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You're trying to kill me, aren't you? (longish)

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  • You're trying to kill me, aren't you? (longish)

    The thing about being PRN and having no hours is I always have stories to tell when I do work. This week is no exception. That's right, I'm working the whole week. That is, if I don't keel over dead before Friday.

    As a reminder, I'm an imaging tech for one of the hospitals. This week, I'm working at <home location>, which hasn't happened for a long while.



    Monday
    Monday actually wasn't too bad. It was a bit stressful since our cardiologist was late and we didn't get the stress tests started on time, but it all evened out by the afternoon. Aside from that and just getting back into the swing of things, it wasn't bad.



    Tuesday
    Clock in time: 6:11am

    We have a new cardiologist who supervises the stress tests on Tuesdays. The old cardiologist would wander in between 9am and 9:30am. New guy gets here at 8:30am and scheduling hasn't quite caught up to the fact the patients need to be scheduled earlier. Jedi doesn't like being fussed at when they're not.

    Speaking of scheduling/registration, I don't know what they're smoking up there, why they're not sharing, and how they still have jobs. My first patient was scheduled for 6:45am. He was actually a few minutes early, which was nice. However, the order registration sent back with him was not for a stress test. Oh no. It was for an MRI 4 years ago. Don't ask me how they managed that one. The MRI patient who came in around the same time didn't even have an order. Patients are not supposed to even be able to register without an order. I'm not touching a patient without an order. WE NEED THE CORRECT ORDER!

    And did I forget to mention I had three cardiac patients? Looks like I did. For a little perspective, I am the only tech on duty (for my specialty anyway) and I have one scanner. For stress tests, there is a 30-45 minute wait between injection and scan time. The scan itself takes about 15 minutes. I had three to do all by 8:30am. Two is busy, three is pushing it.

    My first guy was not happy when I told him we were waiting on a correct order. Thankfully, it didn't take long to get and all was well. The other two were an adorable husband and wife (married 58 years ^_^) who were so plesant to be around. However, they were a tad late and I had a hard time getting an IV in the wife. In order to make my deadline, I had to shorten the wait time for the second patient, and the images were definitely not the prettiest I've ever done. Patient 3's images were better, but still not great.

    I managed to get two out of the three ready by 8:30, but still had one more to scan for rest images. Cue me running crazily between the stress rooms, down the hall to the scanner and back again. We sent the first guy back to wait for his stress scan after he ran the treadmill while I finished up on the other two patients. Then our secretary calls, describes Patient 1, and asks why he's pacing the hall. Beats me. I'll be there in a bit to get his pictures going. A few minutes later, Charge Tech calls and asks if I told Patient 1 how long he had to wait. Pretty sure I did since I tell everyone. In fact I know I did. Apparently he'd come up to the window demanding to know where I was and why he was still sitting (well, pacing) in the waiting room and when am I going to finish his scan. Also, Charge Tech says I need to "communicate better." That pissed me off. I know I told the guy there was going to be a wait. I had two other patients besides him who deserved my attention. Fortunately for him, there's a lull due to other tests going on, so I snuck over and finished Mr Grumpypants' scan.

    Hallelujah.

    Most of the rest of the afternoon was pretty normal. Then scheduling called and asked if I could work in a HIDA scan that day. I told them no dice. I don't have a 90 minute slot open with enough leeway time to order a dose. Besides, I didn't think payroll would be happy if I stayed late. They said thanks and hung up and I went about my day. A couple hours later, Boss called. Boss asked if I could do that same HIDA scan and that I could stay late to do it. I gritted my teeth and agreed to it.

    This patient also had other tests and several departments rearranged their schedules to make it work. When the patient didn't show up, we started wondering. Turns out, supervisors from several of our satellite locations were e-mailing around to fit this woman in somewhere. And instead of coming to <home location>, she went to <other other location> I was practically dancing for joy thinking J at <other other location> would do the scan and I could go home. Then Boss called back and asked if I would drive to <other other location> and do the scan there. After I finished my shift at <home location>. Curse being poor and needing the money. Boss agreed to pay me milage and told me to stay on the clock while I drove over and transfer my time once I got there. For what I get paid, that's a sweet deal. So I did.

    Clock out time from <other other location>: 6:01pm

    Yup. For all intents and purposes, I pulled a 12hr shift yesterday. Not cool when you're not used to working at all.



    Wednesday
    Admittedly, today wasn't bad. Thankfully. I might have gone on a murderous rampage if it had been like yesterday. I did have one patient who had everything in the world wrong with her and was way too chatty.

    The real fun today fell on the x-ray techs. The CT scanner was blocked for a couple hours for its annual calibrations. There is also this machine with 4 slots that reads the x-ray cassettes and puts the pictures on the computer. It went kerplooey about 7pm last night. The only other reader they had was a 1-slot reader in the ER. Which really sucks when orders for multiple images come through. And we had a stretch where the computer we use to put in orders wasn't talking to the computer that stores images and puts them on the network for the doctors to read. Which also sucked.



    Tomorrow looks to be easy and so does Friday. Hopefully they stay that way.
    I am no longer of capable of the emotion you humans call “compassion”. Though I can feign it in exchange for an hourly wage. (Gravekeeper)

  • #2
    Hugs-- better yet, get a foot/leg massage from someone you luv.
    I'm glad you made it through Jedi! have something tasty and relaxing... Bailey's perhaps? *offers*
    "Is it the lie that keeps you sane? Is this the lie that keeps you sane?What is it?Can it be?Ought it to exist?"
    "...and may it be that I cleave to the ugly truth, rather than the beautiful lie..."

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    • #3
      Wow, what a crazy week! Hope today and Friday are better!

      Um, what injection...? I had a stress test and they didn't inject me w/anything. So I'm guessing there's more than one kind of stress test?
      When you start at zero, everything's progress.

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      • #4
        Quoth MoonCat View Post
        Um, what injection...? I had a stress test and they didn't inject me w/anything. So I'm guessing there's more than one kind of stress test?
        Yeah, there's stress echoes, regular treadmill tests, and nuclear stress tests. The nuclear variety includes images which require the use of a radioactive tracer through an IV.

        Today's highlights include playing phone tag for over an hour with a doctor's office to correct an order and adding yet another HIDA scan. I did have a no-show patient, which really lightened my afternoon.
        I am no longer of capable of the emotion you humans call “compassion”. Though I can feign it in exchange for an hourly wage. (Gravekeeper)

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