Tag: blogging

Dispatches from the Evening Shift Disclaimer Sunday 1/11/25

I usually do this on the first day of the year so I am a little tardy this year.

Happy New Year!

Let’s get down to business.

Every year I write this disclaimer. And add to it. And tweak it. And if I knew how to pin it to the blog start page, I would.

I began writing the yearly disclaimer to be able to point to my posts and say, see nothing to give away the patient here. You know, HIPAA. In case the corporation, that I work for and discuss my blog openly in meetings etc., tries to tell me I cannot write this. Not that they have, but I can believe they would.

I believe in protecting patients’ and staff’s privacy.

I do not include details that make it clear or easy to figure out which patient or staff member I am talking about. If I am talking about any.

I do not use names. And if I do, they are changed.

I change ages. I change gender.

I change details such as which limb is fractured. I change details such as which surgery is performed.

And the cases that I do talk about obliquely are changed in how time is perceived as well. The cases/people/staff may not be the same at the time of the surgery.

I definitely change aspects of time. By that I mean there is no relationship between the moment I write the post and the actual events that prompted it.

Some of the stories aren’t even mine, but even they are changed so as to be unrecognizable.

That being said, I change a lot.

So that, if you knew where I worked, you could not figure out who I was writing about or when.

I discuss issues that impact healthcare broadly.

And, after the events of the two past years, issues that impact women’s health. There has been a LOT to unpack here.

And covid. Can’t get away from covid. XEC is the newest variant and it is currently causing over 50% of the cases. People continue to die; not that we know it because they stopped keeping track years ago. And there is a new game in town, or should I write games. The bird flu that has made the jump to infecting and killing humans, and the human metapneumovirus which isn’t new but is making noise in China.

I do swear sometimes. But mainly to make an emphatic point.

I write themed days. Post-it Sundays which are from notes to myself, usually on a Post-it or a gown card. Monday I take off. Tuesday Top of Mind is the most political day of the week where I write what is weighing heavily on my brain. Wednesdays had been a free day that I wrote exclusively about OR things. This has morphed into the Best Kept Secrets of the OR where I divulge the secrets of the OR. Cookie Thursday is a Thing is where I write about the cookies I make for the department. This is a long-running morale project in the OR of homemade cookies or candies are brought in around 1400. This started as an evening shift things and remains so. FFS Fridays is the newest day that I write about things that begin with F, F, or S. This is the day that has the most swearing and I started it as a reaction to the 2024 general election. Buckle up, it’s gonna get weird. On Saturdays, I write about being an adult learner.

Phew.

I may miss a day here or there because 6 days is a LOT, even if the blog posts are shortish.

This month marks 10 years of Cookie Thursday is a Thing! I had no intention of baking cookies for so long, but it gives me a handy bookmark for my week. I also theme the months and this month’s theme is Favorites. Along with the departmental favorites, I also tell a story about CTIAT.

Post-it Sunday 1/14/24- Time outs are not a bad thing

The gown card reads “One act of charity by a despicable person is always held up to the light as an example of why they aren’t as bad as everyone says they are… Sure, Jan.”

You know what I am talking about in the political world.

And in the real world.

But it happens in the OR world as well.

Some doctors are just not nice people. They are demanding, and exacting, and not willing to look at issues from anyone’s perspective but their own. They are belittling and always see delays as a personal attack on them, on their time, on their golf schedule.

We have all had this surgeon, this person in our lives, this politician in our political life.

But to their chosen few, sometimes very few, they can do no wrong.

Oh, they threw suture scissors at you? Did the scissors hit you? If they didn’t, it’s okay then. They didn’t mean it.

Can you feel the eye roll from where you are?

The very fact that they thought the suture scissors throwing was an acceptable behavior is a problem. A big, write-them-up kind of problem, refer them to peer review kind of problem. NOT to be swept under the rug by management and their preferred team kind of problem. Not addressing bad behavior in the moment allows them to think they can continue it.

The fact that they are kind to the people in their room is not the flex you think it is. The team that they’ve chosen to be brought into the inner circle is definitely not the flex you think it is. Just because they are not mean to them does not give them the permission to be an ass to everyone else.

Sometimes they just need to pull up their grown-up panties and try to be such a pain in the OR’s behind.

Stop yelling, for Pete’s sake!

Yelling surgeons are kind of like yelling toddlers, it is okay to give them a chance to do better. Sometimes it is a choice- If you, Dr. X, can do this and not do that then I will see what I can do to put your next add-on into the schedule. Sometimes it is as as simple as “Dr. X, I see that you are upset. Can you not upset your patient, and your team and we will talk about the issue later.”

DO NOT give in to them. No matter how unreasonable their request is. This emboldens the bad behavior and sets you and the OR up for confrontations in the future.

Why, yes, dealing with surgeons is akin to dealing with toddlers sometimes.

Sometimes time outs are required.