Saturday, August 21, 2021

Get Used To This

 

Maybe you can just hire illegal Mexicans at Home Depot.
Let me know how that works out for ya.








Go read McThag's off-the-cuff ER observations from FL at his blog.

And nota bene, at an ER that was anything but overwhelmed by Kung Flu cases. This was just a normal night, in an average ER.

Get used to the New Normal, kids.

It's why I and most of my colleagues (99.9999%, give or take), doctors, PAs, nurses, techs, and all other staff, are all out of fucks to give.










Last I heard, I'm out of a job in perpetuity as of the end of next month, because I won't be getting any not-a-vaxx jab under any circumstances (including not even if they magic-wand-wave one of them into "fully approved" status. This is called "pen-fucking" in the dotMil. It is not a term of approval.) So too a goodly number of my much younger co-workers, including plenty of Never Trumpers.

Latest polls show that the smarter and/or more highly-educated a person is (they're not the same thing, believe me), the less likely they are to want to experiment on themselves with Not-A-Vaxx therapy. Hmmm. How curious.

We'll see how hard TPTB want to play chicken. 

The company, for their part, and apart from governator's and pretend-presidents' medical dicta, appear to be willing to compromise on the point, and allow me to simply be tested for Kung Flu, weekly or so. I'd sit still for that, barely, but I'll tell them why they're fucking the pooch every time they do it, as I've manifestly managed to use N95 masks and hand washing flawlessly without a jab for 18 months and counting, without missing any time for so much as a sniffle. Time will tell on that score, and we'll see if I'm working at an ER in a state next door, or at Target, etc., in short order. (FTR, Gropey Dopey's remarks mandating Not-A-Vaxx for all staff "in any facility that receives Medicare funds" is a de facto nationwide jab mandate, for everyone in a hospital from janitors to the CMO. IMHO, it's a good way to start a nationwide medical strike, at a guess. But we'll see if he can make it stick.)

I also observe that the number of my female colleagues, single and married, who've suddenly become pregnant to avoid the jab has hit record numbers, including some doctors old enough to qualify as "high risk pregnancies".

That's commitment to a position, kids.

And we've been short-staffed since ever, everywhere I've worked, my entire career, since before this latest batch of sh*theaded utter foolishness over the experimental Not-A-Vaxx.

So you're going to get even slower and shittier medical care going forward, most places, to a certainty.

Best wrap your heads around that, for several years, if not indefinitely.

If I told you what I now make per hour, you or your kids would rush the nursing schools to get in (too late; the current wait for entry is accounted in years to get in, statewide, and has been so for decades.) And then 3-6 years more to get out, if you make it. And that's to not even keep up with bare replacement numbers due to normal retirements. So things are only going to get worse everywhere, not better.

YOYO.

35 comments:

  1. Aesop, the fallout from this will be sad. And epic. Getting my annual physical and tetanus shot in now to beat the rush.

    When people start dying because there are no medical professionals to care for them, there will be an uncomfortable moment in the lives of some people.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We have been short here in Central Florida for years. The rules here are if you don't take the jab, you have to wear an N95 mask.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've been in an N95 mask at work for 18 months straight. Not a problem.
    If I have to do that in AZ or NV to stay employed, because it's not enough for CA, I'll be there like a shot.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have been following this blog for years now and I expected that TPTB would be stupid enough to get rid of you. However, you have skills that will be needed anywhere. Can't wait to see what CA will do when reality hits them in the face.

    Here in the middle of the country we have some time to watch the coasts fall apart before it gets to us. Please keep up the blog. I check it a few times a day to see if you have posted anything new. Thanks for the entertainment.

    Sue

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that at least half of my family has gone bugfuck insane...

    Does NOBODY out there remember how to do risk analysis?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Commies gotta commie. As I sat here cussing I had an idea. To join our medical community friends I am not going to see my Doc join me in my boycott there revenue fall off will wake them up quick as they and mine run us thru like cattle while saying get the vax it is safe. Tell them quit pushing the vax.

    Yes I have health issues. Should have died a year ago but I guess God is not done with me yet. Fuck ‘em.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Also, I deal with Providence/St Joes.....they can't find enough nurses for any.of their facilities.....it should be a gold mine for nurses now....

    ReplyDelete
  8. Here in one of the largest metro atl counties, wifey has applied for exemption, we'll see if corporate really knows what it's asking for. Will they see the light if the numbers are high of un-vaxed RNs. Otherwise, her and other RNs are done in Nov.

    ReplyDelete
  9. @ Aesop

    Just stopped by to wish you well in your struggle against "the man" and the insanity which now seems to be enveloping the entire healthcare world. I was once in the same field as you (RN/medic/EMT) but - to use your pungent but entirely apt turn of phrase - ran out of f-cks to give fifteen years ago. Yeah, the money was good, but not so good I was willing to sacrifice my health and/or my sanity to save that of others. So,I said so long and for the most part, have never regretted it. I enjoyed caring for those in need, but all of that other B.S.? No thanks.

    You used to be a Marine, right, Devil Dog? Shout out there, too. I tried to join up after 9-11 to be a "green-side" FMF Corpsman, but was a year over the age cutoff and Big Blue (the USN) wouldn't cut me a waiver. Oh well, maybe for the best anyway considering what a total Charlie Foxtrot the 'Stan turned into. But I still sometimes regret not getting in, because I am a good medic and could have saved some guys.

    Anyway, I'd better stop droning on. Hang tough; you aren't alone, believe me. If you end up suing those clowns,I predict you'll win... and you'll be in clover for tropical drinks for the rest of your life.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Can’t you identify as pregnant?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Come check us out, here, in Idaho

    ReplyDelete
  12. Could you post a link to the poll link citing the education level of people skipping the vax? I am in that boat and consider myself intelligent but I'd like to see that data. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I practice in a far different setting than you.

    I'm outpt Internal Medicine doc in the midst of America's largest retirement community. I have about 1500 active pts, average age 75. Not one death due to CoVid. About 30 cases, most were sent home from the ER. 1 pt had a rough go and hospitalized for about 2 wks. 1 observed overnight, 1 adm for 2 days for hydration until oral intake improved. 1 pt went to the ER with severe GERD sx's, and was dx'd CoVid to his surprise and sent home. Oddly, a pt w endstage ILD, on O2 via NC at a robust 3LPM O2 at baseline did fine by cranking it up to 4LPM for a week or so. Hmmm, do inhaled steroids do better than the Jab and conventional tx??

    I have lost 2 pts to unexpected strokes, both strokes occured about 2 - 3 wks after their second jab.

    N = 1500 which in inconsequential.

    Despite driving through heaven's waiting room, I do not see more than the usual number of estate sales nor more than the usual homes for sale - something that I would expect if CoVid lived up to the media hype (pre or post 'vaccine').

    I have seen foundational institutions - NEJM, The Lancet, CDC and NIH for starters - get caught in lies. I work in lies (a VA doc) every day. The first big lie is calling mRNA jabs a vaccination; they are therapeutics. The next big lie is going to be their approval - it takes years to approve a vaccination for a reason. If I call a dog's tail a leg, the dog still has but 4 legs, not 5, no matter what I say. If they change the criteria for approval, well, pencil-whip me a welt.

    I have been reduced to ordering meds on-line to protect my family.

    There's 2 nurses who give jabs who had to dry-off their new C-notes after my appt. I do not want weekly brain swabs, and I get free day off or two once I prove my vax status.

    Given the uptick in "cases" here in FL without much mention of severity, I'm dusting off our stash of Ivermectin 3mg tabs for dosing at 200mcg/kg for prophylaxis as good or better but with a far better safety track record.

    Too often truth is the first casualty.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Interestingly, the local Enormous Hospital System With Delusions of Grandeur is *always* looking for locums midlevels. Just as if it were an unpleasant place to work. Or providers had said "Not-a-vax, it out de door? AMF!"

    Or, both.

    I am an OAMF (Old Ass...), Been doing the sick people thing for something approaching 40-50 years. Been through nursing gluts, and nursing shortages. It is (barely) possible that I might work as an RN, again. But I don't think even Helicopter Cash Bernanke could print money fast enough to convince me to do so.

    And, my present employer has 4 midlevels to cover the clinic. Cool, until somebody takes a day off.

    Or quits.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Last I heard, fully 1/3 of the hospital nursing staff are unvaxed. It's 25% of the ED staff.
    If they push us all out, they'' be closed in about a New York Minute.
    If that includes me, I'll have a shiny new job in Phoenix or Vegas about as fast, and still be home 4 nights out of 7.
    I don't identify as pregnant, but occasionally after a good prime rib night I can show evidence of a food baby.
    And while Lineman and a couple of others had said "Come to Idaho", and it's beautiful 5 months out of the year, I don't do deep snow. Or, really, even shallow snow. Snow is for Christmas postcards, not to shovel out from under, nor drive through.
    If I'd known how stupid they were apt to get over the Vaxx, I might have sought ought a non-jab proof of vaxx. But that ship sailed, and no matter how much they huff and puff now that they're all going Full Retard, ain't no way in hell they're pumping that sh*t into my arm, to wait and wonder for the rest of my life "What if...?"
    If people who got vaxxed, including my co-workers, suddenly end up on the trash heap, I have a feeling what I'll make then will more than cover anything I lose now.

    And I'll dig around, but there ahve been numerous citations of a study awaiting peer review, where the group least likely to get the jab, and have the most reservations, was PhDs, and lack of desire to get it correlated precisely with increasing educational level.

    When the smart people can spot your bullshit coming from a mile off, the PR campaign has sprung a major leak, and it isn't going to sail much further before it goes under.

    And I'll find out this week what the company's counter-offer is, but given they can
    't afford to lose 1/4 of the ER, nor 1/3rd of the hospital nursing staff, they'll either come to Jesus, or meet their maker.

    Interesting side note: two major local hospitals aren't making any demands of their staff to get jabbed, which is leading people to conclude that they aren't afraid of the state Dept of Public Health, and the huffing and puffing, and aren't going to shoot themselves in their own foot just to kiss The Man's ass.

    And if their staff isn't being pressured, why is mine???

    More news to follow, for a certainty.

    Of course, if Gov. Gabbin' Nuisance gets his ass recalled next month, this whole plan goes down the toilet, at least at the CA state level.
    What Gropey Dopey wants to do at the federal level changes, depending greatly on whether or not he took his Alzheimer's meds each day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have a couple contacts around AZ if that ends up being your direction let me know and I can hit them up for ground truth

      Delete
  16. Just the other day on Ann Barnhart's podcast the medical person she had on for discussion said that the healthcare system could collapse in six months.

    Biden remember when my sister graduated from The Somerville Hospital School of Nursing. She was so proud wearing her pin, and her nurse's cape and hat.
    Then she got hired by Boston City Hospital. She ended up dealing with so many GSWs that the Army tried to recruit her.

    After a few years or so working in the BCH ER, she was totally burned out with ER work, and got a job as a school nurse. The process of burn out always has been there, now it is on Warp speed.

    Now I'm hearing that the plan is to import nurses from the Philippines.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Question for you. I've seen two studies so far that indicate that an MMR booster, and possibly a Tdap, might help with teh Covids. I thought they both looked interesting, but don't have the medical knowledge to know if they're being realistic or not. Have you seen those?

    ReplyDelete
  18. "Can't wait to see what CA will do when reality hits them in the face. "

    --they'll import more filipinos, or africans, or mainland chinese, like nyc did. They'll push care decisions further down the chain, like they've been doing for the last 3 decades. Anyone want to make odds that there is a huge cadre of pretty young chinese women with covid experience ready to smile for the press as they get off the planes to help Cali with their severe nursing shortage?

    Nope, I don't think those are good things.

    BTW, where is the J&J&j shot in all of this? Haven't heard anything about a booster, or declining efficacy (for any reason, time, variant, nothing.)

    ReplyDelete
  19. How timely.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9916447/FDA-issue-not-cow-warning-livestock-drug-use.html

    I'll just make the same note as previously. Their actual objection is overdosing.

    And they keep making narrowly worded statements that a suspicious person might interpret as CYA for a future tribunal.

    "An FDA warning added that ivermectin 'is not an anti-viral' and that 'taking large doses of this drug is dangerous and can cause serious harm.' "

    --yes, both presumably true, and both completely beside the point.

    n

    ReplyDelete
  20. Here is one link to the study

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9893465/Americans-PhDs-reluctant-vaccinated-against-COVID-study-finds.html

    "Americans with PhDs are the most reluctant to get vaccinated against COVID, study finds

    Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh researchers reported a U-shaped correlation between vaccine hesitancy and education level
    They concluded people with PhDs are not only the most skeptical about getting vaccinated but are also the least likely to change their minds about it
    Other risk factors for hesitancy included younger age, non-Asian race ..."

    n

    ReplyDelete
  21. J&J&J... somewhat different tech.

    We shall see what we see....

    ReplyDelete
  22. Whats gonna happen after TPTB fire or motivate to depart all or many of the highly capable people, they will be left with desperately overworked, exhausted med staff. Then the hospital will begin turning away sick folks.
    Then the media will get ahold of the story and begin shrieking and howling about staff shortages and soon so will the populace.
    The politicians will hear the shrieking and howling of the press and the people and decide to appear to do something about it. Immediately howling that the Federal govt. step in to fix this emergency. Meanwhile They will be blaming GLOBAL WARMING and then Donald Trump. Switching back & forth between them as the spirit moves them.
    In the end, hopefully, TPTB will gain a small modicum of good sense & backtrack on their edicts of the jab. (but don't hold your breath for it)

    ReplyDelete
  23. My best friend got the J&J not-vaxx, 3 weeks later died of a stroke.
    Other than being overweight he had no underlying medical conditions and no one in his family has ever died of a heart attack or stroke.

    I WILL NOT COMPLY!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Aesop,
    You're on the right course --steady as she goes -- all full ahead.

    Had sumpin' similar happen to me--decades ago. PRES of the Fortune 500 corp I was onboard with said: DO THIS OR ELSE!" Action was totally illegal (both criminal and civil, and they woulda pulled my state license to boot.) Told him so. Calmly walked back to my office, gathered up what little shit I roll with. On my way out, I tipped my hat to the cute CS VP gal there at corporate and stentoriously announced: "Fuck y'all!"

    Later that night, I got a call from my bud, Fred, VP Human Resources, who said the higher ups had run a case file on me--mostly financial data--and figured I was too deep in debt to refuse their "offer" of illegal activity. Fred said they shit their pants when I walked.

    Best thing that ever haoppened to me.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Perhaps you could just identify as a pregnant woman?

    I've seen anecdotal evidence that (at least some) doctors are very, very shy about giving medical exemptions.

    ReplyDelete
  26. It occurred to me this morning that this is a real life example of Going Galt. All in slow, horrible motion.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Stay strong, my friend. Ain't got much to offer that would do any real good, I'm afraid. But for whatever little it might be worth, you have my utmost respect for taking this stand, and I wish you nothing but the best.

    ReplyDelete
  28. We are living in crazy times. And I mean, full bore, throttle to the max-insanity! When did any government numbskull get the authority to tell people how to handle their own health? I had to listen to someone tell me about how her brother in Oregon is surrounded by "Trumpsters" who won't get the vaxx, and there are no hospital beds available in Oregon because of them. SERIOUSLY?? In the whole effing state of Oregon there is not ONE available bed because of Trump and people who supported him?? THIS is how effing nuts people have become!! I am so over ever dipshXts who start with the politics and vaxxing. A=Who told them this type of tripe? B=How do this insider have the sooper-secret access to anyone else's medical records? C=An entire state awash in Covid??? It is just insanity that people buy into this-unquestionly.
    Good luck on the next job. You will make a pile of cash, probably have some lucid managers, and will be far from the maddening crowd. Let us hope that GN is recalled and never heard from again. Hospitals in this state will be closing right and left. Let us see how much support the Demonrats muster after there is no place to go for heart attacks, kidney failure, bloody car accidents, or a shreiking 2 year olds bad ear infection at 3 am. First world medical care is about to sink to Venezuela level.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Donn the DraughtsmanAugust 23, 2021 at 7:40 AM

    What I'm expecting/fearing is that we are going to see a sudden influx of poorly trained African and Indian nurses to replace Americans who don't want to get the Jab O'Death. This has happened in the engineering community, my home since the early 80's. I recently worked a gig for a medical equipment company, and was one of two Americans out of a team of about 40 Indians, mostly women, and very low skill despite Masters degrees. As the only one who was really expert on the 3D modeling software, I spent a frustrating 6 months babysitting them. I can't imagine what it would be like in a hospital setting, especially with caste conflicts. One high class Brahmin tried to get me fired because I wouldn't prioritize her packages. Epic fail on her part, as my contract was very explicit on my duties.
    Good luck, and hang in there. I don't see how things can last much longer, as a previous commenter said.

    ReplyDelete
  30. "I had to listen to someone tell me about how her brother in Oregon is surrounded by "Trumpsters" who won't get the vaxx, and there are no hospital beds available in Oregon because of them. SERIOUSLY?? In the whole effing state of Oregon there is not ONE available bed because of Trump and people who supported him?? THIS is how effing nuts people have become!!"

    Liberals are emotional children. When dealing with them act accordingly.

    ReplyDelete
  31. I am glad you won't get the shot. We need you.

    None of my ivermectin ingesting friends have come down with the "2nd round of many" until it degenerates into oblivion.

    The injectable kind. 1ml/100 lbs body wt. Once a month if well...daily if sick.

    armadillo jackal

    ReplyDelete
  32. Just a note on the situation here in West Tennessee. My wife works for the largest hospital chain in the area. She has done MedSurg, but most of her bedside career (30+ years)was ICU. The last decade or more she has been in Transplant, either ICU or as pre-or post-op care. She has been an infusion nurse for the last couple of years, and (like you) for the last 18 months has been caring for patients without ever contracting any illness whatsoever, despite being exposed many times- due to vigorous safety protocols.
    Now TPTB are mandating that all employees must get the jabs by Oct.1. We hold out little hope for a religious exemption. Of immediate concern is the fact that our insurance coverage is through her employer, and due to medical issues, we've been using it a lot the past couple of years.
    I note that there are reports of hospitals removing people from transplant waiting lists who have not gotten the jabs and am wondering how long it will be before there is a similar denial of service for other treatments, such as chemotherapy and scans and other tests. Already they have cancelled elective surgeries due to "lack of beds."
    What was that about "First, do no harm"?
    As always, I put my faith in the Almighty- but I haven't turned my swords into plowshares.

    ReplyDelete
  33. "If I'd known how stupid they were apt to get over the Vaxx, I might have sought ought a non-jab proof of vaxx."

    I seem to remember mentioning that to you. And you sorta waved me off...no hard feelings, BTW.

    Sorry it may come to you leaving. You could get a job anywhere on the GoM coast, in about 10 min; you just have to deal with hurricanes.

    Pensacola wouldn't be a bad gig. No state income tax. Beaches. Great fishing.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Thoughtful economists tell us that these sorts of problems elicit their own solutions.

    Suits "mandate" injections.

    Staff tells 'em to sod off.

    Non injected get fired/hounded from jobs.

    NURSING! SHORTAGE!

    Folks, previously unemployed, now rent-a-nurses, and paid very, very well.

    Administrators resign, "to spend more time with family".

    AMF!

    ReplyDelete