T and the rest of the work gang

I promised y'all an update on my trainee, T. The last couple of weeks have been really really good! T was put on the 'regular' schedule right before Christmas; she'd been told that if she couldn't handle it, then she was pretty much done. Dean and I were not happy with this, because we both felt that she'd worked really hard, was trying *all* the time, and with her health and personal problems, she deserved to be cut a break. I understand that's not the way of the big boys in the upstairs office, but dammit, if we don't start watching out for each other no matter where we are on the corporate ladder, then...well...I'm sure you all can finish that sentence.

Anyway, T started on the regular schedule, which, in her case meant she would work every weekend and have a couple of days off during the week. And, she did very okay! Not spectacular, but only a couple of "senior" draws had to be done for her maybe every third day - just the same as everyone else! Over the New Year's holidays, my boss asked me to keep an eye on things and especially to go over all the paperwork T still had and get her signed off on as much as possible. On Monday after New Years, T and I were assigned to one of the 'regular' psych units and then when we finished with that, we were to go to a non-psych medical floor. There's another girl, Angela, who was also assigned in that pavilion; Angela can be...a bitch. It seems to be her MOS. She's the one who does things like file sexual harrassment allegations against the guys; always claims that they have the hots for her and want her to have affairs with her. Ya think the U will figure that out once she files one or two more of 'em?

Anyway, T had a tremendous day that day, so the three of us got finished with our complete pavilion long before any of the others had checked in. T restocked her tray and asked where we should go to fill in, then she headed for the bathroom before we left. Angela told me that T just didn't have a clue on the paperwork, and told me some things that T had done. Later, when I was going over T's paperwork with her, I told her straight up that I was not going to hide anything from her, and if I had direct questions that seemed odd, it was because I needed to make certain she knew what was going on before I signed her off the paperwork. That was fine with T.

One of the things we spoke about was the allegations that Angela made. I didn't mention names, but simply asked her if she knew the difference between an assession number and the patient's ID number. T looked at me, and said, "Did Angela tell you that I didn't know the difference?" I don't get paid enough to play upstairs office games, so I simply said, "Yeah, actually, she did. And, if you have a problem with these things, I want to know about it and we'll work to clear it up." T said, "G-dammit! That happened over two weeks ago and Angela went running to Kathy right away to complain; she wouldn't talk to me, wouldn't even let me answer her questions, just assumed she knew what I was saying and decided it was wrong."

So, what Angela was trying to do was manipulate *me* into believing something was wrong that *wasn't*. Fortunately, for me, I've been around Angela and her type many times so I had a clue. I spoke to Kathy about it the next day, and she basically said, "Gotta consider the source."

But, back to T. She's getting almost all her draws, even some that Dean is reluctant to try; we've figured out a method she can use to pull blood with a 10 ml. syringe, which needs to be used on blood cultures; she's trying to do the computer work and is getting more comfortable with that. Dean is taking all the trainees out individually and doing all the blood cultures with them; saves us, and we can sign off on them sooner for the trainees this way. So, at this point, T still needs to get more of the computer stuff under her belt, get signed off on blood cultures, and type and screens, and then her comfort level will just come naturally over time. But, I have to admit, I'll be really happy when her 6 months are up which means the U won't be able to just *fire* her, but will have to go thru due process to do so. She's gonna be okay.

And, on her personal life...well, I'm proud of her more and more all the time. I believe I may have mentioned that her nephew was staying with her and had refused to help with some things around her new place. I thought the nephew was around age 21, but I had him confused with another nephew. The one staying with her was actually 32. He had lived with a woman for 6 years, had three kids with her and never held a job. Didn't have to, y'know...he had hisself a wummin to do everything for him. Thank the gods the woman was smart enough to kick him out before the seven year mark, which in Iowa makes it a common law marriage. So, T lets the nephew stay, comes home one night from her second job and has another relative coming over to help 'nephew' bring her entertainment center into the trailer. 'Nephew' informs T that he's "going out". They had a confrontation of sorts, and Nephew tells T that he doesn't have to flush the toilet, take out the garbage, clean up after himself...basically that he didn't have to do anything he considered "her" work. All he needed to do was sit on his ass and watch TV when he wasn't at work.

T told him to get out. He started calling her a f******* bitch, and she said, "Nephew, I'm not (ex's name), I'm your aunt and this is my house." "Don't you be bringing (ex) into this!" A couple more sentences were exchanged which brought T's character into question, and he popped off with, "You're such a fu******bitch, it's no wonder no man wanted you or ever will, etc. etc."

T looked at him, and said, "Get OUT...now." So, he threatened her physically, and she stood her ground and he backed off. He went and got his clothes and his key...handed her the key and she said, "I don't ever want you to come near this place again, and not only that, I never want to SEE you again."

Turns out he was paying her rent by the week and he hadn't paid her anything that week because it wasn't in his plans to give her any of his money. Didn't work to his advantage, because in Iowa the law says if you have clothes in a residence, legally they can't kick you out if it's your domicile. However, since he hadn't paid her the rent on the required day, it changed the rules and she was able to kick him out without all the usual due process stuff. So, somehow, she's getting stronger and taking a stand in a lot of places and I'm really proud of her!

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I've also been working with two other trainees, E (who I've mentioned before) and L. Both were students in the Kirkwood class I TA'd last semester. Just as a comparison, L and E are both ready to be on their own with only about 4 weeks of training, compared to T who has had about 12 weeks. Today was L's last day on 'days'; she was hired to work on the afternoon shift, so she will train for a couple more weeks on her shift and then be done. E will stay on days with us. I should probably warn him about Angela and her sexual harrassment thing. *wink*

Anyway, we got done and cleared the patient log early today - early enough to go to break. E got down there before I did; he had asked in the lab if I would mind speaking with him privately. No problem.

As I was walking down the break with my buddy, Anne, Anne said, "Kate, you'll never believe the s*** that's going around with the white girl clique now." I sighed and said, "What now?" She proceeded to tell me she'd come up on a conversation in which she and I were being discussed hatefully because the clique doesn't understand why Dean, Anne and I do most of the training of new employees - *THEY* are perfectly capable of training people TOO, you know! Anne just said to them that she does what she's told, she does not make out the schedule and if Kathy wants her to train, she's gonna train. And, as for me, I had the option of either learning peds, or taking a trainer's assignment, and I chose to train. It was no secret in the lab, but I guess if you have to have something to gripe about, it might as well be something like that, huh?

So, I was just plain pissed; not one of those things where I'm gonna be pissed for a week, but just one of those eye-rolling, 'oh, brother!' kind of things where you realize who said it, and you're not surprised, nor do you really have to be upset or even care.

Then I sat down with E. Guess what he wanted to talk about? Professionalism. He wondered why he wasn't seeing it.

He was supposed to go with Dean to do blood cultures today, but Dean had a schedule change and wasn't there, so E went out with Katherine. I've mentioned Katherine before; she's the one who is from the projects in Chicago and lives for men, sex, and porn...and getting out of work as much as possible. She's a really good and capable phlebotomist and I really hate to see her not reach for potential. That's another tale, though.

Anyway, Katherine took E with her. They had an easy day scheduled; one patient in the medical psych ward on the other side of the hospital, one patient on the bone marrow transplant floor, and then they had to help finish up another medical floor with under ten patients.

Seems that as Katherine and E went to leave to head for the psych unit and that ONE patient, Katherine said, "Let's wait for Becky and she'll go too." (Becky had been assigned to peds which you can't start till 7:30 a.m.) So, for the ONE patient, we now have E, Katherine and Becky. They get partway down the hallway and spot Sarah at the elevator, so Katherine and Becky start "hollering" for Sarah to come along too!

So, 4 people went to do one patient. Only two were supposed to go...Katherine and E.

E questioned this, and was told, "We all like each other and like to hang around with each other and talk and stuff and it doesn't matter because we're not busy today."

Um...wrong.

E tried to hand the bone marrow patient to Becky and she said "Later", so he shrugged and just went on, figuring he was the trainee and not supposed to be telling them how to do their job. According to E, though, they got in the psych unit, and while E was drawing the patient, the other three were whooping and hollering and Becky even filled a 10 ml syringe and was squirting Katherine with the water she'd put into it. Totally unprofessional. When they were leaving, Becky suddenly "remembered" the bone marrow patient and E said, "Here...here is the label - why don't you just go draw it?" And she scurried off and found that the nursing unit had already drawn the patient because they needed the labs, so had cancelled our draw.

E formerly worked for Xerox. He said when customers complained, he got called on the carpet and had to answer for things; he wondered why it wasn't being done in the lab. I simply told him that I *could* say something, but it would be second hand knowledge, and if he felt strongly about it, he should go directly to Kathy with it. So, he asked if he could email her, and I said he could and she'd see it over the weekend if she was home.

Now...this is the same group of people who were complaining that they weren't trainers. Go figure, huh?

I'm sure glad I have a three day weekend.