I Don't Believe in Ghosts

I’m not sure if I’m coming or going. I'm not sure why this surprises me.

So much for normalcy!

I spent the entire New Year's weekend laying around like a sack of potatoes because I felt achy, feverish, and generally yucky. I got my fill of movies and football while logging some serious couch time.

It’s Wednesday night and I still feel yucky. I feel like I’m fighting a flu bug because I still have body aches, headaches, and feel like I could immediately pass out on a cold concrete floor with hungry lions circling me. However, I was at work and had a near-constant coffee I.V. going!

So there has been a lot going on this week. I guess the big news is that the hospital is being sued on my behalf (I told them “you’re welcome!”). One of the employees I terminated initiated legal action. The good news is that my Administration, Risk Management, and HR departments support me. The bad news is that this employee is like an itch that just won’t go away. Just when you think you’ve scratched it enough, it reappears, worse than before. Maybe that’s what this employee is trying to do to me…haunt me.

But it’s not scaring me. I don’t believe in ghosts.

Anyway, there are some great things going on this week. We received approval from the bishop of the archdiocese of Chicago to progress with our FQHC partnership. I was nervous in the meeting; I felt as though my ethical training was going to be tested by the bishop’s relentless questioning about the Ethical and Religious Directives and how we intended to meet them! Instead, he merely asked me for a short synopsis about why we desire this partnership. Then he flipped through a couple supporting documents and gave his approval. It took all of ten minutes and he was gone! But this is huge; if I can get this through, it will be the second Catholic Church-approved Catholic Hospital-FQHC partnership in US.

The rest of my work-life consists of helping my departments get ready for our accreditation survey (that means that a lot of policies are written and updated), addressing physician issues as they pertain to patient throughput and referral patterns, and keeping everyone going in the Lean Program. Oh, and we were 50 patients over our scheduled patient census on Monday, so I helped track down physicians to get in and discharge patients. We actually had to go on ambulance bypass because there was just no where to put the patients. That was fire-fighting mode at its best!

Ugh! So much to do, so little time. I made the executive decision that Jack and I are going to bite the bullet and buy a table for our library. I don't want to spend the money, but I need a place to spread out all my work junk so I can work in the evenings. I cannot stand using the dining room table; it’s out in our main living space and the strewn-about work creates mental clutter for me.

On a completely unrelated note and in the spirit of New Year’s, I will publicly post my New Year’s Resolutions. They are:

1. To kick butt at work. Jack is behind me and has offered to keep the house afloat while I put my time in. I’m in that place where I just have to buckle down, keep my nose to the grindstone, and, well, survive.

2. To read two novels a month. I used to relish my reading time but have since been bogged down with a bunch of managerial literature that work requested I read. I feel like I have to finish the work stuff before I start the fun books. Hence, I never start the work literature because who wants to go home after an uber long day and read something entitled, “Hardwiring Flow” or “Managing Quality Improvement in Healthcare.” I’d rather read “The Passage” or “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.”

3. To finally use my frequent flyer membership on Southwest Airlines. I signed up for this about 18 months ago and keep forgetting to use my account when I book flights. I figured out this morning that I have six trips scheduled for this year and I only need twelve more flights before I get a free ticket anywhere in the continental U.S. So I plan to tattoo my account number inside my palm, for easy access!

I hope, fellow bloggettes, that your 2011 is going well and that you are still on the wagon regarding your New Year’s resolutions!