May 9

Today I feel as if I'm a mere voice in caller's head. Several times today I have given a firm, confident response sucha as "that number is a NTU nurse's station number, do you want me to transfer you?" and then there is a pause and the caller says "that number sounds like a NTU nurse's station number. Transfer me up there." Is it that they don't have listening skills and assume that the voice in their head is an original thought and not the person on the phone, or does my voice not actually produce sound waves and I'm grouchy for no apparent reason? Sixes really.

I had a totally awesome call today. After my greeting recording stops, she says-ish, "my [child] had a seizure from 10:15 to 10:50 and I talked to the doctor's office and they said I was given instructions on what to do and I was and then they asked me why I didn't call an ambulance." "What doctor does your child see at [this hospital]?" "He said that I [my child] ever has another seizure again ever, I'm suppose to bring [my child] to the emergency room right away."
I don't want to bore you with details, but she was very difficult and eluded my every question to determine if her child was an actual patient of our facility with pure crazy ramblings.

My last annoyance of today is a common one and will surely pop up again. I like to refer to it as "the whole story". Basically it means that if you tell all of the important details, your request will be completed in a timely manner and finished correctly. For example, without too many details security took a body bag to the morgue and the ED called and asked if they accidentally took the back board that was on the gurney too. I asked them and they said no. I called her back and told her they didn't. Now comes the fishing, she said "they need to go check because it could have been mixed up in the sheets." "I'm sure they would've noticed a 6-7 foot plastic back board even if it was tangled in the sheets." "It's not big one" "So it's a half board?" "Sort of." "What exactly does this back board look like?" and now my favorite part, "It's not really a back board, it's a chest compression board. It's small, from about the shoulder to the lower back and it's clear and made of plexy glass plastic stuff."
It totally would've been awesome to know that at the very beginning.