It seems that someone in the old DRMC dinosaur finally woke up.
The key to continuing a tradition in providing care to a community is not through authoritative and unreasonable administrators.
Although there is still an incredibly long row left to hoe, getting rid of that incompetent ER director will go a long way in overhauling an establishment sure to fail if the sum of past errs do not correct themselves.
Hears to a new future,
bottoms up, er teammates, you've earned it!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Appreciative patient said...
I want to say a positive for the DRMC ER STAFF. I recently had a severe allergic reaction to medication with a BP of 70/40. I was obviously very ill and covered in hives and splotches. I had to be ambulanced from the clinic to the DRMC. The Ambulance staff were very kind and alert to my needs before, during and at the end of my transportation across town. Once arriving, the DRMC staff immediately took action to admit me and determine the cause of the reaction. Every one was attentive, courteous and professional. When questioned they answered an explanation or offered it, before the question occurred. Knowing how low my BP was, I was scared to death and doing a lot of mental praying to God from the ride in the ambulance to arrival at DRMC. Within a short time, the physician, Hilton O'Neal and staff had my symptoms back under control. I had arrived around 4:30/5:00 PM and was treated and released in much better shape by 6:30PM. At the end of the evening, I was splotch free and feeling sooo much better!!!I was truly relieved and impressed by everyone taking care of me Thanks to all on the ER day staff on April 14th, 2009!!
April 15, 2009 2:24 AM
I can tell you, it's a rare case, indeed that the ER staff receives commendation for a job well done.
I think part of the reason is that the administration's perception of satisfaction is not a true measure of the successful patient outcome.
Let me qualify that first by saying this... A successful set of circumstances in the ER measures first survival of life and limb. That should be the primary affirmative measure. That's not to say that ill will or maliciousness should be allowed or acceptable. But when the focus changes from being able to function in a trauma situation to fluffing pillows and what not.... you are setting yourself up for a lot of trouble.
Speaking only for myself and my family, I would much rather have a nursing team that can function together in a trauma situation and save my life than the weather girl who can barely function at all, but grins and laughs with the directors.
I am delighted that you and your family choose Delta Regional to meet your urgent and emergent health care needs, and especially so that you are willing to share a pat on the back for a job well done. I say this knowing that out of even this most successful of outcomes, the sorry director they have over there probably still found a way to "write up the situation" and portray it as someone doing something wrong.
I can assure you this- the sooner that hospital loses the current ER administration, the more success that will achieved for the community it serves.
I want to say a positive for the DRMC ER STAFF. I recently had a severe allergic reaction to medication with a BP of 70/40. I was obviously very ill and covered in hives and splotches. I had to be ambulanced from the clinic to the DRMC. The Ambulance staff were very kind and alert to my needs before, during and at the end of my transportation across town. Once arriving, the DRMC staff immediately took action to admit me and determine the cause of the reaction. Every one was attentive, courteous and professional. When questioned they answered an explanation or offered it, before the question occurred. Knowing how low my BP was, I was scared to death and doing a lot of mental praying to God from the ride in the ambulance to arrival at DRMC. Within a short time, the physician, Hilton O'Neal and staff had my symptoms back under control. I had arrived around 4:30/5:00 PM and was treated and released in much better shape by 6:30PM. At the end of the evening, I was splotch free and feeling sooo much better!!!I was truly relieved and impressed by everyone taking care of me Thanks to all on the ER day staff on April 14th, 2009!!
April 15, 2009 2:24 AM
I can tell you, it's a rare case, indeed that the ER staff receives commendation for a job well done.
I think part of the reason is that the administration's perception of satisfaction is not a true measure of the successful patient outcome.
Let me qualify that first by saying this... A successful set of circumstances in the ER measures first survival of life and limb. That should be the primary affirmative measure. That's not to say that ill will or maliciousness should be allowed or acceptable. But when the focus changes from being able to function in a trauma situation to fluffing pillows and what not.... you are setting yourself up for a lot of trouble.
Speaking only for myself and my family, I would much rather have a nursing team that can function together in a trauma situation and save my life than the weather girl who can barely function at all, but grins and laughs with the directors.
I am delighted that you and your family choose Delta Regional to meet your urgent and emergent health care needs, and especially so that you are willing to share a pat on the back for a job well done. I say this knowing that out of even this most successful of outcomes, the sorry director they have over there probably still found a way to "write up the situation" and portray it as someone doing something wrong.
I can assure you this- the sooner that hospital loses the current ER administration, the more success that will achieved for the community it serves.
-deltapithy
Monday, April 13, 2009
Outraged said...
I was informed today that a new policy of ER is to NOT allow any family members in with a patient, until they are seen by a doctor.Where do I complain or to whom?This is outrageous! There is no way I would want my husband, child parents or in-laws to have to be alone for any length of time in an ER circumstance. I can understand limiting numbers, but to have no one??? Unacceptable! My Mother-in-law is 89 years old and has Alzheimer's, if something comes up with her, either myself or my husband will be with her at time of admission and one of us better be let in with her, or there will be such a scene!!!A friend told me she had to wait 45minutes to join her 88 year old mother, who had fallen and was severely injured at a local nursing home. By the time she finally got in with her mother, her mother was frantic and terrified. Totally unnecessary trauma! I have seen it take even longer to see a doctor, in no way should anyone injured or incapable be alone for any time without family members, if available. Tell me who to contact.
I would not be able to speak to the newest rules in the ER. They seem to make them up as they go. I have been told in the past that family members are not to be limited, I have also been told to limit the guests to one... I guess it just depends on the administration's bipolar pendulum and which way its swinging in that day.
From the outside looking in, I am a fan of limiting family members to one. It's a small space. A lot of things are going on. I am a fan of having the family members elect one person to be the "one" that receives the information and then is responsible for dispursing it to the other family members. It tends to "gum up" the works when you have numerous people needing information and your nurse is spending time explaining procedures over and over again. I am also a firm believer that in critical or trauma situations that the initial assessment should be completed prior to allowing family back to visit. In these few situations, family should be kept abreast of their family member'scondition and the tests that are in need of completion prior to allowing family back. I agree in situations when a patient is confused, a familiar face is a powerful remedy.
My best advice to you is to burn up the phone of the administration. They have more directors of this, that and the other that are paid to do pretty much nothing. advertising, patient satisfaction, quality management. Call them first. Call the main hospital phone line and ask for Mr. Humphreys. You can bet your money that if you only speak to the charge nurse or the director or the er administrator, it will be covered away with along with their own tails and nothing will happen.
This hospital belongs to the taxpayers... It is our dollars that are paying these high salaries spent on incompetence and arrogance of the ER director and administrator. Until Mr. Humpreys gets tired of hearing the voices of the community, nothing will change and all that's left of the staff that cares will be long gone as well.
Good Luck. I hope your voice can make a difference.
I was informed today that a new policy of ER is to NOT allow any family members in with a patient, until they are seen by a doctor.Where do I complain or to whom?This is outrageous! There is no way I would want my husband, child parents or in-laws to have to be alone for any length of time in an ER circumstance. I can understand limiting numbers, but to have no one??? Unacceptable! My Mother-in-law is 89 years old and has Alzheimer's, if something comes up with her, either myself or my husband will be with her at time of admission and one of us better be let in with her, or there will be such a scene!!!A friend told me she had to wait 45minutes to join her 88 year old mother, who had fallen and was severely injured at a local nursing home. By the time she finally got in with her mother, her mother was frantic and terrified. Totally unnecessary trauma! I have seen it take even longer to see a doctor, in no way should anyone injured or incapable be alone for any time without family members, if available. Tell me who to contact.
I would not be able to speak to the newest rules in the ER. They seem to make them up as they go. I have been told in the past that family members are not to be limited, I have also been told to limit the guests to one... I guess it just depends on the administration's bipolar pendulum and which way its swinging in that day.
From the outside looking in, I am a fan of limiting family members to one. It's a small space. A lot of things are going on. I am a fan of having the family members elect one person to be the "one" that receives the information and then is responsible for dispursing it to the other family members. It tends to "gum up" the works when you have numerous people needing information and your nurse is spending time explaining procedures over and over again. I am also a firm believer that in critical or trauma situations that the initial assessment should be completed prior to allowing family back to visit. In these few situations, family should be kept abreast of their family member'scondition and the tests that are in need of completion prior to allowing family back. I agree in situations when a patient is confused, a familiar face is a powerful remedy.
My best advice to you is to burn up the phone of the administration. They have more directors of this, that and the other that are paid to do pretty much nothing. advertising, patient satisfaction, quality management. Call them first. Call the main hospital phone line and ask for Mr. Humphreys. You can bet your money that if you only speak to the charge nurse or the director or the er administrator, it will be covered away with along with their own tails and nothing will happen.
This hospital belongs to the taxpayers... It is our dollars that are paying these high salaries spent on incompetence and arrogance of the ER director and administrator. Until Mr. Humpreys gets tired of hearing the voices of the community, nothing will change and all that's left of the staff that cares will be long gone as well.
Good Luck. I hope your voice can make a difference.
-deltapithy
Thursday, March 12, 2009
the talent of living by the golden rule
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"
"Karma"
"What goes around, comes around"
There's many ways to say it, few ways to live by it.....
I think it is safe to say that there is still a fair amount of talent left at Delta Regional Medical Center. There are still plenty of people left in our community that are committed to making a difference in their town, irregardless of the work conditions they are subjected to.
These people, the ones of us you still see working at Delta Regional Medical Center, the ones of us you still see trying to survive for the sake of their neighbors, the ones of us you still see trying to make a difference, are there despite the rubbish they are expected to eat at the hands of our directors and administrators.
A task becoming yet more and more unbearable. I think it is a point worth mentioning that its not always the ones worth losing that leave. It's not always the bottom of the barrell. Sometimes those are the ones that are not going to take it anymore.
Thats not to say that the team members still there are any better or worse than the ones that leave, it speaks merely to the bologna tolerance inherent to their beings.
As healthcare professionals, we take it day by day. Do the best you can. Stand with your chin up at the end of that day when you have to go home and look in that mirror.
It takes more talent for some of those directors and administrators than others to look in the mirror and be proud of the way they lived their life that day. I'd bargain to say that some of them have given up on the golden rule alltogether because they sure gave up on treating people right.
"Karma"
"What goes around, comes around"
There's many ways to say it, few ways to live by it.....
I think it is safe to say that there is still a fair amount of talent left at Delta Regional Medical Center. There are still plenty of people left in our community that are committed to making a difference in their town, irregardless of the work conditions they are subjected to.
These people, the ones of us you still see working at Delta Regional Medical Center, the ones of us you still see trying to survive for the sake of their neighbors, the ones of us you still see trying to make a difference, are there despite the rubbish they are expected to eat at the hands of our directors and administrators.
A task becoming yet more and more unbearable. I think it is a point worth mentioning that its not always the ones worth losing that leave. It's not always the bottom of the barrell. Sometimes those are the ones that are not going to take it anymore.
Thats not to say that the team members still there are any better or worse than the ones that leave, it speaks merely to the bologna tolerance inherent to their beings.
As healthcare professionals, we take it day by day. Do the best you can. Stand with your chin up at the end of that day when you have to go home and look in that mirror.
It takes more talent for some of those directors and administrators than others to look in the mirror and be proud of the way they lived their life that day. I'd bargain to say that some of them have given up on the golden rule alltogether because they sure gave up on treating people right.
My New Hero
A head with a heart
an article by Kevin Cullen, Boston Globe
It was the kind of meeting that is taking place in restaurant kitchens, small offices, retail storerooms, and large auditoriums all over this city, all over this state, all over this country.Paul Levy, the guy who runs Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, was standing in Sherman Auditorium the other day, before some of the very people to whom he might soon be sending pink slips.
In the days before the meeting, Levy had been walking around the hospital, noticing little things.
He stood at the nurses' stations, watching the transporters, the people who push the patients around in wheelchairs. He saw them talk to the patients, put them at ease, make them laugh. He saw that the people who push the wheelchairs were practicing medicine.
He noticed the same when he poked his head into the rooms and watched as the people who deliver the food chatted up the patients and their families.
He watched the people who polish the corridors, who strip the sheets, who empty the trash cans, and he realized that a lot of them are immigrants, many of them had second jobs, most of them were just scraping by.
And so Paul Levy had all this bouncing around his brain the other day when he stood in Sherman Auditorium.
He looked out into a sea of people and recognized faces: technicians, secretaries, administrators, therapists, nurses, the people who are the heart and soul of any hospital. People who knew that Beth Israel had hired about a quarter of its 8,000 staff over the last six years and that the chances that they could all keep their jobs and benefits in an economy in freefall ranged between slim and none.
"I want to run an idea by you that I think is important, and I'd like to get your reaction to it," Levy began. "I'd like to do what we can to protect the lower-wage earners - the transporters, the housekeepers, the food service people. A lot of these people work really hard, and I don't want to put an additional burden on them.
"Now, if we protect these workers, it means the rest of us will have to make a bigger sacrifice," he continued. "It means that others will have to give up more of their salary or benefits."
He had barely gotten the words out of his mouth when Sherman Auditorium erupted in applause. Thunderous, heartfelt, sustained applause.
Paul Levy stood there and felt the sheer power of it all rush over him, like a wave. His eyes welled and his throat tightened so much that he didn't think he could go on.
When the applause subsided, he did go on, telling the workers at Beth Israel, the people who make a hospital go, that he wanted their ideas.
The lump had barely left his throat when Paul Levy started getting e-mails.
The consensus was that the workers don't want anyone to get laid off and are willing to give up pay and benefits to make sure no one does. A nurse said her floor voted unanimously to forgo a 3 percent raise. A guy in finance who got laid off from his last job at a hospital in Rhode Island suggested working one less day a week. Another nurse said she was willing to give up some vacation and sick time. A respiratory therapist suggested eliminating bonuses.
"I'm getting about a hundred messages per hour," Levy said yesterday, shaking his head.
Paul Levy is onto something. People are worried about the next paycheck, because they're only a few paychecks away from not being able to pay the mortgage or the rent.
But a lot of them realize that everybody's in the same boat and that their boat doesn't rise because someone else's sinks.
Paul Levy is trying something revolutionary, radical, maybe even impossible: He is trying to convince the people who work for him that the E in CEO can sometimes stand for empathy.
an article by Kevin Cullen, Boston Globe
It was the kind of meeting that is taking place in restaurant kitchens, small offices, retail storerooms, and large auditoriums all over this city, all over this state, all over this country.Paul Levy, the guy who runs Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, was standing in Sherman Auditorium the other day, before some of the very people to whom he might soon be sending pink slips.
In the days before the meeting, Levy had been walking around the hospital, noticing little things.
He stood at the nurses' stations, watching the transporters, the people who push the patients around in wheelchairs. He saw them talk to the patients, put them at ease, make them laugh. He saw that the people who push the wheelchairs were practicing medicine.
He noticed the same when he poked his head into the rooms and watched as the people who deliver the food chatted up the patients and their families.
He watched the people who polish the corridors, who strip the sheets, who empty the trash cans, and he realized that a lot of them are immigrants, many of them had second jobs, most of them were just scraping by.
And so Paul Levy had all this bouncing around his brain the other day when he stood in Sherman Auditorium.
He looked out into a sea of people and recognized faces: technicians, secretaries, administrators, therapists, nurses, the people who are the heart and soul of any hospital. People who knew that Beth Israel had hired about a quarter of its 8,000 staff over the last six years and that the chances that they could all keep their jobs and benefits in an economy in freefall ranged between slim and none.
"I want to run an idea by you that I think is important, and I'd like to get your reaction to it," Levy began. "I'd like to do what we can to protect the lower-wage earners - the transporters, the housekeepers, the food service people. A lot of these people work really hard, and I don't want to put an additional burden on them.
"Now, if we protect these workers, it means the rest of us will have to make a bigger sacrifice," he continued. "It means that others will have to give up more of their salary or benefits."
He had barely gotten the words out of his mouth when Sherman Auditorium erupted in applause. Thunderous, heartfelt, sustained applause.
Paul Levy stood there and felt the sheer power of it all rush over him, like a wave. His eyes welled and his throat tightened so much that he didn't think he could go on.
When the applause subsided, he did go on, telling the workers at Beth Israel, the people who make a hospital go, that he wanted their ideas.
The lump had barely left his throat when Paul Levy started getting e-mails.
The consensus was that the workers don't want anyone to get laid off and are willing to give up pay and benefits to make sure no one does. A nurse said her floor voted unanimously to forgo a 3 percent raise. A guy in finance who got laid off from his last job at a hospital in Rhode Island suggested working one less day a week. Another nurse said she was willing to give up some vacation and sick time. A respiratory therapist suggested eliminating bonuses.
"I'm getting about a hundred messages per hour," Levy said yesterday, shaking his head.
Paul Levy is onto something. People are worried about the next paycheck, because they're only a few paychecks away from not being able to pay the mortgage or the rent.
But a lot of them realize that everybody's in the same boat and that their boat doesn't rise because someone else's sinks.
Paul Levy is trying something revolutionary, radical, maybe even impossible: He is trying to convince the people who work for him that the E in CEO can sometimes stand for empathy.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Has anyone seen the new postings for careers at Delta Regional? It is a ridiculous sight. More nurses appear to be flocking elsewhere. There are tons of nursing positions posted. Including confirmation of the rumor that the underqualified, overpaid worthless assistant director of the ER "resigned" at a time that couldnt be more convenient for the nurses who get flexed home and get short checks. that was probably the most rational decision made in light if recent decreases to patient visits and how that applies to the "keith-inspired" spreadsheet and flex home formula now in place. Let me break it down for you. Every hour or two the patient visits for the day is checked. if a certain number of patients haven't been seen, a nurse goes home. Sounds potentially reasonable but forget not about the triage esi system that dictates that if your visit is not a level three (one that requires 3 or more resources) you will be medically screened and probably not be seen. So now the process the idiot administrators created for the ER cuts the throats of the nurses while they all still sit in their offices drawing full time hours. Every one has a gripe to tell on payday about their checks being short. Just about everyone. It seems one nurse not only always gets her hours (and 20 + hours of overtime this last pay period) but now has been encouraged to apply to be the replacement assistant director. An even more ridiculous notion. Not even a year out of school. No critical thinking skills. She'll fit right in. Go for it. Everyone on the outside looking in knows that the administration of the ER and the hospital in general is taking a long walk off a short pier. Hopefully there will be a little something salvageable for those of us left behind. I wont be holding my breath waiting for that one.
-deltapithy
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Telling it like I see it said...
Unfortunately, lubing up "the triad" and sliding them out the door is not a viable solution. In the mean time, the employees (as well as the patients) are getting lubed up. Problems aren't limited to the ER at DRMC. The whole place is falling into this man-made sinkhole. Ethics in higher ups haven't seen daylight in decades. Nurses are being horribly overworked hospital-wide. The staffing in ancillary departments has been severely cut, which in turn is making the already overworked nurses even more stressed out over lab timing, etc. And to top it off, they still have a raise freeze in effect, but have no problem hiring PRN nurses at vulgar salaries. It's a vicious cycle.I will jump on board for hoping that 2009 brings brighter days. I would say that it couldn't get worse, but I highly doubt that.
All non-administrative personnel at Delta Regional Medical Center would surely agree that ethics have no pertinence to leadership at that hospital. The directors could care less about loyalty, servitude, dedication, or teamwork.
Their interests only live in that little circle of what can be seen via tunnel vision, focused solely on what is most beneficial to their own tail-covering (or tail kissing depending on where the position lies in the daily changing chain of command pyramid!)
Ancillary departments and underlings are always the first to go in a top heavy administration. Its crazy. Cut the throats of the lower paid folks, add even more responsibility to nurses, then hire prn nurses who don't really care about this community much less have a clue about teamwork. They don't have to. They just rocket-boostered out of their medsurg positions in other places to make probably double the salary as a nurse in the ER or the "Heart Hospital". No trauma experience or cardiac background. No multitasking or critical thinking skills. No baseline knowledge or skills assessment. No need. As long as it fits into some crazed action plan by a director at the DRMC, signed, sealed, and delivered by their champion administrative team. Another Delta success. And so fast. Man!
They have to come up with those plans quickly. They have other highly important things that demand their attention, for God's sake! How else could all of the administrators sit in their offices, not listening to music, not surfing the Internet, not balancing their checkbooks justify their positions?
I wish a magical slide did exist. I for one would love to the entire administrative team slide on out the door. For good.
Unfortunately, lubing up "the triad" and sliding them out the door is not a viable solution. In the mean time, the employees (as well as the patients) are getting lubed up. Problems aren't limited to the ER at DRMC. The whole place is falling into this man-made sinkhole. Ethics in higher ups haven't seen daylight in decades. Nurses are being horribly overworked hospital-wide. The staffing in ancillary departments has been severely cut, which in turn is making the already overworked nurses even more stressed out over lab timing, etc. And to top it off, they still have a raise freeze in effect, but have no problem hiring PRN nurses at vulgar salaries. It's a vicious cycle.I will jump on board for hoping that 2009 brings brighter days. I would say that it couldn't get worse, but I highly doubt that.
All non-administrative personnel at Delta Regional Medical Center would surely agree that ethics have no pertinence to leadership at that hospital. The directors could care less about loyalty, servitude, dedication, or teamwork.
Their interests only live in that little circle of what can be seen via tunnel vision, focused solely on what is most beneficial to their own tail-covering (or tail kissing depending on where the position lies in the daily changing chain of command pyramid!)
Ancillary departments and underlings are always the first to go in a top heavy administration. Its crazy. Cut the throats of the lower paid folks, add even more responsibility to nurses, then hire prn nurses who don't really care about this community much less have a clue about teamwork. They don't have to. They just rocket-boostered out of their medsurg positions in other places to make probably double the salary as a nurse in the ER or the "Heart Hospital". No trauma experience or cardiac background. No multitasking or critical thinking skills. No baseline knowledge or skills assessment. No need. As long as it fits into some crazed action plan by a director at the DRMC, signed, sealed, and delivered by their champion administrative team. Another Delta success. And so fast. Man!
They have to come up with those plans quickly. They have other highly important things that demand their attention, for God's sake! How else could all of the administrators sit in their offices, not listening to music, not surfing the Internet, not balancing their checkbooks justify their positions?
I wish a magical slide did exist. I for one would love to the entire administrative team slide on out the door. For good.
-deltapithy
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