Friday, October 23, 2009

Rethinking Professions

Recently, I was working fast track and I brought in a patient who needed a script for ramipril and atenolol because she forgot her meds in another province. Being surprised that a) the script refill wasn’t for narcotics or benzos and b) she was prepared to wait for a while with a copy of the Massey Lectures, I tried to get her seen quickly but since we were expecting EMS to bring a patient with a CTAS of 1*, I just ended up chatting with her for a while. We started to talk about job security and how nursing seems like a very safe profession since there are always sick people who need attention (tell that to the half baked suits that think firing nurses is the best step towards achieving fiscal goals). I told her that I was considering applying for a part time/casual position at one of the local clinics so I can get rid of my student loans a bit faster. She disagreed with my choice and told me that I ought to consider becoming an escort! After recovering from nearly obstructing my airway with my latte, I had to tell her that as much as I would like to cease worrying about money, I can honestly say that nowhere in my psyche have I ever considered escorting (is that the proper verb?) as a potential means to achieving that end. Apparently I have the ‘right personality and look’ – I suppose telling Mr. Drunky McDrunkington that he’s wearing a hospital gown because he pissed his pants numerous times while wearing my ‘I’m too bloated and tired to care wtf I look like scrubs’ is the escorting look du jour. Since I’m in a rather forgiving and jovial mood (I got New Year’s off!), I’ll just pretend that she was trying to complement me in her own bizarre way but when all is said and done, I’m rather offended and the entire discussion just left me with a sour feeling in the pit of my stomach.


*CTAS (Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale) 1 is an honest to goodness emergency - if you're ever in an ER and hear people scrambling about saying CTAS 1, it means that a patient who's about to start knock knock knockin' on heaven's door is going to be coming in shortly and you will have to wait until said pateint is either stabilized or is transferred to the Eternal Care Unit.

8 comments:

OMDG said...

Aw, she probably thought you were hot. Anyway, escorting IS quite lucrative. But then there's the whole "self respect" thing. Poo.

midwest woman said...

After attending the culture of physician satisfaction (insert double entendre here) workshop, maybe the attributes of an escort and a nurse aren't mutually exclusive. Pucker up, buttercup, here's your labs and is there anything else you need? (wink, wink)

Michael Guzzo said...

That was quite a strange think to say to someone. Maybe that's what "she" did for a living... and maybe why she needs ramipril and atenolol.

But just in case, you know where my blog is located. ;-0

Richard said...

Hello!

Given the popularity and prevalence of twitter, I put together a list of 50 different nurses on Twitter that you can follow to potentially get some insight on their medical lives. If you wouldn’t mind, could you share my list with your readers?

Here's the post:

http://blog.onlinecollegeguru.com/health-care/50-nurses-you-can-follow-on-twitter/

Many thanks!

Anonymous said...

Don't believe it that nursing is "fire" proof! I was laid off in August after 32+ years in ICU (highest paid RN in the unit, non-union hospital). So, no body wants to hire a 60 y/o RN, not even in a casual clinic position

Jamie

Anonymous said...

I totally believe about the "non-fireability" as mentioned by anonymous, but become an escort?

Oh.My.Freaking.Heavens. Knowing all we know about STDs would we want to trade scrubs for that?

Not bloody likely, thankyouverymuch!

Jo said...

When I read "clinic" and "escort" so close to one another in your post, I immediately thought of a clinic escort, like we have here down south. You know, the person who keeps the nutjobs away from women who are trying to get abortions.

Then I read the comments and was enlightened. I had forgotten for the moment that Canada has fewer nutjobs (on that particular subject, anyhow) than the States does.

*sigh* I need to move.

Tee said...

Eternal care unit, I love it! And for the record, I would have been slightly offended too.