Outpatient Surgery Magazine - Subscribers

Get Patients to Pay Up - May 2015 - Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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1 7 0 O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | M A Y 2 0 1 5 How to Build a Bad Day You don't have to try hard to have a rough shift. H ow many times have you worked a shift only to find everything in order and on time? Boring, right? Aren't frantic and frustrating shifts much more entertaining? Well, guess what? You don't have to settle for good days when perfectly bad ones are easily made. Here's what you'll need: • Some ill-fitting scrubs. A bad day starts off on the right foot when the scrubs dispenser refuses to read my badge. I call the OR desk to tell them I can't get my scrubs. "Does this mean I can go home?" I ask. They're not amused. In the locker room, the charge nurse brings a pair of size XL. I wear medium. "Medium is back-ordered," she says. "Tie a double-knot and roll them up." • A bit of friction. I look at the schedule board, which points me in the direc- tion of my least favorite surgeon and a particularly grueling procedure, already in progress. Lucky for me, the case is about ready to close and the new hire who started it offers to circulate if I'll chart. Unfortunately, I'm still on the hook for getting the patient out of the harness, disconnecting the cables and pulleys, reattaching the footboard to the table, removing all the cloth tape (a.k.a. "OR duct tape") that's been holding everything together and getting the patient supine. • A special request. One hour down, 7 1 ⁄2 to go, and I'm paged to call the desk. (Like going to the principal's office, it's rarely for good news.) They ask me to head to OR 4. The case is all set up and open, they say, you just need to get the patient. Now, the phrase "set up" has a few different meanings. I peek into OR 4 on my way to the patient. The room is open, that's for sure. There's no headlight there. The Bovie is against the wall with the cords still wound tightly around the handle. No fluid waste collector — it's at the dock- ing station. There aren't even bags in the trash containers. • An impatient co-worker. The desk said the surgeon wants to start right now — of course he does, he 'always does — but as always, he's nowhere to be B E H I N D C L O S E D D O O R S Paula Watkins, RN, CNOR

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