PatientsRUs

I’ll make up a name for our charting software and accompanying internet site – PatientsRUs. Don’t care if it’s already used by someone else. It went down tonight, and it’s what we need to do any charting including weeklies, alerts, progress notes, that kind of thing. The medication charting software – MedsRUs – is working normally. When it goes down, I can usually fix it. Usually it locks up from human error because MedsRUs doesn’t always save across the system, and there are 7 floors with just as many computers and then some. So sometimes I have to have everyone log out and in at once.

PatientsRUs went down at 8:30pm, right after I did an incident report on it after catching Terek, our only deaf resident, smoking in his room. He smiled and kept smoking when I signed no smoking. I then signed it was time for meds, and he set his cigarette down gingerly on a makeshift ashtray and left the room. I was pretty much laughing at this point – how blatant of him – but put it out. Then after I did the incident report there he was in his room smoking again. I signed AGAIN no smoking! And he just smiled and put it out and went to his bed. His roommate smokes in the bathroom all the time too. He used to be a 1:1 – what that means is one on one. He required staff accompaniment to smoke. He earned his way out of that but I suspect he’s back at it in the bathroom. I smoke too, but the smell is awfully strong for just being a human that smells like smoke.

Fun fact: half the world’s cigarettes are smoked by the mentally ill, yet only about 12-15% of the world’s population is mentally ill.

PatientsRUs being down is really annoying. Weeklies are hard to catch up on once a day is lost, and today was the first day of the week for this week’s set. I could have started them in a word document and copied and pasted them once PatientsRUs was up and running again, but that’s just not my style. I do them in real time. Oh and today’s a Sunday, so there’s no point emailing the powers that be…they would not even get the email till Monday. The day shift isn’t going to like this.

I woke up late earlier – I wanted to be here at 6:00pm again but woke up at exactly 6:00. I called and said 7:00 but the guy at the front desk never bothered to tell them up on the floors. I showed up in time to help finish the meal service and the rest of the night has been easy excepting PatientsRUs. The wind is picking up ferociously outside, just tearing through the streets. The residents are driven inside, hiding away in bed. Front desk had to call the cops on someone who kept trying to come in. She would tell him “you don’t live here and visiting hours are over, you can’t come in,” and he would just say, “yes I can.” He has made himself scarce since the cops drove by a few times. Right now there is a frequently seen street person also outside, thrusting himself forward from the shoulders rhythmically and making spitting sounds. I’m not sure if he’s high or schizophrenic or both. When I pulled up after my lunch I asked him if he was okay and he just said “yes, I’ll be alright, have a good night,” and there he remains. He doesn’t try to sneak in though.

Soon, you will hear all about Pet Therapy.