(My Reflections posts are more stream-of-consciousness kind of posts so I apologize up front if some of what you read doesn’t make sense. But this is me we’re talking about here so … are you really surprised? Also, I’m behind – again, anyone surprised?)
February 1:
So. In addition to being part of the UAT (Urgent Action Team), I will be continuing to help the VA department import their documents into patient’s chart, (not hard, in fact, it’s sort of mind numbing but it is time consuming), I will be part of another team – getting authorizations for patients who come to the hospital by ambulance and are being admitted to the hospital. They say the requests that come in for this particular group are intermittent and sporadic – some days it may be one, some days it may be six, but the point is, it’s another project I’ll be working on. And to be honest? I love it! Ha! Didn’t see that coming, did you? Well, hold on, let me clarify that statement, I’ll love it when I know what I’m doing. Right now? It terrifies me. However, that project won’t start until February 8th to give us some time to get semi-used to fully taking UAT over. I can do this … I can do this … I can do this …
February 2:
Gah! SOOOO hard to focus today! I only worked till noon. I don’t know if I was having a stroke, or what, but I could not focus on anything this morning. I know it’s because I was super distracted because I was going to pick mom up after work and we were driving to Overland Park, Kansas, but still. When I have days like this I can’t help but wonder – am I losing my mind? Is this early dementia? I need to stop thinking like that, I don’t want to manifest that to become true. After clocking off, I gathered my suitcase, loaded up the car and drove over to pick mom up. The weather was perfect – sunny and almost 70!! In February!! We were really blessed with great weather. After making sure mom’s house would still be standing when got back, (oven is off, etc), we got on the road. I love road trips. But I won’t bore you with recounting the story here, I’ve written about the entire weekend here.
February 5:
Today was hell incarnate. So. I sometimes check my email on Sunday nights just to clear it out so that I don’t clock on Monday with a handful of emails clogging my focus. When I signed on last night, I noticed that it was time to change my password – the hospital requires that you change it every six months. But it’s always a pain to change it because it takes a minute for the other programs to catch up and it causes some glitches. So, again, to avoid a messy Monday, I went ahead and changed my password. And I couldn’t get back into my programs. “Oh well”, I thought, “it will work itself out on Monday”. I signed on this morning at 7:30 and my programs still weren’t coming up, so I clocked on and called the Help Desk thinking, “Oh well, they’ll have this up and running by 8:00 AM.” It wasn’t until 3:00 today that something was decided, IT couldn’t figure it out. In the meantime, I’m literally sitting around all day waiting with bated breath for someone from IT to deem it necessary to reach out to me, (to be fair, they did a great job, it was just as frustrating for them as it was for me), and TODAY was the first day the UAT was up and running, SOLO. I felt so bad for my coworkers!!! They not only had to struggle to figure out a brand new process but now they had to cover my alphas, too. (I’ve been assigned the D-H’s). IT couldn’t figure it out so I told them I was going to go into the office, (which is conveniently located right across the street from the hospital which is also conveniently close to our house – not everyone is as lucky), to see if I could sign on and maybe, hopefully, get SOMETHING done. Because at this point IT didn’t know if it was my account, or my computer. I unplug my computer, because IT was going to meet me to pick it up and work on it and I go into the office. Which is always super awkward because we’re rarely there and people look at you like, “Who the heck are you?” Which … fair. I sit down, sign on and I’m able to access my programs! Okay, so it’s definitely my computer. I contact my IT guy and he advised me to plug my computer into the hospitals resources. I carefully figure out how to do that, (because I’m often technologically challenged) and the MoFo freaking works!!! So, apparently, IT said that once in a while, (and OF COURSE it happens with me), when a person works remotely the VPN disconnects from the hospital’s servers and you have to take your computer up the hospital to plug into their system directly for it to reconnect. That is what happened to me. So, Monday was completely wasted but at least I have my computer back and I can continue to work from home as opposed to having to go into the office until IT could fix my computer. There’s always a bright side!
February 6:
Today kicked my butt. Since I had computer issues yesterday today was my first full day of the new process and being solo and … wow. It really pushed my multi-tasking abilities to the limit. I ended up doing a lot of cases and that, at least, went pretty smoothly. However, as with any new process, we had a lot of work management wasn’t anticipating, so now everyone is scrambling to absorb this unexpected surprise and trying to compensate. I have to give management credit, though, they have been mega involved this entire process and we have a lot of support, that certainly helps.
February 7:
Worked 10 hours today. Got A LOT done but I’m brain dead. That is all.
February 8:
Had a butt-pucker moment today. (You know what I’m talking about – we all have butt-pucker moments, don’t lie). I’m figuring out that mornings are going to naturally be our busiest times. Which makes sense because the clinics are open, the doctors are cranking patients out and sending them for stat tests. It’s mid-morning and I’m like this cat meme:
When my supervisor messages me and asks if I can work on the ambulance transfer request that just came by email. CRAP! I forgot we were going to start taking that project over starting today. It couldn’t have come at a worse time. I was in the middle of things things, (for real, not exaggerating here), I had a meeting in 45 minutes and they wanted me to work on a process that I haven’t even had time to read the documentation for. Suuuuure. So, I flatly told my supervisor that I would have to tackle it after my meeting. (Sorry about the gif above – I wish it would shut off, it’s distracting, but it perfectly depicts my day). After my meeting, management, me and one of my UAT co-workers all worked through the process together and it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. But just add that fat, juicy morsel to my already overflowing plate of tasty job duties. *sigh*
February 9:
Just when I thought it COULDN’T possibly be busier … WRONG. I don’t know what happened today but I’m quite convinced that every single person in the city with the last name between D-H saw their doctor today because my inbox EXPLODED. Again, furiously working away, like that annoying cat gif above and by the time I clocked off at 5:30, (supposed to clock off at 4:30), my brain was M.U.S.H. I ended up working five hours overtime this week. I’m exhausted.
February 10:
Finally got my hair colored today. My hair dresser, actually, I’ve only been to her once but I think she’s the sweetest and we really hit it off, moved to another salon to be more independent, (good for her!), so I awkwardly walked into the place and acted like I owned, “Hello!”. That’s my go to – fake confidence, no one will know that you’re actually trembling inside. It was a great experience, she didn’t charge me as much, but I gave her a generous tip anyway, and I hope she sticks around. Good stylists are hard to find! I went over to mom’s afterward, my sister was in town, and we chit-chatted, worked on some crafts and went out to lunch and dinner. It was a fun day!
February 11:
Chores. Sundays are boring for me. I save all my housekeeping chores for Sundays because I just can’t be bothered during the week. Kevin got another part for the treadmill, this makes his fifth try, and though he’s closer to getting fixing it, (it’s not sucking power and causing the lights to flicker anymore), it’s still not working. He’s not giving up on fixing it, (Kevin is a BULL DOG when it comes to this kind of stuff), but he’s finally agreed to buying a new treadmill. So. We’ll start seriously looking, (I have my eye on one on Amazon), and make the leap. I’m ready. I NEED to walk again. I do WAAAY too much sitting.
February 12:
It snowed today! Big, fat, wet flakes. It was beautiful, really. And it was one of those days that I was really glad that I was working from home. It was nice to look out the window and not have to stress about getting out in it. But we were fortunate, it all melted off by the afternoon – my favorite kind of snow. Management is helping with our UAT flags. They are trying to figure out why we’re getting so many requests. And they are figuring out that there are some that are being sent to the pool that shouldn’t be. In essence, our pool is becoming a dumping ground for the crap that no one else wants to take care of. NOPE. Not happening and I will continue to point this crap out and bitch, in a professional way, until it stops. Not happening. Met mom and my sister for dinner after work at Fazoli’s. We ate, chatted, and laughed for two hours, it was nice. My sister goes back home tomorrow. Boo.
February 14:
Happy Valentine’s Day! Yeah, I don’t care. It’s not that I don’t care, per se, but my thinking is, every day should be Valentine’s day. You should show the ones you love how much you love them every day, not just a designated day of obligation. Anyway. My impressions of my co-workers: you can read that post here.
February 15:
And of COURSE, I was Voluntold to train one of the new UAT girls. We have two girls that are currently being trained for the job, one of them is doing great, the other one is not doing that great. Guess which one management stuck me with. *sigh* Why, WHY?!? But being the team player that I am, I said I would be glad to help and today was our first day. She’s very nice and she seemed to know what I was talking about. She was also an MA in her previous life so she is familiar with clinicals and insurances, etc. But she’s not familiar with our system. No worries, I can work with that. But I confess, this is taking more patience that I’m capable of having right now, so I’m struggling. But we got through the day.
February 16:
Kevin put the treadmill together! I felt bad for him, it weighs 200 pounds and he really struggled bringing into the house. I couldn’t help because I was still working so he did it all by himself. He was going to call LeRoy but as he says, “I can’t rely on LeRoy all the time.” So, he dragged the thing in from the garage, all the way to our bedroom, put it together and by the time I clocked off, it was ready for me to sync up and unlock. I had to sign up for an iFit account, which … meh, we’ll see, I get the first 30 days free, then we’ll see if it’s worth paying for. But after making an account and syncing up my phone, it unlocked. I can’t wait to use it! I’ve done nothing but sit for the past month and I’m ready to get back to it. We’re going to keep the old treadmill, Kevin thinks he can fix it and with enough time, he probably can. It’s become a challenge for him now. I wish I had his problem-solving patience and skills. The reason I was still working when Kevin was bringing the treadmill in was because everyone else left early so I was LITERALLY the last person on the clock and guess what? Crap came in that had to be worked. I went into overdrive and I got crap done, ya’ll! That was the fastest I’ve worked at this job so far and it was exhilarating but I wouldn’t want to do it very often. Also, I was annoyed that management didn’t think to have more than one person AFTER 3:00 PM!
February 17:
Mom came over to our house today. We ate at Schlotzskys for lunch, came back, finished Season 4 of Survivor, (the person I wanted to win, didn’t win), had some coffee, snacked on the strawberry cheesecake she brought over, along with the Snickerdoodle cookies I made, crafter and listened to the audio book “The Shack” Which isn’t bad, but has taken a weird turn. I worked on my diamond painting until I got tired of that and then switched to cross-sticthing an angel Christmas ornament, and poor mom worked on undoing a mistake she made on a plastic canvas project. I love my Saturdays with mom. Afterward, Kevin and I went out to eat at Whole Hog Cafe, (BBQ, yum!) and watched “Awakenings.” Which made me cry. I hate crying.
February 18:
Worked five hours today. Yes, it’s Sunday. Management has approved overtime and I’m taking advantage of it. I worked on importing VA documents and sending those documents to offices so our Vets can get appointments. Our VA department is always behind and I feel bad for the Vets who need to be seen. Also made two banana loafs today.
February 19:
Frustrating day at work. One of my co-workers seemed mad – or maybe not. It’s really hard to gauge people’s moods or deciphering tones because we communicate exclusively by writing. I don’t have the advantage of decoding facial expressions or listening to the way people say something to know exactly what they’re saying and how they’re saying it. Had to coach one of my co-workers today – I just don’t think she’s UAT material but that decision is above my pay grade.
February 20:
Head down and focus kind of day. I ignored Teams pretty much the whole day and that really helped. I ended up covering 8 alphas today. I loved it, but it was a lot. Did some more admits – really not digging these admits. It’s primarily because no one knows what’s going on or what to do and I HATE not knowing what I’m doing or understanding WHY I’m doing something. Talked to Brandon today – it was his last day of the job he hated. He starts his new job next week and he’s looking forward to the change. I hope this new job works out for him. He’s had lousy luck with jobs.
February 21:
Management is going to give the new girl the admit/transfers. Thank goodness. Pretty sick of the daily meetings. I appreciate management being right there and available to talk about issues and work on solutions but these daily meetings … too much.
February 22:
I’ve lost track of how much overtime I’ve gotten this week. It’s been crazy trying to keep track of the crap that is being dumped on us. Now that Ciox is gone and we’ve taken over full time, it’s really been an adjustment for everyone. We’re realizing that a bunch of stuff was dumped on UAT when Ciox was here – I guess they just did it – but that’s going to stop. UAT is not a dumping ground. If the test isn’t scheduled and it’s marked stat/urgent, how do we know it’s really stat/urgent? To be fair, how do we know it’s NOT? Starting to get burned out and something is going to have to give. Can’t keep this pace up indefinitely.
February 23:
I’ve been running the work flow through my head, trying to come up with a workable solution. I wrote down a possible flow and presented it to management. Who knows if they go along with it but it helped to just write it out and get it straight in my head. UHC’s website was down today and everyone FREAKED OUT. We have a lot of patients that have UHC insurance so it was a real struggle to work those. We had a department-wide meeting today, basically, to tell everyone to chill out and consolidate your UHC cases so that when you call, you have several to check as opposed to being on hold for 30 minutes waiting to check one. It all seems so common sense to me but I guess people truly don’t have common sense anymore. It’s exhausting and I’m exhausted.
February 24:
Weekly get together with mom. Watched Survivor, worked on some cross-stitch Christmas ornaments, talked to sis on Google Meet. We’re coming up on Dad’s one-year anniversary of his death. I can tell it’s starting to take a toll on mom.
February 25:
Booked another camping trip today. It’s in the boothill – we’ve never really been down there before. It’s in the middle of nowhere but it has sewer, is a state part and I’ve seen some good reviews on it. Can’t wait to go camping again!
February 26:
Quiet today. Would have been great but management voluntold me, (I seem to be voluntold for a lot of things lately) to speak to some woman about the UAT processes. I think she’s trying to meld our processes with the hospital’s processes. She was very nice and I enjoyed talking to her but … we’ll see if anything really comes from it. I have mixed feelings on management “asking” me to do these types of things. On one hand, it’s flattering to be asked and that they have confidence in me but on the other hand, I really wish I was one of these personalities where I could just sort of fade into the background. Alas – I am not that person.
February 28:
The pace is starting to slow down a bit. We’re not being sent some stuff like we were before so I think everyone is getting the hint – don’t send us your crap. Management doesn’t seem to be as focused on UAT as they were in the beginning. I think they are shifting their focus to other departments and I’m okay with that!
Write From Karen 