Divemedic

Laugh of the year

This news story is right in line with what happened in my family. I got a panicked phone call from my brother. It seems that his son, who still lives with his parents, has a medical marijuana card. He heard his mother say that she was stressed out, so he decided to use some of his weed to make her some brownies.

She ate five of them before her son told her to slow down and confessed to what was in them.

She began freaking out.

So now my brother is calling because she is worried that she is going to overdose. I explained to him that the best thing that they can do is wait for it to wear off. He asked if they should go to the hospital and I advised them that there is nothing they can do for her at the hospital.

They decided to go anyway. Soooo, after a $1,000 copay and 6 hours in the emergency room, she was again sober. They didn’t do a thing for her apart from letting her sit in the waiting room while the effects wore off.

I got a good laugh out of it.

By Divemedic, ago

Figures don’t lie

but liars figure, as the old adage goes. It seems that the number of COVID cases is WAY down. Why is that? The vaccine? Nope. The cycle threshold.

Just before the election, the Ct was 40.

An hour after the inauguration, the CDC changed the Ct to 30, which reduced the number of positive test results by 68%.

Then on May 4 it was reduced for any test of a vaccinated individual to 28. This will mean that positives will be lower for anyone vaccinated. Along with that, asymptomatic or mild infections will no longer be recorded as “COVID cases.”

One year ago, nearly to the day, I proposed that COVID was being used to influence the election. I also predicted that COVID would disappear right after the inauguration. I almost nailed it.

On a side note, my hospital has four COVID patients being cared for by a single nurse. The “COVID hall” has 28 rooms with a possible capacity of 56 patients at double occupancy. There are FOUR patients in there.

By Divemedic, ago

More on my issue

This is more on my issue with the job. I am writing all of this down because it will help me think this through. It also makes for a great post.

This supervisory position where I am working was created a year ago after some patient safety incidents, one of which ultimately resulted in the death of a patient. There was a big management shakeup because of it. This resulted in the old department head for my department getting replaced with the one that is my current boss.

The new boss decided that this unit needed more direct supervision. That is why the supervisors were hired- all within the last year. I was the last of the four who were hired. All of the other three have since moved on. What does THAT tell you about the work culture of this hospital? I don’t know- no one is talking, but the turnover tells me a lot. There is a HUGE morale problem in the place. Keep in mind that my unit is currently at half staffing. **

After I was hired, my boss told me that if we didn’t change how we were doing business, it was likely that state regulators were going to shut us down. It was crazy. This unit had been operating without written policies or procedures for over a decade. That is right in my wheelhouse- one of my Bachelor’s degrees is in EMS systems, and another one is in Public Safety and Health Management. (The other two are in Fire Science and Emergency Medicine)

So I spent my first two weeks there learning how this place did business. Then I wrote an entire policy manual over the next two weeks and submitted it to administration for approval- keeping best practices, and discarding ones that were inefficient or dangerous. Then I went out and took the boards to become nationally certified for this particular job, passed them, and turned my new certs into the hospital. None of that was a part of my job description. I did it because it needed to be done.

The people at HR told me that none of that matters. THAT is what upsets me. The job seems like a good opportunity, because it is badly in need of leadership. However, this issue with the pay and with HR seems like the place may not be salvageable.

The CFO was walked out by security on Friday. It may be that this was not the opportunity it seemed to be when I took the job.

Anyway, I wait and see what the application to the other hospital looks like.

By Divemedic, ago

Conundrum

Three months ago, I was hired as one of four shift supervisors for a unit in a local hospital: two on days, two on nights. I was to be one of the daytime supervisors. The unit is budgeted for 14 employees. They had 11 at the time I was hired.

When they made the offer, I was not entirely satisfied with the pay offered. I asked them if there was room for negotiation, and HR told me no. I told them that I would have to contact them in a day or two. I talked it over with my wife, and we took the offered pay.

After I was hired, one of the night supervisors had to resign because his wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Two of the others transferred to other departments within two months of me being hired. I am the only supervisor left. On top of that, two employees retired and three resigned in the past month. We are operating by using overtime employees from other units, and by hiring temporary travel nurses.

As a result, I have been working 12 hours a day, six days a week. It’s been tough. I am exhausted.

Yesterday they hired another day shift supervisor, and I begin training him in two weeks. We will be splitting the day schedule: three days one week, four the next. The problem I have?

I got his new hire packet, and I am livid. He is making ten percent more than I am, and he doesn’t have as many certifications or as much experience as I do. He is ten years younger than I am. I went to my boss (the department director), who told me that pay is decided by HR, and suggested I talk to them. So I did.

They refuse to talk to me about the other employee, his experience, or his pay. I get that. They also said that my certifications are not pertinent to pay, because they aren’t required for the job.

I like the job, and I was happy with the conditions, and satisfied with the pay. Until I saw his, and realized that I am training an employee less qualified and making more money.

I just saw another job at another nearby hospital. I am more than qualified for that, and they are offering a four-figure signing bonus. The difference is that I don’t think it will be as satisfying or challenging. I applied. If I am offered the job (which I probably will be), and the pay is higher (I don’t know) I will use it as a bargaining chip where I am. If that doesn’t get me what I want, I might just walk.

I don’t know yet. Stay where I like the job, but am not respected and not making as much as I could? Or a less fulfilling job that is more lucrative?

I guess that will depend on how this plays out.

By Divemedic, ago

Press supports weapon sales

The quote of the day comes from Rolling Stone magazine:

“When safety is on the line, you want the absolute best product in your hand” 

Of course, they aren’t talking about guns. The funny part is that some of their advice can get their readers tossed in jail. One of their quotes:

A stun gun, Angorn explains, is an easy — and legal — way to carry protection without having to carry an actual weapon.

So a Taser isn’t a weapon? This would reinforce the belief of some people that using a Taser on someone isn’t really that big of a deal.

Their “weapons expert” is an idiot. Some states, like Florida define a stun gun thusly:

“Electric weapon or device” means any device which, through the application or use of electrical current, is designed, redesigned, used, or intended to be used for offensive or defensive purposes, the destruction of life, or the infliction of injury.

“Dart-firing stun gun” means any device having one or more darts that are capable of delivering an electrical current.

This becomes a problem when you look at the laws concerning the carrying of electric weapons:

(b) A person who willfully and knowingly possesses any electric weapon or device, destructive device, or other weapon as defined in s. 790.001(13), including a razor blade or box cutter, except as authorized in support of school-sanctioned activities, in violation of this subsection commits a felony of the third degree

I am assuming that the readers of Rolling Stone are not any more familiar with the maze of laws concerning the carrying of weapons than are the people who advise and write articles for them.

By Divemedic, ago

Destroying women’s sports

There are millions of dollars in scholarships to be won by athletes. Men who are not fast enough to win as men are identifying and competing as women. Biological women are being beaten by these men.

 I’ve lost four women’s state championship titles, two all-New England awards, and numerous other spots on the podium to male runners. I was bumped to third place in the 55-meter dash in 2019, behind two male runners. With every loss, it gets harder and harder to try again.

That’s a devastating experience. It tells me that I’m not good enough; that my body isn’t good enough; and that no matter how hard I work, I am unlikely to succeed, because I’m a woman.

How can the Democrats claim to be feminists while they are busy destroying women’s sports? Soon, there will be no women’s sports. It will be men, and men who claim to be women that are winning everything. Women will once again be relegated to the kitchen.

How does THAT make the left pro-woman?

By Divemedic, ago

Faking climate change

There are stories everywhere about subtropical storm Ana. Each of these stories mentions that this is an early storm, that this is the seventh consecutive year that a named storm occurred prior to the start of the storm season, and that there have been more storms than “normal.”

and it is misleading.

Why it’s misleading is that “subtropical” storms were not included in named storms until 2002. What does this mean? In the 19 hurricane seasons that subtropical storms have been added to the naming system, there have been an average of 16 named storms per year, with only 4 of those seasons seeing fewer than 12 storms. In the 19 seasons prior to 2002, there were an average of 11 named storms per year, with ten of those seasons having fewer than 12 storms.

So why did the criteria for naming storms change? If you look at the statistics for named storms, something jumps out at you. The number of storms drastically increases, beginning in 1995. What changed in 1995? Was it global warming?

Nope. The director of the National Hurricane Center, Doctor Bob Sheets, retired in 1995. The director of the NHC sets the criteria by which storms are classified. Politics, or science?

You decide.

By Divemedic, ago

The Big Guy

Remember when the left said that Trump was Putin’s stooge? Remember when Biden cancelled the Keystone pipeline in order to save the environment? Do you also recall how Hunter Biden was on the board of a Ukranian energy company, even though he has no experience with oil, doesn’t even speak the language, and is completely unqualified for the job?

So explain to me how it is that Biden waives sanctions so that a Russian oil company owned by Vladimir Putin can build a pipeline. Was this because Trump was a Russian stooge, or was it to save the environment, or perhaps it was because ten percent goes to the big guy?

By Divemedic, ago