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but you can't go home I have a monster headache, but it isn't a migraine or caused by any of the usual causes. I was happily working away in my office. The NR had asked to step out of the office, and I suddenly started to smell something. I stopped typing, and started looking around, wondering what the heck it was. The odor kept getting stronger and stronger, and suddenly I placed it. It reminded me of when I would take the bus, and I was sitting/standing on the side of the road and the cars or busses were stopped in front of me. Except it was about 10 times worse. It was really strong. I'm wondering if it was an electrical fire, but I'm not seeing any smoke. And I'm sitting there trying to figure out what the heck it is, when the NR comes back in and she comes into my office and starts to tell me that the lady in the office next door had asked if she could come over to smell her office. I laughed and said, does it smell like this? And she said she was just beginning to smell it here, but that it was super strong next door. I could smell it outside our door on my way next door, and sure enough, it was bad over there. I came back to my office, opened the windows and doors, and called the property manager and left a message. We stood outside for a bit, waiting for the guy to call back, and I went next door to see if she'd gotten ahold of the property manager. She had--all he said was, "I don't know when I can get someone to come out." Jerk. I went back in and gave him another call. It had been 15 min, and we still hadn't heard anything from him. He told me he was on the phone with someone. And that was the last I heard from him. I text messaged my boss to let him know what was going on, and just the few minutes that I was in my office, talking to the property manager and typing out a message to him, I started to feel dizzy and my head started to hurt. And I'm sitting right by two open windows. Not cool. We got back outside, and my boss calls. He tells me to call the fire dept, so I do that, explain what is going on, and the lady tells me she'll send someone out, to make sure the doors and windows are open, and to wait outside. I text my boss and my dispatcher to let her know what is going on, that we are forwarding the phones, and we are sitting outside. And we wait. I send the NR next door to let her know what the fire dept said, and she also comes outside. It wasn't too long before they showed up. My dispatcher called me on my cell, as they were entering the office next door. They said it was indeed the air conditioner, which is odd, because we all share one big unit--but only hers wasn't working, and the smell was coming from her office and drifted to ours. They said it was safe, as long as we kept the doors and windows open. DAmn. Was hoping to be able to tell my boss that we couldn't stay. Although I did try to get out of it...I told him we were still feeling bad--and we were! My head is still killing me. And with the doors and windows open, the temp was rising inside. My clock said my office was up to 86. But oh well. I just got off the phone with my dispatcher, and I am so fed up with this place. Nancy had just come into my office and we chatted a bit about our horrible lack of communication with each other, and now I have yet another perfect example. And it makes me so angry because here she thought she was doing what she was told to do, and now finds out that evidently that was changed, no one bothered to tell her, and now she feels awful and embarrassed. Since I first started working here nearly 7 years ago, we have been told that the patient needs to be medically cleared before we send anyone out. Straight from the boss' mouth. During meetings, in memos, and any other communications. And about a year and a half ago, a sheet of questions was passed around to the dispatchers and they were told to ask these questions whenever a call came in to make sure that the patient was ready to be seen. That we wouldn't get out there, find out that they were in a coma, drugged up, unarousable, whatever. During meetings, recent meetings, my boss has stressed that the hospital administration is unhappy when we have to go out and assess a patient multiple times because the person wasn't ready to be seen in the first place. They don't like to waste their money. AND some of our contracts are paid at a capitated rate. SO whether we go out 50 times a month or 150 times a month, we are paid the same rate. And we were doing too many of those calls where the pt was unassessible. Over and over, the message was not to go see a patient before they are ready unless there is some emergent need, like the patient is flipping out or the like. So today, my dispatcher gets a phone call from our new staffing person. And she is told that there has been a lot of talk between the higher up staff that she is not staffing properly. That she asks too many questions. That the hospital staff likes her as a person, and loves her clinically, but hates to talk to her when she dispatches. Because she is "Ms Twenty-Questions" and everyone else just goes out whether the person is ready to be seen or not. And apparently, this has been discussed for a long time, lots of complaints have been received, but this is the first that she is hearing about it. She is mortified. She emailed me what happened, and I called her immediately, telling her she does not need to feel mortified or embarrassed. That last I'd heard, she was doing what all the dispatchers had been told, and if things had changed, then she should have been notified when they were changed, not after people have been talking about it for a long time. We don't know how long that is, but when she asked why she wasn't told about it sooner, it was "because there wasn't anyone to tell you before...but now she's got that job." Well, she's had that positition for about 8 months now, so it's been going on longer than that. I am so angry and fed up with this place! And I know I need to talk to my boss about it, but at this point, there are so many issues, I don't even know where to start. And would it really do any good? I mean I've been stepping up and making suggestions, and trying to discuss events as they come up. But nothing ever happens. Nothing ever changes! I have two counselors who refuse to enter their call information on time. This has been going on since September. Twice a month since then. And I've talked to them, supposedly their supervisor has talked to them, and I've let my boss and their supervisor know each and every time it has happened. And not one single thing has changed. I emailed them again this Wednesday after I sent the billing out with not one of a particular counselor's calls on the billing. I told them I needed help on this. Not a word has been said. I brought up an issue with a counselor who refused to take a call during his shift--SOP states that they are not to refuse any calls. He does and did. I also asked for clarification on another matter regarding this particular counselor. It's been over a week and a half since that email went out. No clarification. Not a word about the refusal. Any problems we have...any that are brought to management's attention..they aren't addressed--or if they are, they don't really mean it. I mean, how many times did my boss state, "If you don't enter your calls into the billing software, you won't get paid." And how quickly did he cave when it happened, over and over and over? Okay. I've gotta cool off. I have to hit the road here in a few. |