Procrastination

"Procrastination"...that sounds better, healthier, than "avoidance", but I'm not exactly sure which is more accurate...

Yesterday we were busy again at work, even though there was one more nurse than we usually have (but also a couple more kids than we normally would take, having to "double-up" patients in our semi-private rooms which we rarely do). It actually worked out for me to go to the "round table" meeting with the executives since we were staffed well and I had my one patient that I know really well, and just one other patient who was doing fine. I did manage to speak up and say a couple of things. I think the meeting in general went well (I think there were nurses from four areas, a housekeeper, a nursing assistant, a social worker, a med tech, and a graphic designer, along with someone from HR, the marketing executive and the CEO...quite a group!). The CEO had good responses to questions and seemed to feel like these kinds of "gatherings" are very important to the organization.

Even though I left later than everyone else, there were some VERY positive things that happened yesterday (including the above meeting). I spoke with a woman who is a foster parent (with her husband...their kids are grown and have kids of their own). She told me that she mentors new foster parents and said I could contact her if I have any questions or need anything. As I have mentioned in previous posts, the patient assignments are pretty much "first come, first served". So, some nurses come very early to "pick" their kids (often taking the easier patients and leaving those more challenging patients/parents for whoever gets to work last). It really isn't that "fair" sometimes, but at least it isn't ALWAYS an issue. I try to not be "that person" who is inflexible and usually take what is given to me, mostly since those extra minutes of sleep are precious to me! However, last week and this week, I had to make an exception because of one particular kid. Lucky for me, so far I haven't had to do very much fighting (he is autistic and of COURSE those nurses who show up first wouldn't take on THAT challenge if they had a choice...). I'm not sure many parents know how patients are usually assigned, and I think it is better that way. However, I decided to tell his mom that I keep having to get up early so I can fight to be her son's nurse, and wasn't sure I could keep doing that! Even though I was being honest, I also knew that this could "make her day". So, I HAD to say it, even if it wasn't completely appropriate, because making other people feel good is one of my goals in life :o) Of course, my parents taught me "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all", but I have taught myself "if you have something nice to say, make sure you say it", even if it is something as simple as telling a mom you CHOSE to be her kids nurse because you like him. She was sweet too, asking me if there was something she could do to make sure I always was his nurse when I was working. I told her we probably shouldn't "go there" since I didn't want there to be any issues or conflicts between her and the other nurses, or between me and my co-workers.

Wow, I have a lot to say...or a lot of words to type so I didn't have to do any of the stuff I should be doing...

So, tomorrow morning I will be talking to high school sophomores who are interested in learning about nursing. I am SO happy that I haven't cried in nearly a week and yesterday was such a great day at work! That will make it a LOT easier to tell a group of young people how GREAT nursing is and why it is such a terrific career :o)

Okay, so I've been typing this for an hour now and never really got to the points I was planning to make. I guess I did end up using the title appropriately though because this past hour I was not putting away laundry, or dishes, or writing letters, or responding to emails, or cleaning, or any of the other things I probably should have been doing. Today I wrote about yesterday, tomorrow I can write about today...oh my, that sounds like procrastination at its finest!

I'd better get some rest...100 girls in one room is fun, but 8:00 is early!