When I graduated from veterinary school several years back, much was written in veterinary economics magazines, such as Veterinary Economics, about how veterinarians were not charging enough for their services and how our profession was basically recession-proof. Well, at the end of 2011, I think we have all learned that this idea was wrong! It seems that most clinics that I visit to work are being financial conscious and worry about the days when business is slow.
The clinic for which my friend Amy works is no different, even though it is located in a large city, with some pretty lucrative clientele (i.e. famous people). Even so, about a month ago, the owner (and Amy's boss) started to get on to Amy and the rest of the staff about the waste of clinic supplies when business was not large enough to cover the expense. (By the way, this happened at the clinic where I was working regularly about 2 years ago. There were ideas such as, "Let's stop wasting paper towels! Let's have a community hand towel near the sink where people wash their hands!". Although, of course, this is done in my home, the idea of implementing this plan for this work place was, in my opinion, ludicrous. There was a large amount of pressure from management for both doctor's and staff to work while sick and not take a day off. So, as a result, some cold bug was always circulating around the clinic, and everyone was sick on a regular basis. There was no way that I was going to share a hand towel with this group of people! I honestly think it would cost the clinic more money in long-run with decreased productivity as a result of increased illness.) On top of all of Amy's boss's concerns was the fact that a new $200 pair of clippers (used to remove hair on our patients that have skin wounds needing medication/surgical intervention) had vanished. Someone at the clinic loudly vocalized that they had seen Dr. Amy use the clippers last, about a week ago. Amy agreed that she did indeed use the clippers on the day mentioned to clip hair off a tumor she later surgically removed from a large dog. However, Amy insisted that she did not remove the clippers from the treatment area.
Amy's boss would not give the issue any rest. Finally, Amy told him that if he was so concerned about her removing an expensive piece of equipment from the hospital without permission (which she would never do), then he should review the security camera footage of the treatment room. This was deemed by all to be a good idea, so the entire staff filed away into the manager's office and loaded the video. They find the day in question and watch as Amy and her technician use the clippers to prepare the patient for surgery on the treatment table. Finished with clipping, Amy steps into the next room to collect the surgical scrub needed to aseptically prep the mass for surgery. The clippers are placed on the table next to the patient. Meanwhile, the technician turns her head away from the patient to have a conversation with another staff member walking through the room. All staff members watch as the patient kicks the clippers off of the table and into the near by trash can placed below the table. Amy returns with the scrub, and the patient is moved into the surgical suite. Watching the video with his staff, the owner of the clinic fast-forwards the video to the end of the day...when a different technician arrives to collect the afternoon's trash and take it out to the dumpster.
Josie
The Numbers: Food: Breakfast - oatmeal. Lunch - 3 bowls of Wheat Chex (don't ask. Sometimes I just get a craving for this, and I had a coupon) with coconut milk (trying to avoid dairy as I was having a flare-up today and the cheese cake was suspect). Snack- carrots, olive oil, sea salt. Second snack - Wheat roll (yes, I know there is milk in this) and pumpkin bread (I was obviously in a "screw this" mood). Dinner - Arnold's honeywheat bread with Land o' Lakes margarine and Jiff crunchy peanut butter.
Medications: Prosed DS TID, amitriptyline SID, Zyrtec SID, Vicodin this morning about 10 am, Flexeril at about 1pm.
Pain: Woke up with an immediate level 5 urethral pain. Progressed within 2 hours to level 7-8 bladder pain. That's when I took the Vicodin and started using a hot pad and tens. By early afternoon, the bladder pain decreased, but a heavy urethral pain (6) remained with some burning vulvodynia (4). We will pray that this will get better. I know I will probably take a 1/2 Vicodin tonight. I will be at my doctor's office in 2 days. Mood was very bad this morning (level 8 of depression), and improved to about a level 4 tonight.
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