Interesting….
I looked back at my old posts…and it looks like my blog will have a birthday soon! My first post was on March 2nd! It’s hard to believe I’ve been working at this for a year. It’s even harder to believe all the changes that have taken place in the last year. I went from being a stay-at-home mom, to working part-time, to now being the primary breadwinner for our family. It really kind of blows my mind!
Been a long time…..
February 21, 2009, 2:26 am
Filed under:
LCSW,
MSW,
burn out,
co-worker relations,
hospital,
hospital social work,
social work,
surgery | Tags:
overwhelming,
overwork,
surgeryI just haven’t seemed to have the motivation to post anything lately. I’ve been really working pretty hard and worried about David’s upcoming surgery. So, it seems by the time I get home and think about posting something, I just don’t really have the mental energy to post something really coherent. I’m hoping that tonight, things will be coherent tonight.
So, training the new person is going really well. She is young, smart, energetic and really picking things up quickly. Nevertheless, it is a lot of mental energy making sure I’m covering everything she may need to know as we go through cases. And of course, every time I think I’ve found the perfect training case, something falls through. So, it’s been a little bit stressful but I recognize that most of that is self-imposed stress.
I also get the feeling that one of my co-workers really feels that she should be the one doing the training. I’ve been getting the vibe that she doesn’t think I’m doing an adequate job. But, the new person already has her went to a good program, has her LCSW and has had good work experience. I don’t want to treat her like a new grad and really think she’s going to do a great job once she gets all the procedures and politics of the hospital at least a little figured out.
And, we’re short-staffed. One of my co-workers took a transfer to Hospice, which is where she’s wanted to be for a long time. Unfortunately, due to the state of the economy, we will not be able to fill her position for the foreseeable future. Of course, that’s a good thing. That means it’s unlikely we’ll have lay-offs. But, that’s adding a layer of stress for me as well…being overworked.
And then there’s the D and his surgery. It was originally scheduled to take place on February 17th. But, the doctor had an urgent surgery come up and it has been rescheduled for March 3rd. It was just as well because he ended up with a cold and we would have had to reschedule it anyway. So, now we’re hoping he stays healthy so we can go forward with the surgery on March 3rd and put all of this worry behind us.
So….hopefully I will be posting more often…but I can’t guarantee it.
A first…
Of the handful of weekends that I’ve worked, this was the first weekend where I had to go in on Sunday. It was kind of a drag to have to be at work for three hours today, but at least I get overtime, I guess. And in the end, I’m not sure how helpful I was in the situation. If push would have come to shove, the nurses could have probably clarified the situation for the parties involved. They hoped I would resolve the tension, but given the situation I doubt there is anything anyone could do to resolve the situation. Sorry to be so vague in my description of what went on today. But, given this situation, if I gave any details at all, it would probably compromise confidentiality.
I guess I could explore the fact that I probably need to work on my powers of persuasion with staff members. It’s a potential that I could have talked it through with them over the phone and they could have resolved it. But, maybe in the end it was good that I met with the parties and have put my name in the mix as a resource.
