Officially a sleeping blog

I haven't updated this blog in SOOOOO long, it feels almost wrong to go here. I think I'll officially call it asleep, and just keep it in case I find a use for it again some day.

I don't have time for much these days, I changed jobs to a different hospital a bit further down the road, and working full time there takes up all my days and evenings. I'm not sure I like it either, the ward has serious problems with staffing and doctors, so actually caring for patients is hard. We're constantly understaffed and the phone keeps ringing off the hook without anyone having the time to answer it. Yeah, it feels like I ended up *way* south when I couldn't get a position at the stroke unit. I really miss them! I miss the organization, the doctors were mostly great and there were routines for things. I miss the people too, the nurses there were great, compassionate, knowing and professional ALL THE TIME. That's harder than it sounds, people!

The ward I'm working at now is for "medically finished" patients - they're there because they are waiting for a different accomodation, for home services to get started or to have their planning meeting. (That's at least one thing good about the Swedish system; hospitals don't just ship people home without knowing what happens next.) BUT we don't have our own doctors, we depend on the ward next door for that. Often the dr doesn't even know he's supposed to help us, and we have to page the on-call doctor for help. Like he/she doesn't have better things to do at the emergency unit... We usually only need the dr for easy stuff like prescription renewals and such, but that's important! If the dr doesn't do that, we don't get to give the patients their meds - which is why they're in hospital, I believe?

So, I'm beat after every single shift. I come home, make dinner, knit a little and then go to bed, dead tired. The graveyard shifts are the worst, when I'm at home and in bed at 23.30 pm and have to get up at 5 am the next day. I don't get paid nearly enough to keep it up like this for long, so after one month in the new job I've started looking for an other... Preferably one with enough staff to keep things running, and ways to get hold of the people you need to talk to.