remember being told that you need to answer the phone within three rings. The idea was that it could be important or a family member wanting updates. I think this is crazy. I still think of this - three rings - and wonder who could have thought this up? I imagine it was in a corporate non-health care world. Really three riings would make or break customer satisfaction?!!

I sometimes do let my phone ring more than three times if I am teaching a family or in the middle of a procedure, etc. Meds would definitely fall into the more than three ring category. It is kind of satisfying finishing the task without breaking from the task at hand.

Yeah, I remember when they started this nonsense also. I am not sure how they expect you to answer every (stupid) call at all, but esp, within 3 rings and esp. when 90% are not even for the nurse anyway.

"Can I buy K+ at Sav-on" (from an outside caller).

"I don't want chicken again, I already told someone but wanted to tell you also"

"Can you tell me the pt;s weight" (from the dietician literally sitting in front of the computer in the workroom"

I could go on and on....Yes, this is why I did not even answer most of the time, esp when we got the work phones to carry around for "tele purposes".

They can "knock 3 times" all they want, I will reply with "twice on the pipe"

(Sorry if you are young you may not get that last line)

[Daisy4RN]

On 7/17/2019 at 3:57 PM, Davey Do said:

I say, "AMEN!!" and thank you, Daisy, for reinforcing my perception.

I tell myself, "What you're doing right now is the priority so don't risk bungling an important task for some unknown variable which, in 99.9% of the cases, is less important!"

Elenaors kids...HaHa

Daisy's kids were known to do that a time or two even after told not to call unless it is urgent..

Apparently I didn't do a good job of clarifying urgent

"Can we eat this/that from the frig"

What can I say, guilty as charged!

[Davey Do]

16 hours ago, Daisy4RN said:

They can "knock 3 times" all they want, I will reply with "twice on the pipe"

(Sorry if you are young you may not get that last line)

Oh, Daisy- those lines bring back sweet memories back when I use to work all five psych units at WRMC.

It had to have been over 7 years ago, because I was working the child psych unit one MN shift and I haven't worked that unit since 2012. The child psych unit is on the floor above the geriatric psych unit, which was my work wife Eleanor's home unit.

Sometimes when I worked child psych, I would call down to geriatric psych and sing a line from that song to Eleanor. She would always playfully flirt back with me:

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

18 hours ago, Daisy4RN said:

Yeah, I remember when they started this nonsense also. I am not sure how they expect you to answer every (stupid) call at all, but esp, within 3 rings and esp. when 90% are not even for the nurse anyway.

"Can I buy K+ at Sav-on" (from an outside caller).

"I don't want chicken again, I already told someone but wanted to tell you also"

"Can you tell me the pt;s weight" (from the dietician literally sitting in front of the computer in the workroom"

I could go on and on....Yes, this is why I did not even answer most of the time, esp when we got the work phones to carry around for "tele purposes".

They can "knock 3 times" all they want, I will reply with "twice on the pipe"

(Sorry if you are young you may not get that last line)

I love this and am just imagining the younger crowd rushing to Google these lyrics. Hopefully you'll create a new generation of Tony Orlando and Dawn fans!