Hospital Dangers

Did anyone else notice all the police at the hospital lately? Last weekend, I crossed paths with a big group of them heading for a team where a patient had apparently phoned police with a death threat...they were there to investigate, I understand. And then a few days later, another big crowd of police arrived to transport a patient back to jail. I can't remember any previous events like these...I find it unsettling to see groups of uniformed, armed officials in the hospital. Did they go on to the units armed? I hear that they did. That seems...well, risky. I thought there was a policy about guns, etc. on the units...perhaps not.

Why do we need groups of police now...now as opposed to ever before. Are our patients more dangerous? I know a lot of people say that they are...why is that? Are we less effective ourselves? I think, for one thing, that our current disarray in terms of consistent adequate staffing has a real consequence for everyone's safety....repeated staff competencies nothwithstanding. Are we failing to screen out malingerers, sociopaths, and other inappropriate admissions (like brain injuries), which we are not equipped or mandated to treat? Or were these two events just anomolies that are unlikely ever to occur again? Can we just ignore it and it will go away? (Our hospital's motto). I'm pretty sure we'll try that first. Might work.

And I heard another story this week. It's second hand, so take it as such. I'm repeating it here because it illustrates what I've heard so many times about our leader - stories like these, oft repeated, are what motivates me to want him promoted to some other agency. So here's the story: at a meeting recently of doctors, the top Doctor repeated that all the Doctors are getting a 33 1/3% raise. When a Nurse Practitioner, present because she functions as the Doctor for one of the teams, asked about raises for Nurse Practitioners, the top Doctor said dismissively, "no raise for you...you were only hired in the first place because we can't get enough Doctors"...or words to that effect. Of course, the Nurse Practitioner promptly turned in her notice. Perfect. Now we're one more Doctor short. Rudeness, Arrogance and A Genuine Lack of Appreciation - the hallmarks of our leadership. Talk about dangerous.

One change could change so much here. It's the old trickle down effect.

I've really enjoyed the comments lately...such wonderful variety of points of view. The blog is a great "conversation" between strangers who occupy the same space. The conversation gets disjointed, I know...but, hey, that's the way they are in the real world, too, especially at work.

By the way, the courtyard looks great.

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