Divemedic

Seven Days

I now work for a free standing Emergency Room. The regional manager had mentioned during my interview that they were opening a new location this summer, and asked if I would consider taking over as the manager, or was I wedded to just being PRN. I told her that would depend on the terms of the offer. I’m guessing the current managers consider me to be a threat, at least judging by what has happened since.

I had worked a total of 7 days at my new job since completing onboarding: one or two days per week, not counting the three weeks of the Europe trip. I got called into the office by the site manager. On her computer screen, the ED manager from the other site where I did my onboarding was there via TEAMS. The manager looks at me and says “How do you think you are doing?”

I said, “Well, I would have said fine, but since we are having this meeting, I’m guessing that’s not right.”

Both laugh. Then the manager continues, telling me that she has had “people” come to her and tell her that I am taking too long to triage my patients. I tell her that this is concerning to me, and I am more than willing to increase my speed, if they can tell me where I am lagging. No one wants to be “that guy” who no one wants to work with.

They tell me they have no idea. The manager attending by TEAMS says, if only there was some way we could get data from EPIC (our medical charting software) we would be able to tell you. I wish EPIC had a report for that.

“It does- there are reports for everything a nurse does- triage time, treatment efficiency, average time to complete medication orders, all of it. Let me show you how,” I offered.

The manager replied: “Well, we aren’t sure that those reports are accurate. There are ways to game that data.”

So then I asked them where I am slow, and what I can do to show improvement. They tell me that they don’t know. Then they instruct me to go see nurses Amy and John, who are working with me that day. They can watch me work and tell me. They tell me that the standard is for the patient to wait 2 minutes or less in the waiting room, and 10 minutes or less for triage. The expectation is that I comply with those numbers. Then they thanked me for not being difficult and accepting the counseling like a professional.

So I took their advice and went to see Amy and John. That’s helpful, because Amy has worked with me for 4 of the 7 shifts I’ve had so far. They were both surprised, and told me I wasn’t slow, and couldn’t see anything I was doing wrong.

So I turned to EPIC- you know, the ones the manager at first said didn’t exist, and then told me weren’t accurate. According to EPIC, there are 18 nurses in my department. I ran a nurse efficiency report. The report showed the nurses have average triage times ranging from 2 minutes to 9 minutes, with an average of all of them being 4 minutes and 32 seconds. My average time? 4 minutes and 3 seconds. Not one of my patients has been longer than 8 minutes. In addition, I see more patients than my coworkers on the days that I am working, which indicates that I am faster than they are. Not more than any one of my coworkers- more than they are combined. On the days I work, I see 55% of all patients who walk through the door. The other two nurses on shift with me see the remaining 45% combined. I’m fast enough that coworkers tell me to sit down and let them catch a couple of patients.

So I sent an email to the manager informing her that Amy and John had no suggestions, and EPIC showed my average times to be far below the required ten minutes. I then asked if they could be more specific, because I cannot correct a deficient behavior if my leadership can’t even tell me what behavior it is that I need to correct. I attached a copy of the report.

This is some piss-poor management. They complain that my work isn’t sufficient. They can’t tell me what exactly I’m doing that is deficient, nor can they tell me how to correct that deficiency. Instead they send me to talk to a pair of coworkers for advice, who also can’t see where I am doing anything wrong.

What management school is that?

In this case, the email I sent was for documentation purposes. I only work there one or two days a week. They had talked to me about joining the management team, but I don’t want to go full time again, no matter what the pay. I’m going to keep my head down and do three to five more years working part time, then collect social security. I am no longer fighting the workplace wars that are so stressful and aren’t that important.

It’s been over a month since all of that took place. No one has said a word, and I received no answer to my email. I suspect that my MBA, the fact that I am more certified than my managers, I am more knowledgeable on the EPIC software as evidenced by her not even knowing how to run the nurse efficiency report, and let’s face it, because I am a man, all make me a target.

I’ve been watching my coworkers. One of the ones who has a 2 minute triage average? Yeah, when a patient walks in, he moves them in the computer from lobby to a room, then charts his entire assessment and triage. All without getting up from his desk. Then he goes to the lobby to actually put the patient in a room, enters vital signs, and collects any needed labs. In other words, he isn’t fast, he is lying. He isn’t doing his job, he is just reporting that he is doing his job. That is something I refuse to do. This is what happens when management cares more about metrics than outcomes. Too many administrators are like that, but I just won’t do it. Reports are supposed to reflect reality, but too many nurses bend reality to fit what the reports show.

So my plan here is now: No write-ups, no escalations, no drama, not being the fastest, best, or most efficient nurse. Keep my head down, collect my $50 an hour, and go home at the end of the day. If someone says something to correct or counsel me, the answer will be “Got it—I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you for your input.”

Things are winding down as I glide into retirement. In January, I sold the rental properties and paid off my house. I need to earn enough this year to cover my capital gains from that on next year’s taxes. Next year, I pay off my Jeep Gladiator. Then I keep putting money away to fund my future travels. I don’t need to be right, or be the best, I just need to be paid. Keep my eye on the prize. Let them all keep fighting over who is the best and playing office political games. I’m not playing those any longer.

I only have three years before I can retire. After that, I only work until I get tired of the bullshit.

By Divemedic, ago

Answers

From la Repubblica, a story of the deceased divers from the Maldives. A Finnish team managed to recover the final two deceased divers yesterday. All four of the remaining divers were located in the same chamber, more than 200 feet below the surface, and more than 300 linear feet inside the cave. The rescue team has given some insight into what happened to the missing divers. To understand what happened, a map of the underwater cave.

This is a diagram of the cave system, as seen from above, looking down. The divers entered the cave from the right, off of the frame.

The divers entered the cave system at a depth of 180 feet. The cave begins with a first large, very bright cavern with a sandy bottom. It would seem enticing to go further, as this looks very inviting.

They swam through a connecting tunnel from the first chamber to the second. This connecting tunnel is almost 100 feet long, ten feet across, and just three feet tall. It led to the second chamber of the cave, which is a large, round space with no natural light. This second chamber had a depth of over 200 feet. The interior of this chamber would be completely cut off from daylight, and the only visibility would be provided by any handheld lights that the divers had brought with them. The inside of such a chamber is a confusing jumble of rocks, with one rock looking much like any other rock. Even though the water in here was clear, it was a dark, confusing maze of rocks and sand.

At some point, they entered the third chamber (which was a dead end with no way out) through another tunnel whose entrance was right next to the connecting tunnel leading back to the first chamber and the exit. The Finnish team notes that the exit tunnel’s opening was partially obscured from view from the vantage point of a diver in the second chamber by a large pile of sand. It is easy to get over the sandbank into the second chamber, but when you turn around to leave again the bank almost looks like a wall, hiding the corridor from view. The team believes that the divers mistook the tunnel leading to the dead end and their literal death for the tunnel that would lead them to safety.

The divers were only equipped with 80 cubic feet of breathing air. At 200 feet, they would breathe through that supply at 7 times the rate of the surface. By the time they had penetrated the cave to that point, they likely had a minute or two of air left before they all drowned from lack of air.

This reinforces my opinion of what I think happened. These divers were diving beyond their training, experience, and equipment. Had they been properly equipped and trained, they would have stretched a guideline as they went and wouldn’t have gotten lost. They would have had more than just 80 cubic feet of breathing gas, and they wouldn’t be dead.

This was diver error, plain and simple. As I said before, the ocean is an outright jealous bitch, and she shows no mercy to those who do not give her the respect she deserves.

EDITED TO ADD

One of the things that gets me, although it shouldn’t at this point, are the social media experts who are claiming this team had tons of training and experience, so something else must have happened. I have seen theories ranging from “they had bad air” to rogue currents (although how a current runs through a dead end cave, they don’t explain), and even one that claims they were drug there by a large squid to be used as food.

I am not the only experienced diver who actually knows better. It doesn’t take any special disaster to have made this happen- just a combination of inadequate training and experience combined with arrogance of Dunning Krueger and a dangerous environment with a very small margin of error, and that’s all you need.

By Divemedic, ago

Next Time

This man sued the police because he was arrested for posts celebrating the murder of Charlie Kirk.

I agree. The police went about it the wrong way. If you disagree with what someone has to say, just label it as hate speech and kick the crap out of them. The First Amendment doesn’t apply to anything labeled as hate speech, and if they defend themselves you can claim he started it with his hateful rhetoric and isn’t permitted to defend himself.

By Divemedic, ago

Entertainment

A couple was arrested for leaving an unsecured bicycle in their yard then using a bat to beat thieves who tried to steal it.

The best part of the story is how wven though they were arrested, no charges were filed. The real purpose of police is to ensure a fair trial for those accused of crimes. Once they stop ensuring that and criminals run wild, their victims take matters into their own hands.

By Divemedic, ago

That’s My Policy

Oregon police say that grown men exposing themselves isn’t a crime unless they can establish that the man exposing himself is doing it for sexual gratification. The leftists there agree with him because a 2 year old won’t remember it, so no harm, no foul.

Here is my answer:

When the cops arrive on scene and there is a dead naked guy in my yard next to my child, and I am standing there saying he was trying to sexually molest my child, who are they to say I am wrong?

By Divemedic, ago

Another Killer Tranny

Hey, at least they are out there killing the Muslims who would gladly toss them from a roof. I will allow it. Penalties offset. Replay the down.

The fact that they were not MAGA, but instead were trannies explains why this dropped from the news cycle so quickly.

By Divemedic, ago

Men and Women

We have been having a lively conversation about child support and paternity. A comment here made me want to write a complete post as a story and possible warning from my own past:

The one thing that I have always been poor at, is in romantic relationships with women. I did have a girlfriend once who told me that it was because I am a professional rescuer in every sense of the word, and she told me that because I feel the need to rescue everyone, some women will take advantage of that. I’m not sure if she is right, but a string of failed relationships does tell a compelling story.

One of those relationships was as big of a mess as you could ever imagine. This one was the one and only time that I dated a woman who had children. She had two of them, and about 3 months after we began dating, I let her move in with me because she and her two kids had nowhere else to go. I helped her out in a lot of ways. I let her use my second car, I provided her with a cell phone on my account, and treated her children properly. A few months later, we broke up, but she kept my car and my cell phone. Then she sued me for child support.

So it turns out that we had dated for a year and a couple of days before breaking up, and there is a law that says if a man acts like a father to children that aren’t his for a year or more, but that man is the only father figure these children know, the court can consider what is in the best interests of the children and can compel him to visit, spend time with, and pay child support for the children. The theory is called parentage by estoppel. Under the doctrine of parentage by estoppel, a court can order a non-biological man to pay child support if:

  • He knew he was not the biological father.
  • He held himself out or acted as if her were the child’s father
  • The child relied on that representation, forming a parental bond and treating him as a father.

This is applied in narrow circumstances, often in stepparent or long-term partner situations. A year or more of acting as the only father figure can support such a finding. Once established as a legal or equitable parent, support obligations can follow even after separation. So that’s what she tried to do.

In my case, she told the court I was abusing her, so she wanted child support and also a domestic violence injunction. That way, I wouldn’t get other parental rights like visitation or joint custody, but I would still have to pay child support. It took me a year to get out of that mess. You can read about much of the case here. I resolved to never again date a woman who had a child.

I made the mistake of telling the story to another girlfriend, and she tried doing the same thing, just minus the child support. It was also a mess. The only good thing with this one is that she was stupid and I only had to deal with it for about a month. I can certainly understand the idea of men not wanting anything to do with women. Thanks to our court system, relationships with women are something that is fraught with danger.

By Divemedic, ago

Rich and Poor

Kevin O’Leary tells people not to waste $28 a day on lunch.

He is immediately scorned because, the people who are struggling complain, then produce excuses as to why they need those $28 lunches. Do the math:

If you go out to lunch at $28 a day every workday, that works out to $560 per month in lunches. What if you had brown bagged it every day instead? That could easily free up $350 per month that could be invested. In an index fund at 9% per year, that adds up.

  • In 10 years, it would be worth $67,000
  • 20 years, $233,000
  • 30 years, $640,000
  • and at 35 years, you would break a million

Or you can keep going out and spending $28 a day on lunch, $5 on a Starbucks every morning, and complaining about how you are still broke and blaming “boomers” for the fact that you can’t afford to buy a house.

By Divemedic, ago