Friday, June 6, 2008

Mikaila's adventures in Medical Records

Today was officially one of the CRAZIEST days I have had at work since I started there.

The morning started out extremely boring. And then 11:30 happened.

Dottie went to lunch and Shirley went to talk to our bosses (I later found out, to give her two weeks' notice) leaving me alone in the front office (which, actually, is never supposed to happen).

Dr. Bashey came in to sign his charts and he had over 100 to do, plus he was on our pre-suspension list (yes, we suspend doctors) and he knew he had to get them done by the end of the day. He also needed to be trained on our new electronic signature program. After he got trained he jumped up, told me that I was AWESOME and MOST helpful and proceeded to tell anyone and everyone in the office how much he loves the new program. He even went so far as to open the closed door to my supervisor's office to tell HER how excited he was. And then to tell Transcription. And anybody else who would listen.

Dr. Bashey goes back to his charts and Dr. Faddis comes in. He also has over 100 charts and needs to be trained on e-signature. Meanwhile, the phones are ringing and I have no backup so that I can step away to pull charts from the back office. I tell Dr. Faddis that if he can start on his charts I can train him when he finishes those. He asks me if I need to go to lunch or anything and if he should come back to be trained. Knowing that he WON'T come back I tell him no, it's fine and smile. =)

Dr. Bashey tells Dr. Faddis, "Dude! This e-signature is SO COOL! You are gonna love it! It's so easy!" I told my boss we needed to hire Dr. Bashey on as promoter of e-signature.

The phones are ringing, I'm still alone up front. Two more doctors come in (our dictation room only HOLDS four doctors!). I'm pulling charts and basically running around like a chicken with my head cut off when Shirley and Dottie FINALLY come back from wherever they were. I hand them each a list and tell them I have to train Dr. Faddis. But first, Dr. Goodwin calls and says he's on his way down to be trained. We've been trying to get this guy to come and be trained for 4 weeks so I HAVE to train him when he gets there. Dr. Faddis asks me again if I'm sure I don't need lunch or anything and I assure him I'm fine and that I'm going to train Goodwin and then him. All is well.

Dr. Goodwin comes in, sets down his cup of chili and starts to login to his computer. Elbow strikes cup of chili and we now have chili all down (and in) the heater vent. I'm pretty sure the only thing keeping Goodwin's composure was that his peers were in the room. He is usually not a pleasant guy. (When we first went live with e-sig I mentioned to my coworkers that there were two doctors - out of 200 - that I did not want to train. I've trained them both this week.)

We get the chili mess cleaned up and I train Goodwin, him grumbling all the while. "If there were only an online module I would have completed the training 4 weeks ago." We know. "I'm not going to read every report!" Well sir, it's a legal document so once it's signed you have to be prepared to defend it in a court of law. "I don't have time for this!"

Goodwin leaves and we all breathe a huge sigh of relief because he has COMPLETED his training and he can't say he didn't! Ha!

I start putting charts on the shelves because they are piling up from having 5 doctors come in within 20 minutes of each other. Dr. Bashey asks how long I've been working there and I tell him. He wonders aloud (jokingly) if they hired me to stay in that room to keep an eye on them. Dr. Faddis says, "Yeah! Like a zookeeper watching over the wild animals!" Everyone laughs and all is well.

I'm looking at my watch and thinking that if I can train Dr. Faddis in the next 10 minutes I can still make it to lunch before Shirley has to go (and I'm getting hungry). I pop a few almonds in my mouth to hold myself over and check on Dr. Faddis's progress. He's ready to be trained. I sit down with him and walk him through the steps. He seems to be getting it ok but has a few questions. That's fine, I'll watch you sign a few more documents and then I'm gonna head out but Shirley and Dottie here can answer your questions. All is well.

Then over the intercom we hear:

CODE TRIAGE ACTIVATION! THIS IS A DRILL!
CODE TRIAGE ACTIVATION! THIS IS A DRILL!
CODE TRIAGE ACTIVATION! THIS IS A DRILL!
CODE TRIAGE ACTIVATION! THIS IS A DRILL!

We knew we were having a drill today but they told us it would be between 1 and 4. I look at my watch: 12:52. Doesn't matter, if I'd gotten out the door to lunch I would have had to turn around and come back anyway because I play a role in the drill.

I get out my call sheet and start working my way down. My 4th or 5th call is to the office where I used to work. Someone answers and I give my little speech: "This is Mikaila at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center. This is a drill. We have activated Code Triage. Please complete your triage roster and initiate your department plan."

My old co-worker: "Come on Mikaila, straighten up."

Me: "I'm not joking around. This is a drill. You guys need to activate your disaster plan."

Her: "Seriously. Quit playing."

Me (getting annoyed): "I'm not. I have other calls to make. Let Dawn know the plan is in effect."

Her: "You're.... you're serious?"

Me: "Uh, YEAH!"

Her: "A code what? I don't even know what that is! How do I know where our department plan is??"

My head: *Maybe you should find out.*

I finish my list and answer several more of Dr. Faddis's questions. (Bless the doctors who have NO idea what they're doing in this new program and still try SO hard and in the end, figure it out! I love it when the light bulbs come on.)

By now it's well after 1pm and I'm so far behind in my work that there's no hope of catching up. I complete a few things and am just about to go heat up my lunch (to eat at my desk) when we hear paged overhead:

CODE PINK! TWO SOUTHWEST! NINE MONTH OLD FEMALE! THIS IS A DRILL!
CODE PINK! TWO SOUTHWEST! NINE MONTH OLD FEMALE! THIS IS A DRILL!
CODE PINK! TWO SOUTHWEST! NINE MONTH OLD FEMALE! THIS IS A DRILL!
CODE PINK! TWO SOUTHWEST! NINE MONTH OLD FEMALE! THIS IS A DRILL!

Now, keep in mind that they are using REAL patients for these drills. There is a live infant being "abducted" (the abductor/patient/etc. were being played by family members in this case so as not to scare the infant). A few from our department go out to man doors/stairwells/hallways while the rest of us try to maintain some sanity in the office. People are everywhere, responding to the drills (HR is right across the hall from us so it was a busy place to be), but business continues as usual. Every few minutes we would hear an overhead page asking doctors to report to a certain place or for department managers to do a certain thing... It was crazy. We were receiving update e-mails on the "disaster" at hand. There was a major earthquake in Alsea (5.9 strength), this road is closed, that road has a slide on it, the bridges out of Corvallis are closed, there's an accident here and 4 seriously wounded patients are on their way in, this building has collapsed... Kind of makes you think about what might happen in an actual disaster.

After 20 minutes or so we hear:

CODE PINK ALL CLEAR
CODE PINK ALL CLEAR

That part of the drill went very well. If there was ever an real infant abduction our hospital would do well.

The rest of the drill wasn't over until more than two hours after it started, at which point I had to make my calls again to let them know the all clear had been called. When I called my old office again I waited on hold for several minutes before someone picked up. It was a friend of mine and the first thing I said was, "If this were an actual disaster, you'd all be dead." We both laughed and I asked for their back line so that in a REAL emergency we would be able to get ahold of them in just a couple of minutes.

My shift ends at 3:30 and I left at 3:38 with a pile of work on my desk which I get to go in and finish tomorrow.

And even at the end of today, I would not trade my job for the world. I love our doctors, I love the way the staff works together and I love what I do.

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