Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
When does the ‘relaxing’ part happen?
Sometimes I wonder if I get more rest when I’m on call.
Yesterday, I picked up my new eyeglasses, dropped our Camry off for its 60000-mile tune-up (7500 miles too late, but better late than never), bought an electric drill-powered pump from the hardware store so that we can bail out the tubs that our window-mount ACs sit in, went home and did the bailing-out, went grocery shopping, took myself and Jake down to Supercuts so that he and I could get Supershorn, did some more shopping, came home and swept up, then made a custard sauce for trifle, and then made dinner (gumbo).
All day, I kept meaning to make a dent on the paperwork Bakersfield sent me. Didn’t get to it until evening. I managed to fill out one of the nine-page applications before I hit the wall and gave up for the evening.
That meant I had a bunch more forms to fill out today, and oh boy yes it took almost the whole day to get it all done. The really, truly annoying part of this whole thing is the redundancy. You would think hospitals nationwide could develop one standard form, one size fits all, but NO. And the background checks some of these places require . . . do they really need know every place I’ve lived for the last 10 years?
I recognize a new question on these forms. They want to know if you’ve ever taken more than 30 days off from work. I guess they’re snooping around for Betty Ford Clinic alumni, but what if I had wanted to take off six weeks to travel? Should I have to explain my vacations?
I have to keep reminding myself that these intrusions exist for a reason . . . that there ARE impaired physicians out there (hell, I’ve known a few) and hospitals have every right to protect themselves and their patients from such folks. But still, it’s irksome to have to use a justification I wouldn’t wish on anyone. If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to be afraid of.
Anyway, it’s done, it’s history, it’ll be in the mail tomorrow. I need to get proof of my negative TB test and I need to make arrangements to have a bunch of titers drawn. They want proof of my Hep B status. Surprised they haven’t gotten around to demanding HIV tests, but I guess that’s still too much of a hot button, eh?
Time to relax. I wonder if that old game Populous is freeware yet? I feel like playing God.
D.
lol – they check my hep b and TB every 6 months, and I’m no MD. 🙂 (And yeah. the HIV test was done too. I didn’t consent to it, but it was done.)