Good Morning, Bloggers!!!
I must say, most of you have done a spectacularly terrrible job of keeping blog readers and writers informed since I've been gone! Not a single complaining comment, not one public discussion of private hospital goings on. hmmmmm. Could it be that, really, everthing's fine there? Was it really just me?
In which case, Problem Solved!!!
I've had a few days to get reoriented before the start of my new real job and have, among other things, discovered iTunes!!...which is playing in the background right now. I've got it on Grassy Hill Radio...which, I must say, is just really really great... iTunes, in case you're new to all this electronic stuff, is not just a place to buy music...it also provides one with a million radio stations...commercial-free, streaming audio...Ya Hoo!! Just open up your iTunes and pick your music! (Come to think of it, I know one guy out there who already knew this and provided audio for the nurses station...I failed to really appreciate it then...too distracted by the mentally ill, I guess....but I see now that he was right!) Music makes everything better. I suggest that in shift report each day, the oncoming team decide which station to play that day...vote on it...and play it on your computer!
The new Gong on Team One probably speaks to this very impulse! Three dulcet tones to announce smoking!!... It gives smoking an almost spiritual patina...I like it...I always thought those smokes breaks were good for the soul....people stand around, feeling the release of tension nicotine brings to the addicted and chat with one another, or enjoy the weather. On days like we've had here lately, smoke breaks must be especially euphoric. They're a little time out...a moment when everyone's on the same wave length, a hiatus from all the troubling things that await inside. I've had more good conversations with patients during a smoke break than at any other time, I think. To have this time announced 5 times a day with a gong evokes a monastery...bong! bong! bong!, all the faithful go to a period of contemplation...a call to vespers, as it were. Yes. It's good.
I think you should consider announcing med lines in some similar way...maybe some pleasant ring tone played over unit-wide speakers...(AND! installing unit-wide speakers could keep some contractor occupied for months! years, probably....helps unemployment..and there seems to be a large budget for installing hospital-wide communication systems..)
Boy. Think about it for a minute....you could really transform the mental hospital experience totally...just think of all the things you could digitize...you could play that mileau entirely from your computer station....you could announce meals, groups, bedtime...all with a special sound.
Then! When everyone was used to responding to sounds, you could begin to use the sounds for psychiatric purposes....for example, you play a particular sound during something pleasant (like dinner, or a smoke break) until the sound becomes associated with the pleasant state of mind....then, when the mileau is agitated, you just play the sound....everyone suddenly experiences the pleasant state instead....oh yes...this definately has possibilities.
It's good to have a few days off to let the imagination run...I'd never have thought of this while working; a whole new world of psychiatric interventions!
Next week: The New Job!! Yikes...
I'll keep you posted.
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7 comments:
Still a few glitches I've noted, which the powers that be can't seem to remedy. Although I hear that gong thing is going over REALLY WELL! Did the mastermind of this idea stop to consider that his employees would be laughed at once this tidbit circulated? It is novel, and maybe gives the impression of a zenlike smoking experience, but it makes those who use it look silly. I know this is negative, but I think those who work in the milieu are more than able to make it known when smoke break is, without this particular humiliation. They are educated, experienced, competant people who know how to get the job done. Speaking of competant people, I wonder when those sorts who do the staffing will clue into the obvious fact that if you don't have proper staffing, you may have terrible problems monitoring the milieu, taking care of the patients. A few particulars come to mind and more than a few comments have been made amoungst the masses that if it is bad now, what will happen around the holidays. Maybe suicidal ideation and acting out will take a break as well. According to my pappy, during WWI, a cease fire was agreed upon on X-mas eve. He says he sat in a cold, muddy foxhole the whole night, but it was better than sitting in the same place with shots being fired. Since the call in rate is high, folks are tired and getting sick (what time of year is it!)maybe we could negotiate with our mentally ill peoples to just not hurt themselves or anyone else, and tone down the grave disability til after the holidays. Then only one MHW is needed to do rounds, a 1 to 1, and answer the phone.
The previous blogger is just being silly. The gong is great, especially if you like to bong, bong, bong. And the patients love it too, especially first thing in the am, after they have been up for hours related to faulty alarms ringing, ringing, ringing. I think those who work evening should complain. The fire alarm system hasn't had an apportunity to impress them. Several weeks ago it annoyed dayshift numerous times; last week it rang and rang between 2 & 4 am. Will it ever work? or here's an idea, lets just use the gong if the place lights up. It is certainly less annoying. But seriously, alarms are needed at hospitals, and for years, Fort Logan has had problems with theirs. I pray something horrible like a real fire, patient and staff injury, are not what it takes to get a system that works.
Hearing different tales about the gong cracks me up for those of you old enough remember the Gong Show ?????
Another great R.N. gets ready to depart...Wow will anyone be left? This one's last day is halloween good for her she...We will miss her but she will have a great retirement...Good luck
I here that there is a party for the gadefly Thurs the 12 of Oct at 5:00pm at Red and Jerry's will you be there?
So in place of a gong, now there is a bell. A rather nice bell, but still a noise maker. What's wrong with just announcing the smoke break? You don't have to yell it, gong it, or ring for it. If the idea was to tone down the noise, you've failed. If the idea was to be inventive, creative, you've succeeded. I'm curious as to what will happen when the bell brings back some PTSD, or scares the piss out of some older patient.Maybe then smoke break can just be announced, or better yet, get rid of smoke break and use the gong and bell to discourage report going over time.
Hey, give us an update ..... How is life on the outs? Tell us is it better on the other side of the loucked door? Thanks
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