Saturday, November 9, 2013

Doppler Effect Turn Around Times

It seems that the closer you get to the setting sun, specifically closer to about 3 o'clock, the OR turn around times get longer.  The exact opposite happens once the sun sets as the times get shorter.  Looking into this phenomenon I found that it had nothing to do with space time but rather laziness.  The morning OR shift knows that if the case starts before two, they will have to do it and get the room set up.  If they drag their heels, there wont be time to set it up and then they can leave it for the second shift.  Since the second shift comes in at 3 the morning shift will push all the work on to the them.   They then have to set up everything and now you have a 2 hour delay.  The second shift then wants to get everything done and will hustle to get any follow on cases done so they can have the rest of the night to chill.  Rule to the wise, if you are NPO and have surgery scheduled for 2 or 230, remember the doppler effect and be ready to be hungry for at least 2 additional hours.

Friday, November 8, 2013

Code Green!

Every now and then I would hear a code green called overhead and really didn't pay much attention to it.  I know what a code brown(pooped in  bed) and a code yellow ( peed in the bed) are, but a code green was one those that I just didn't know.  Was it bile? Tube feeds?  Now it seems that a code green is being called every few minutes.  Finally, I had to ask one of the unit clerks what a code green was.  She looked at me and said it was a press ganey!  I asked her what she meant.   She explained that if a patient was belligerent or if their family members were belligerent or stealing or drug seeking they could call a code green which is security.  Once security is called, the patient never will receive a press ganey survey!