Amen brother! My biggest pet peeve about surveyors. But we have also had nursing units that don’t “go back” because you never know when “secret” surveyors are going to pop up from other governing bodies... and I’m sorry. Can’t tell me that folks wash their hands any better having to run down the hall to the break room to grab refreshment. It’s dumb.
The Joint Commission only cares if your hospitals following its policy on food or drinks at our workstation. The hospitals set these policies years ago and refuse to change them blaming Joint Commission. Circular logic at its worst.
As always, spot on Dr. Leap. Here's an idea....let's remove all drinks and food from the executive and corporate offices of the hospitals and the governing bodies who conducts these surveyors! Require them to go to a break room for all their drinks and food. Not even coffee or water can be on their desk and give them a specific time to go to the bathroom, and if they miss their time due to a phone call, etc. they will need to wait until their shift is over.
I suppose that there are more important issues than the food police, but they are just one more chink in the wall for us busy docs serving at the tip of the spear. To me, eating at work serves as a landmark of time during my shift. 11 AM is time for my bottle of chocolate Muscle Milk ((seven hours to go). At 3 PM I eat a crispy granola bar with a cup of black coffee (4 hours to go). Occasionally, some staff members bring cookies or doughnuts. It's all part of ER culture, and all is good, as long as you don't spill your drink on the EMR computer keyboard.
Insightful as always to those of us not in the field. Except for the fact that minds, not bodies, were on the line, as a former educator I can so relate to the documentation affecting one's job. We used to jokingly say that we had " to document what we document." The most frustrating part for educators is that it is generally those who have spent little time in the classroom making these decisions, and I suspect it's a similar scenario for those of you in the ER. It's these little things in life that help us cope with the bigger things with which we must deal. Food, drink, and access to your briefcase would help sustain you as you perform your job of attending to others. So sorry to learn you must deal with such silliness.
March 2. Looking to try an urgent care locally for a year or more. More and more complex patients, with less and less help from seemingly everyone(admin can’t get us out of having majority of ER beds as admitted holds, consultants won’t return calls to patients asking for appointments, not enough non-concierge doctors in the area, and concierge doctors who won’t provide their patients with what they deserve in that model). The list goes on and on, as you well know. Stick a fork in me…I’m done
Thank you for your heart and for telling the rest of us about your struggle. I'm remembering as a hospice chaplain how management kept track of our every key stroke so that on top of the highly stressful nature of the work you had to deal with the surveillance. It's evil.
Amen brother! My biggest pet peeve about surveyors. But we have also had nursing units that don’t “go back” because you never know when “secret” surveyors are going to pop up from other governing bodies... and I’m sorry. Can’t tell me that folks wash their hands any better having to run down the hall to the break room to grab refreshment. It’s dumb.
https://www.acep.org/globalassets/sites/acep/media/life-as-a-physician/eatinginedfaq19.pdf
The Joint Commission only cares if your hospitals following its policy on food or drinks at our workstation. The hospitals set these policies years ago and refuse to change them blaming Joint Commission. Circular logic at its worst.
That was a great post!
As always, spot on Dr. Leap. Here's an idea....let's remove all drinks and food from the executive and corporate offices of the hospitals and the governing bodies who conducts these surveyors! Require them to go to a break room for all their drinks and food. Not even coffee or water can be on their desk and give them a specific time to go to the bathroom, and if they miss their time due to a phone call, etc. they will need to wait until their shift is over.
I suppose that there are more important issues than the food police, but they are just one more chink in the wall for us busy docs serving at the tip of the spear. To me, eating at work serves as a landmark of time during my shift. 11 AM is time for my bottle of chocolate Muscle Milk ((seven hours to go). At 3 PM I eat a crispy granola bar with a cup of black coffee (4 hours to go). Occasionally, some staff members bring cookies or doughnuts. It's all part of ER culture, and all is good, as long as you don't spill your drink on the EMR computer keyboard.
Nice capture, Ed! I liked it Very high fidelity!
Rosanna
Insightful as always to those of us not in the field. Except for the fact that minds, not bodies, were on the line, as a former educator I can so relate to the documentation affecting one's job. We used to jokingly say that we had " to document what we document." The most frustrating part for educators is that it is generally those who have spent little time in the classroom making these decisions, and I suspect it's a similar scenario for those of you in the ER. It's these little things in life that help us cope with the bigger things with which we must deal. Food, drink, and access to your briefcase would help sustain you as you perform your job of attending to others. So sorry to learn you must deal with such silliness.
One of many reasons why I won’t be returning after my 30th year of incarceration, er, I mean service. Best of luck to everyone!
When will that be my friend?
March 2. Looking to try an urgent care locally for a year or more. More and more complex patients, with less and less help from seemingly everyone(admin can’t get us out of having majority of ER beds as admitted holds, consultants won’t return calls to patients asking for appointments, not enough non-concierge doctors in the area, and concierge doctors who won’t provide their patients with what they deserve in that model). The list goes on and on, as you well know. Stick a fork in me…I’m done
Best regards to you !
Mike
Thank you for your heart and for telling the rest of us about your struggle. I'm remembering as a hospice chaplain how management kept track of our every key stroke so that on top of the highly stressful nature of the work you had to deal with the surveillance. It's evil.