The MLK weekend has always held a special allure for our clientele. It falls in the dead of winter and it's cheap entertainment, if you have insurance, to seek medical help. That's not to say that most of the children we see don't need to be seen. There are just those special times when everyone wants to pay their respects.
I had a run in with one of the medical assistants today. We started our disagreement yesterday when she told me that our doctors and NPs could never go to Haiti to help because they are too stupid, too lazy, and don't know what they are doing. She postulated that our encounters with patients were entirely social and that it was the medical assistants who really knew everything. You know, I just couldn't accept her statement without clarifying that she did not know what she was talking about. Today she refused to do something that is part of her job description, telling me that I should do it as a function of "continuity of care." I said, "Get up and do it. It's your job."
Well, she came after me and yelled at me in our NP office. She had forgotten that she had been told by the head of the medical assistants that while I seemed mild mannered, I would not stand for any bullshit. She backed down rather quickly, but now I have to decide if I want to take this one step further in telling the bosses that this woman is insubordinate, unpleasant, and thinks them idiots. Her co-workers don't like her too much . I'll take a couple of days to consider what I am going to do.
The clinicians have worked so hard this winter in urgent care. Our schedules are always packed and we rarely complain. Each encounter is a challenge. This medical assistant claimed that we do nothing when we close the door behind us except to write prescriptions for what we imagine is the problem. I do not believe that she has ever been asked to stay in a room with us when we examine and treat the patients. Her main problem is really envy of our empowerment and her lack thereof.
All is well otherwise. The nurse expecting triplets has had them at 30 weeks gestation and though the 2 boys and a girl are small, they are stable. I had this brainstorm to knit a series of caps for the babies as most body heat in preemies is lost via the head due to its large surface area. I have 3.5 more hats to knit. The caps are sized S,M,and L, meaning preemie to regular newborn size.
The hats are beautiful!