on the first day of january, california staffing ratio changed. for a telemetry unit like ours, it was changed from 1:5 to 1:4. our hospital however, anal about safety, always go one patient less. so that last year, when all of california has a 1:5 ratio, we had 1:4.

i guess you easily figured that out. yes. on the first day of january, we changed to 1:3.

when you have been so used to working your butt off with 4 patients, you can only imagine what the change means. we used to imagine it, because we knew since last year that there will be a change. well, actually, we used to dream about it.

now, we’re living the dream.
what is nice about it is that we actually have more time with the patients. for example, before the change, i can’t recall the last time i have given any of my patients a bath even when they requested it. i simply had no time and had to tell them they had to wait till day shift because that’s when there were more PCAs to do it. now, just on the third week, i have given two patients full baths, and two sponge baths to two others!

you have no idea how good it felt…you know, to say, “oh, you want a bath? i’ll be back!” needless to say, we have more time to listen too. i have gathered so many interesting stories in my head about patients who obviously just want to talk to someone, and i know it is a small thing, but they openly appreciate it. it feels good to be appreciated. i won’t lie about that.

as far as patients are concerned, this change is definitely a good thing.

as for the staff? i think it still remains to be seen.
the thing about it is that we have more time to catch up with what’s going on in everybody’s personal lives. i have been updated on who is about to get a divorce, who is not getting a divorce even though they can’t stand their husband, who is complaining that their husband wants sex everyday, who is starting a business, who hates who, who can’t stand who, who….you get the idea. the topics and the stories are endless, and nobody knows where the gossips start.

don’t get me wrong, i like it that i know what’s going on with my coworkers’ llives. i enjoy interacting with them, sympathizing with them, and sharing my own learnings and mishaps with them. what i am not so comfortable with is the talking about somebody else, which usually starts as an innocent thing, but eventually ends up as something else.

i don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

sometimes, i just feel that i would rather be spared from too much information about my coworkers’ thoughts, especially things they talk about other staff who are not present. not only that it makes me paranoid, because i end up thinking about what they say about me when i’m not there, but also because i just don’t dig the whole thing sometimes.

the problem is, even when i  have my head buried in a book, i can still hear the whispers. it’s hard to sift the truth from the lies. it’s almost impossible not to get involved. even if it’s just in your own head.

as i said, i’m not sure if that will eventually be a good thing or a bad thing.