Fifty eight

Nurse Bass strikes again.

Working triage and responsible for EKG. My job is simple stupid. Do EKGs and be damn sure I am available for "Cardiac Alert" EKGs. Do the EKG tell pt to stay put, find attending and have them sign off on the 12 lead. It is a new point of pride at this hospital we have this cardiac program and whiz bang awesome cardiac cath lab which is a sure money maker like colonoscopies, it rakes in the money and lordy the prestige esp with cardiac caths (see The Rape of Emergency Medicine). If you have read my previous posts then you know all the way down to my level that this is something you DO NOT fuck with. Especially if we can catch an MI early and get the pt cathed and save a life. I take this seriously it gets my undivided attention. It saves lives, can get ol' Crusty ER Tech in  a shit ton of trouble and makes the hospital money. It seriously has my attention esp when it comes to saving lives and staying out of trouble that I can avoid.

Seriously, full stop.

I make sure I stay in the area and hate to wander away from the EKG bay. Most of the time we have an EKG tech but on weekends and holidays we do not. Also when the EKG tech wanders off to do whatever we have to cover them. It happens.

Enter Nurse Bass. I have my head down doing EKG in the bay for a variety of patients. I'm plugging away and catching every EKG I can find in the system because I am VERY afraid of missing one. We have a different system of triage from every other place I worked it works well you just gotta pay attention to some small details and our system for ordering normal EKG and "Cardiac Alert" EKGS are very hit or miss. Basically if a "Cardiac Alert" EKG comes down a triage nurse who orders the test is suppose to tell me and have the patient there on hand. It rarely works like that. So I am constantly refreshing the computer and looking for new EKG orders.

Nurse Bass is charge nurse that day. Nurse Bass LOVES to delegate and is happy sitting in a chair behind the desk "managing" the area. By managing I mean looking at wedding and baby shower websites. I got my head down and have only left for five minutes to use the bath room I was gone for maybe five minutes. About 2 hours in the shift Nurse Bass spots me sitting in the EKG bay "surfing the internet" which is not true because the computer I am on has been blocked from internet access I was checking for EKG orders again, again and again. I had just finished up an EKG for a dialysis patient and directed the patient to the appropriate area a few minutes before.

Nurse Bass tells me that I don't need to be "sitting around" and I need to help her clean rooms and help her with her duties. I inform her of the policy which states that I need to stay in the area and be readily available for the triage nurse. She ignores me then proceeds to get cross with me and restates what she just said. I have no recourse.

As the fates have it a bunch of EKGs are given to me over the next 45 min to an hour. I'm plugging away doing what I am suppose to be doing. Then Nurse Bass reappears and talks to the triage nurse. Either Nurse Bass does not see me or is being passive aggressive and says...

"Have you seen Crusty ER Tech? I have not seen him in an hour, he's probably wandering off some place or hiding, I'm so sick of his shit." this is a direct quote folks.

I'm actually hurt by this statement because I am a stay at home type of tech assign me to an area and you can find me there. Again ESPECIALLY when it comes to EKG stuff.

Nurse Bass is standing right in front of me when she says this. I'm behind the EKG machine and look up at her in all her girth and glory and I say "Nurse Bass I'm right here and have been for nearly an hour doing one EKG after another for just as long like I am suppose to. If you do not belive me ask the Triage nurse and check the log on this EKG machine."

Nurse Bass is unhappy with my response, I think part of it was because she was talking shit and did not see me sitting there.  She tells me I am suppose to help her clean rooms. I say we have house keeping for that and if a nurse cannot wipe a bed and pull a film of paper down over a exam table then something is wrong. The bays in the triage area are not getting trashed because we turn them over quickly. Nurse Bass is not hearing any of this, she tells me that I need to help her clean rooms and do as she directs (meaning I need to clean rooms). I ask her about doing "Cardiac Alert" EKGs and other EKG as directed by the docs. She says "we'll cross that bridge when we come to it"

Another words I'll be thrown right under the bus for missing EKGs while I am out doing her bidding. I have no recourse and we are having this discussion in a patient care area. I look to the triage nurse for support who is usually supportive she shrugs her shoulders and says "She's charge"

I throw up my hands and have no choice "Nurse Bass believe what you like I could care less, I'll do whatever." at which point she turns on her heel, walks over to the desk and looks at the board (by board I mean a baby shower planning website)

For the rest of the day I am furiously running around like a maniac trying to do the "whatever" while trying to stay on top of EKGs. I'm doubly cranky and mentally exhausted by the end of the day. The day ends with a line from Nurse Bass:

"Well night shift is here, I want to thank all the docs and mid-levels (PA's and NP's) for their hard work today." At this point the triage nurse says "What about the nurses and Techs?"

Nurse Bass pretends she did not hear the triage nurse sitting beside her.

So ends another shitty day for Crusty ER Tech. I gotta find another line of work.