Friday, December 28, 2007

Have No Fear - I'm in Charge!

For the next three weeks, I'm the chief of staff for the entire hospital. For the doctors I work with, this means I go from friend to boss. I've made this transition before, and I'm pretty good at it. Besides, doctors shouldn't need any real "managing," right?

Let me tell you something – doctors are the biggest crybabies, whiners and complainers you could possibly imagine. Add to the mix narcissism and a God-complex and you have the ingredients for tons of fun.

I wasn't in the job for 30 minutes when there was screaming in the OR. One of the docs got into it with one of the techs. Accusations of inappropriate cursing (as opposed to the appropriate kind), and even racism came up. It's my job to sort everything out, hand out punishment where necessary and get everyone back to a point where we can get along enough to continue our mission of patient care.

In the middle of all of this, a patient shows up with shrapnel injuries. We think he's a BAD GUY, but he didn't come with paperwork. (As an aside, I know many of my readers have jobs where they deal with paperwork. Have you ever wondered what would happen if some paperwork didn't get filed correctly? Probably nothing, right?)

In this case, with no paperwork, we have no legal right to detain him. If his injuries are not life-threatening, we are required to LET HIM GO HOME. Let me rephrase that – I (meaning ME) am required to let him go.

Well, it all ended well. In the time it took to finish with his medical needs, his paperwork finally showed up. Still, it was a tense few hours.

This was just my first day on the job. I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

4 comments:

BamBam said...

Sounds like an interesting day Doc!

Can't wait to hear more as the days go along.

I also loved, (read, ROFL) the descriptive for the Doctors !!

Be safe !

Unknown said...

Well Col. Potter, I guess you have to do the best that you can.

Keep Burns from assaulting Margaret and let Hawkeye and BJ Have some fun.

Seriously,

Take this time to look at the gig with fresh eyes. See what you can do to keep things moving smooth.

They wouldn't have given the gig to you if you didn't have the right skill set.

We've got confidence in you Doc.

Just get back home to us safe.

IT

pokertart said...

Good luck over the next three weeks! Should be an interesting change.

Stay safe.

Mr. Bankwell said...

Keep up the good work.

I support our Troops and our friends Troops to the south.