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2003-01-04 | 9:01 p.m.

Diary, I don't think I've ever met anyone quite so .........self-contained? guarded? irritating?

As far as I can tell, I'm the only one he pulls this crap with. Needles me in front of a group, but almost never says two words to me when we're alone.

I want to know why. Why did he wait until this past Friday to ask about something that's been sort of floating around out there since right after Christmas? I have not been the only nurse to care for the patient b/t the time we discovered she was infected until now. Matter of fact there have been 6 nurses involved in her care since she started her course of antibiotics.

You see, Diary, I am the float. That means I generally work on the same assignment for no more than 3 days and then I'm shuttled over to another one. Then I spend a day or two on that assignment, and then some time off and back to another assignment... I have no chance to stay on one assignment and build a knowledge base about the patients BUT I am expected to get all my work done, regardless, which means I have less time for research, or to spend on small details. Sure, I might see Mr. Jones's birthday once when I'm filling out a form, but I won't see that or give a thought to how old he is for weeks or even months afterward until the next time I want to know for a specific reason. So if you were to ask me randomly, "How old is Mr. Jones?" I prolly won't know off the top of my head. I will know where to look to find out, if necessary. And actually that's really all I need to know. I've gotten into the habit of thinking like this, on a pared-down matrix of the most basic understanding of patients, only remembering what I must, documenting what's necessary, and quickly forgetting everything else.

Something tells me He doesn't feel comfortable about this. He also doesn't want to be asked to do even a single thing more than his normal duties for a normal day. The last time he got cocky with me, it was right after he and his partner were asked to get find time to get a weight on a patient who has failed to thrive lately. He almost immediatly develops this insistant, irritable attitude, and almost demands to know the answer to his questions. Right in front of the whole group.

First off, I don't know why this or that wasn't done, because I'm not the only nurse there, and I'm certainly not in charge of the final decisions on these people. Add that to the fact that I float, and the fact that the regular nurses don't share anything more than the most basic information about a patients current status, and I won't have the answer off the top of my head.

Also, morning report, which is supposed to be a 6 or 7 min. briefing for the aides, isn't intended to be a nurse to nurse report. The nurses aides don't need to know which blasted antibiotic a patient was put on and for how long. (I think they like to come up with these questions just to buy some time so they can sit for a total of 10 minutes before they have to get back to work.) When He gets his blasted nursing lic., He'll get his blasted nurse to nurse report. Until then, He will simply have to put up with my "ah yes, thats a good idea. Ahha. Ahha. I dunno. *nod* I'll have to see...".

Matter of fact, Diary, that's going to be my answer from now on when they come up with these questions. "I don't know. If you're burning with curiosity about this at lunch time, ask the supervisor. Take it up with the D.N.S."

Yep, that works just fine. Screw those guys.

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