Feels Like Finals' Week

Have I told you the story about my junior year of undergrad, when I actually built a pyramid out of Diet Mountain Dew cans? I'm not even kidding. It became a piece of art, a conversation piece, a shrine to my perennial stress-filled, sleepless nights.

I'm tempted to resume this practice. Sister Lourdes and I both have a fond affinity for Diet Mountain Dew (DMD). Every time our meeting stretch past the 10-hour mark, one of us always supplies the other with our preferred fuel source.

Something about these last couple weeks makes me feel like I'm in the throes of finals' week. It's crunch time, the meetings are double and triple-booked, and I've had homework lately (stuff I have to read at home before the meetings). Monday was filled with ER meetings, as we met with docs, nursing staff, and other support staff to expound upon our patient throughput issues. Then I led a stroke designation planning meeting and went straight into a four-hour stressfest better known as Budget. Since Muppet Corporate gave us a week extension on our initial deadline, we've had a few additional nights to chew over the budget. The shortfall is decreasing, but it's unfortunately at the expense of departments, seminars, staffing, and even a couple educational programs. Some folks don't understand the gravity involved in some of the administrative decisions. How do you weigh the various programs and hospital factors and make those tough decisions about who or what should be cut?

With lots of discussion. And lots of trail mix and DMD!

I left late on Monday night and walked out of the hospital to a distinctly autumn night, complete with a windy chill whipping leaves around me. Have I been working so hard that I missed the seasons changing? Or did fall come in with that one storm the other night?!

Tuesday was another nutty one as I had my first true marathon. I had 11 straight hours of meetings with no breaks. I had to step out of meetings in order to raid Vendo Land and hit the john. That's just sad. The meetings ranged from Town Hall meetings (where Senior Leadership presents a "state of the hospital" sort of thing to staff...on all three shifts!) to physician recruitment to marketing to revenue cycle to budget. At the end of the day, I excused myself to rip the contact lenses from my poor, red eyes.

A couple of really good things happened, though. First, my secretary popped her head into my office (usually a sign that she needs clarification on something) and presented me with a small flower...because she thinks I'm blossoming in my role and I "get it." I was taken aback, but really appreciated the gesture. I'm living in a land of no feedback, so her feedback felt great.

Then Sister Lourdes bounced into my office, M&M's rattling in the pocket of her habit, singing the praises of the latest storyboard. I mentioned that I wrote it up in an abstract for that nationwide Quality conference next May. Her eyes lit up in such a way it was if I told her Heaven was made of M&M's. I sent if off to her and she immediately contacted people at Corporate, asking permission to submit on behalf of the system. After suggesting a few minuscule changes, Corporate approved it. So I sent it off to the conference. If, for some reason, the conference accepts our submission, Sister and I will be presenting and facilitating a break-out session. Trying not to get my hopes up but that would be so cool. I'll keep you posted!

Maybe that's why I feel the crunch; all these deadlines are looming over me. I just hope I get to sleep when it's over.