I started a new very part-time gig today. I am now officially an independent nurse contractor for a company that provides assessments on people who have applied for long-term care insurance. They email the referral along with the evaluation form and I contact the people to arrange for an assessment. Everything must be done within seven days of the initial referral, but it can all be done at my convenience. The assessment takes about an hour, I fax it in and I'm DONE. No patient care, no poop, no blood, no follow-up. NADA.
The pay isn't bad either. I picked this gig up mainly because the census in our E.R. is down and I'm prn. Extra shifts there are just not happening at the moment. Plus, I'm kind of lazy and used to flexing my time according to my school schedule and my family life. I don't want to work a lot. Plus, I was recently told by an orthopedic surgeon that I have the articular cartilage of about a 70 year old. So picking up 12 hour shifts (if there were any) where I plod endlessly along on concrete floors, squat down to pick things up, assist patients in and out of bed and all sorts of articular cartilage requiring situations just does not sound appealing. Plus, I can do the assessments and still take little missy to school and pick her up.
A roaring crackling fire greeted me when I walked in the door. Ethel's latest quilting project was on a rack near the fire. The linoleum on the kitchen floor was worn away by Bob's chair from years or pushing himself back and heading out to work or to do his chores. They were sweet, they were fiercely independent and they were being responsible by attempting to obtain long-term care insurance
They answered all of the questions honestly (in my opinion, anyway.). How hard it must have been to answer questions about incontinence, adult diapers and bowel control to a youngster they didn't even know. Bob was reluctant to admit that Ethel handles all the medicine in the house and does his laundry. But he was quick to point out the small farm behind the house and he had just come in from feeding the sheep. Ethel was proud that she pays all of the bills and does all of the cooking and cleaning, but a bit sheepish to tell me that she sometimes needs to lean on Bob when they are on uneven surfaces.
The assessment itself took about 45 minutes with each. They could not help each other out and the other one had to be in another room while the other was being assessed. Bob is the most independent and strong…and yet the most dependent. Ethel does all of the cooking, cleaning, medication dispensing, laundrying and bill paying and everything related to the inside of the house just because she has always done those things. Ethel has a few mild impairments, but is the least dependent of the two.
They both were a little slow on the memory test, but then again, so was my 45 year old husband/ engineer when I practiced on him the night before. Bob correctly recalled 5 out of 10 words and Ethel upped him a bit and recalled 7 out of the 10. Still, even though Bob couldn't remember the words radio, table and grape and window and cup, he could remember how many cows he had and that he was remodeling a car in the garage.
I told them that I had no relationship with the insurance company and would never know if they were turned down or not. As I left, I realized that I wanted to know what would become of them. Would Ethel finish that quilt ? Who would end up taking care of whom ? Which one would need the long- term care first ? Would they even qualify for long term care ?
I got into nursing because I like to know the answers to these questions. I like knowing when Mr.X's grandson gets married, if Mr Y. was a truckdriver and if Mrs.L has six children. Even now, working in the E.R., I still ask these my patients "what do you do for a living ?" "How many children do you have ?" No matter how brief the encounter, I ask because I want to know. Everyone has a story. I am interested in that story and how I take care of them is very much dependent on that story.
As I prepared the assessment to be faxed in, I painted an honest picture of this fabulous elderly couple. This is what I wanted to write: Ethel has probably slowed down a bit , but Bob is going strong. If something happens to Ethel, Bob will go quick because he will be lost in the world that Ethel has maintained for him. If something happens to Bob first, Ethel will be fine. A little slow, a little weak, but fine. Ethel quilts lovely and Bob does an outstanding job maintaining the farm. They are sociable and nice and made an inviting fire and had a cup of coffee waiting for me. I did everything but say "this is sure how I want to be when I am approaching 80.
This isn't the information the insurance company wanted to know though. And so I answered the questions about mobility, transfer strength, continence and medication management. I marked down if Ethel could remember the words grape, chair, table and onion after a 9-minute elapse time. And I thought about how once again the art of nursing is sometimes erased through the mounds of required paperwork and people who are just after enough answers to help make important financial decisions.
The pay isn't bad either. I picked this gig up mainly because the census in our E.R. is down and I'm prn. Extra shifts there are just not happening at the moment. Plus, I'm kind of lazy and used to flexing my time according to my school schedule and my family life. I don't want to work a lot. Plus, I was recently told by an orthopedic surgeon that I have the articular cartilage of about a 70 year old. So picking up 12 hour shifts (if there were any) where I plod endlessly along on concrete floors, squat down to pick things up, assist patients in and out of bed and all sorts of articular cartilage requiring situations just does not sound appealing. Plus, I can do the assessments and still take little missy to school and pick her up.
A roaring crackling fire greeted me when I walked in the door. Ethel's latest quilting project was on a rack near the fire. The linoleum on the kitchen floor was worn away by Bob's chair from years or pushing himself back and heading out to work or to do his chores. They were sweet, they were fiercely independent and they were being responsible by attempting to obtain long-term care insurance
They answered all of the questions honestly (in my opinion, anyway.). How hard it must have been to answer questions about incontinence, adult diapers and bowel control to a youngster they didn't even know. Bob was reluctant to admit that Ethel handles all the medicine in the house and does his laundry. But he was quick to point out the small farm behind the house and he had just come in from feeding the sheep. Ethel was proud that she pays all of the bills and does all of the cooking and cleaning, but a bit sheepish to tell me that she sometimes needs to lean on Bob when they are on uneven surfaces.
The assessment itself took about 45 minutes with each. They could not help each other out and the other one had to be in another room while the other was being assessed. Bob is the most independent and strong…and yet the most dependent. Ethel does all of the cooking, cleaning, medication dispensing, laundrying and bill paying and everything related to the inside of the house just because she has always done those things. Ethel has a few mild impairments, but is the least dependent of the two.
They both were a little slow on the memory test, but then again, so was my 45 year old husband/ engineer when I practiced on him the night before. Bob correctly recalled 5 out of 10 words and Ethel upped him a bit and recalled 7 out of the 10. Still, even though Bob couldn't remember the words radio, table and grape and window and cup, he could remember how many cows he had and that he was remodeling a car in the garage.
I told them that I had no relationship with the insurance company and would never know if they were turned down or not. As I left, I realized that I wanted to know what would become of them. Would Ethel finish that quilt ? Who would end up taking care of whom ? Which one would need the long- term care first ? Would they even qualify for long term care ?
I got into nursing because I like to know the answers to these questions. I like knowing when Mr.X's grandson gets married, if Mr Y. was a truckdriver and if Mrs.L has six children. Even now, working in the E.R., I still ask these my patients "what do you do for a living ?" "How many children do you have ?" No matter how brief the encounter, I ask because I want to know. Everyone has a story. I am interested in that story and how I take care of them is very much dependent on that story.
As I prepared the assessment to be faxed in, I painted an honest picture of this fabulous elderly couple. This is what I wanted to write: Ethel has probably slowed down a bit , but Bob is going strong. If something happens to Ethel, Bob will go quick because he will be lost in the world that Ethel has maintained for him. If something happens to Bob first, Ethel will be fine. A little slow, a little weak, but fine. Ethel quilts lovely and Bob does an outstanding job maintaining the farm. They are sociable and nice and made an inviting fire and had a cup of coffee waiting for me. I did everything but say "this is sure how I want to be when I am approaching 80.
This isn't the information the insurance company wanted to know though. And so I answered the questions about mobility, transfer strength, continence and medication management. I marked down if Ethel could remember the words grape, chair, table and onion after a 9-minute elapse time. And I thought about how once again the art of nursing is sometimes erased through the mounds of required paperwork and people who are just after enough answers to help make important financial decisions.
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