Work update

I've been meaning to do this blog for a little while. I get distracted by all things Harvey even though work is still a significant part of my life and is the reason we are still here. Things have been going pretty good. Since I came back from maternity leave, we got a new medical record system. No more paper charting. I miss it. It was pretty slick and fast and easy. The first couple months of the computer stuff were tricky. It slowed things down a LOT and so we were really busy. Well, we are always busy, but it was worse because we were slow. Things have gotten a lot better and I feel pretty comfortable and fast with the system now - even though it's a crappy system. But we are still busy. It is crazy. These numbers might not mean that much to anyone but we are often seeing 70-80 patients a day. Before the boom it was maybe 30. When I first started we were getting close to 50 and that seemed busy. 70-80 with one physician and one midlevel and a small handful of nurses is INSANE. That part has kind of been rough. It feels stressful and it's hard to find time to eat and pee and I still am breastfeeding so I have to pump a couple of times a day and that has been hard and I feel guilty leaving, but somehow it's been working out. I still really enjoy it for what it is. I love being in the ER and we have a really good and mostly consistent group of docs now and I like all of them so that has been HUGE. I really like the nurses I work with so that is good too. I just still don't love leaving Harvey. I wish I could be a stay at home momma but I feel grateful I have this job and that I do like it and I understand how important me being here is. They are desperate for people so it's nice to feel needed.  And I did get a "promotion" in the last few months - Lead PA. Woo hoo. There's only two of us (well, 2.5 - there's a lady that picks up a few shifts a month). But still. I did get a pretty good raise recently too so that's also nice. I was also recently put in charge of all the scheduling. So I make the schedule and whatever I say goes. I still try to work it so everyone is happy - sometimes I wish I didn't feel the need to do that - that I could just do whatever I want and let them fill in the rest. But it works out and it's probably better that we all stay relatively happy. And word on the street is that they are working on hiring another PA that wants to mostly work weekends. That would be glorious. But that word has been lingering in the streets awhile and with the way things "work" around this hospital, I'm not counting on it until I see his self in the ER with a badge. Last time I asked they were hoping before Christmas. We'll see...
My contract is up in May. It's crazy to think we're almost to 3 years of being here. (I sometimes think it's more crazy that we've lived in a single wide trailer for almost 3 years. Wow).  But anyway - we'll see what happens as we get closer to that day.
I have to include a few of the pics I've taken over the last few months. So Nat - if you want to quit reading now - you can. I'll put the least gross one first so if you accidentally catch a glimpse, it won't ruin your day :) Muah!

This kid set a skill saw down on his leg - apparently he thought the cover was on. Apparently it wasn't.
This one happened awhile ago and quite frankly, I can't even remember how it happened. Gross.  
Car accident. That center spot is his skull.  Ouch.

 

 And yesterday I did another leg lac that was almost identical to the skill saw thigh. It was skill saw thigh number 2. This one was a little less in length but went through the fascia and got the muscle so was a little more involved. Lots of fun. I mostly love sewing. It works out because most of the docs don't like it. I'm sure there's been a ton of other good and stupid stories lately - but I haven't really been keeping track. And a couple of the ones that have stood out are definitely too inappropriate to share on a public blog ;)