Some weeks working in a level one trauma center are just plain exhausting. I mean REALLY exhausting. I find that I often thrive on the busyness, intensity, stress, and just plain fun. We see a lot of really awful things and you find yourself looking at life very differently. I have seen kids come in shot up like swiss cheese (or 50 cent) and end up walking out of the hospital like 3 months later. I have seen chests cracked with hearts massaged and aortas clamped. I have seen bellies tapped and brains on the table. I have heard more stories from gunshot and stabbing victims about them minding their own bidness when these 2 dudes came up...there's always 2 dudes, btw...just like it's always only 2 beers when they are asked how much they've had to drink. I've seen people die on the trauma table and I've seen them make it out of the OR only to crash in the unit and come back again. I guess what I am trying to say is that you have to make light of a lot of very serious situations in a trauma center otherwise you will go insane. This week at the trauma center has been exhausting and not because of all the lives that we've saved. Some days you walk in and just know that it's going to be a fan-freakin'-tastic day...like yesterday....
I walk in at 6am and glance at the room rotation board and we're screwed. We were already short 1 tech and 2 techs have already called off for the day and it's Tuesday, a day that typically starts at 7:30 with 6-7 C-Arms going. This Tuesday was no exception...6 scheduled C-Arms going at 7:30. Do not think that for one minute that I am angry or upset for 2 people calling off, because I am not. If you are sick, please do me a favor...STAY HOME! I don't want your stank ass sickness! What I get frustrated or angry about is that we have no back up plan. I mean com on! We work in a trauma center!! HELLO! Slow days are few and far between I feel. A busy day in a trauma center taxes everyone. Everyone has to be a multi-tasker and you have to be in 3 places at once especially when we are 3 techs short. Sometimes this is why I prefer the OR...less stress. Only one doc and one patient to worry about and as long as I am skilled well for the case...I am golden...no worries.
So I was waiting for the OR to call Tuesday morning after J and I finished our morning portables and the boss walks in and he wants to have one of his "huddles" about customer service. He starts giving us a line about how positive we need to stay and how concerned we have to be and all this scripting b.s. that he wants us to use with patients about how we are working on the issues of wait times and we know how it's a concern for them and we want to be sensitive and respectful of their time...blah, blah, blah. As I am listening to all this b.s., I am wondering if he even has a clue...like if there would be a back up plan for when we have call offs to get some contingent techs in to work how we could serve our patients better. But have no fear...Bossman hasn't gotten the contingent positions approved or posted so there's no one we can call in to help care for them mounting needs of our patients...just work your ass off while smiling and being sensitive to everyone's needs as you do it. I mean what did he think was going to happen with the worst cold and flu season that we have seen in years is predicted and we have full time girls who are on FMLA because they are having babies. How short can we run and still be able to viably take care of our patient needs?
This brings me to hour 5 in the OR Tuesday morning...I have barely had time to pee, let alone wipe and now it's 1pm and I have yet to go to lunch. I eat breakfast at 5am so 8 hours later my blood sugar is in the toilet and I am grumpy to say the least. Well, grumpy does not really describe it really...I was angry. Just like my kids, I get angry when my blood sugar drops below a certain level and nothing but food can bring me back to a point of rational thinking. At 1pm, a tech from the Rad Tech Week Committee calls over to my OR to tell me that someone will be over shortly to releave me so that I can go to lunch but in the meantime she is going to put away all the subs from the catered lunch and wants to know what sub I would like her to set aside for me. My special waitress skills had bottomed out with my blood sugar. I snapped at her, because she had been "serving" subs to everyone since 10:30am and wishing them a "Happy Rad Tech Week" and a pleasant "Thank you for all you do" while everyone else was working their tails off on an already short day. I don't need someone who isn't really working to "thank me for all I do"...my patients do that with a look of gratitude, a touch or squeeze of the hand, or by simply telling me thank you...the docs do that in the same way when I walk into the trauma bay or into the OR. After I snapped that I didn't need releaving because the case was done and I was cleaning everything up. I hung up the phone rather abruptly without saying much else. I think by then I was beyond angry...I was seething. I printed my pics for the residents and put my C-Arm away, storming back to the light room. It was now 1:10pm and I was told to go to lunch.
One thing I hate more than anything else is fakey. I don't do fake. Especially when I am angry...I can't physically do fake. So I go out to the back hallway to get my sub and such and I am greeted with fake "Happy Rad Tech Week" and "Thank you for all you do". I can't stand it. I get my lunch and go...trying not to say anything because sometimes it's just best that way. While sitting in the breakroom nearly devouring my lunch because by this time my stomach has reached over and eaten my liver and is still not satisfied, my friend asks me if I have scratched off my "lottery" ticket. I tell him no but get it out and start scratching it off. On my lottery ticket, under the scratch off part, it says "Thank you for all you do!" with a radiation symbol. I asked T, "What does this mean??" He says, "You loose. Mine says, 'Winner of a free drink pass.'" I then tossed my "Thank you for all you do" in the trash and if I had had a match at that time, I would have lit the bitch on fire.
Here's my thing...if you want to "thank me for all I do" then have a back up plan for staffing when people call off because they are sick. Have enough techs to take care of the patient needs. When there are enough of us to take care of the patient needs then we are all happier techs...giving better customer service to our patients and fellow techs.
Word.
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