We're having a nurses meeting tomorrow about the 12 hour scheduling shifts. Or as it was said in the email announcing the meeting; "discuss 12 hour scheduling and some of the issues related to that". I'm still firmly on the fence about the whole issue. This week has given me at least a slight taste of what that might be like. By calling in on Monday I ended up with a stretch of three days off in a row... something that isn't possible under our current scheduling system but something that will be fairly common with 12 hour schedules.
That's not to say that I felt like it was an extra day off. I didn't prepare for it and I spent most of the day trying to get my car out of the driveway and/or learning about and shopping for snow tires. The thing that is making me wonder about the scheduling is the fact that I only worked for two days before having another day off. My current rotating two week schedule is this: Three days on, one day off. Three days on, one day off. Four days on, two days (weekend) off. Rinse, repeat. There are obviously differences in each nurses individual schedules and some do in fact have a two days on, one day off set during their rotating two week schedule. But it feels... wrong. I feel like I should be going to work today.
What does this mean for the meeting? Well, I don't plan on changing my stance with my supervisors just yet. My only words to them so far on the subject has been "I'll let you schedule me anyway that you see fit, and any way that will help you out.". Until I actually try 12 hour schedules and the series of days on/off I can't really know if I'll like it better or worse.
Speaking of work, I had another good day. I was the lone RN in the clinic, had three ride ins, four appointments, and picked up a couple other appointments from the RN that was in the med room. Not a busy day by any stretch of imagination, but I easily held my own. The one challenging point of the day was with one of the ride ins, and shows a major difference between being a regular nurse and being a correctional nurse. This inmate was sharing that he was having a series of headaches and asked me about them. As it was an entrance interview and this wasn't a current medical emergency, my response was (as it should be) to kite in for an appointment.
I told him that I would like a full appointment to ask him a series of questions about the headaches so that I could get to an appropriate diagnosis. Instead of accepting that, he kept digging for information. With most people I'd assume that this was just an attempt to get information about his ailment. But there was something more to this guy's digging... he wanted to know more about symptoms to serious problems. Tumors, epilepsy, strokes. Like a professional dodge ball player, I kept siding away from giving him information on those subjects.
There is a whole group of people that once they hear a list of symptoms will assume that they are experiencing them and believe they have whatever diagnosis is being read about or discussed. They're called hypochondriacs. That is an honest concern for nurses, but my concern is deeper than that. In prison, inmates often are seeking attention and special treatment. There aren't many avenues for that, so often they'll fake injuries or symptoms to get special treatment from the health care staff. I got no impression from this particular inmate that he was seeking to learn about his condition. He was seeking information on how to fake an illness.
As much as I like discussion health issues with people and educating them on their personal health issues (educating is a major part of being an RN0, I have to constantly reign that impulse back. I've seen first hand where I give out information on an illness that an inmate clearly does not have, only to see him back later discussing the symptoms of that illness to another nurse. They can take the information that I give them and use it against other nurses to get that special treatment and attention. All that does in the long run is soak up time and effort from the health care staff and take our attention away from inmates that have legitimate health concerns.
If there is one thing that I will never get used to as a correctional nurse, it's that. Holding information back because it can be used for ill.
On to a different subject. I got in touch with an old friend recently. We went to truck driving school together and both left the profession about the same time. We remained close friends for a couple years, but when I started my retail job while in nursing school we lost touch. His job is Monday through Friday so the only real chance he has to recreate is Saturday nights. Working every Sunday morning ensured that the only day I couldn't recreate was Saturday nights. So for several years we just didn't hook up or hang out. On New Years day he texted me to rub in the fact that his favorite football team (the Michigan State Spartans) were in the Rose Bowl (he knows damned well I would rather see my Michigan Wolverines there!). We chatted back and forth a bit before setting up to go to the North American International Auto Show (better known as the Detroit Auto Show) together. We both love cars and are often shunned by family members and other friends for the love we have of cars that are out of the main population's fancy. We both enjoy hatchbacks and small cars. We both love foreign luxury/sport cars (think Aston Martin and Maserati).
The last time we went to the show I was driving Lita and he was driving an older Buick. Neither of us were happy to be driving these particular cars. It will be interesting to get together again and show off Fiona (hopefully with her new snow tires!). But more importantly than that it will be interesting to rekindle our friendship.
Over the years I've only had a small handful of friends. Over time our friendships always seem to fizzle out as we grow apart. In elementary school it was Charlie and Brandon. In junior high it was Andy. In high school it was Chris Dennis and Greg. In early college it was Tammy and Chris. In later College it was Elijah and Bill. In my photography career it was Elijah and Adam. In nursing school it was Elijah, Adam, Bill, and Megan. I've completely lost track of Charlie, Brandon, Andy, Dennis, Greg, Tammy, Bill (the second one) and Megan. Chris, my high school and early college friend, I keep up a bit with on facebook... but we haven't seen each other for almost a decade and there isn't any way we could really be considered friends. No matter how facebook classifies us. Bill (the first one) and I talk every once in awhile, but we've seemed unable to rekindle our friendship. When we do talk, it often falls into the old routine of him trying to convince me to come along with him on some business venture, and me losing interest in the conversation.
Basically what i'm saying is that I've never gone back and re-hooked up with an old friend. Once the friendship started to wane, it's always gone downhill until I lose track of them and am left with only memories. Sure, this friend and I didn't have a long friendship, but it was genuine.... and I'd like to continue it, if I'm able.
I guess there's nothing else I want to cover at the moment. My brother fell and hurt his back quite severely while putting down salt on his icy steps (irony flows through this like water through a river bed), my mother got sick and then got better, I'm still looking for a way to spend the $80 in gift cards I got for Christmas, and I'm considering keeping the Amazon Prime membership I signed up for (I signed up for it on the free month trial to get the free 2nd day shipping on several Christmas gifts), although I don't know if it's worth it.
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