Epically Awful

At the beginning of November we got a new computer system in our office called Epic.  This new system affects all aspects of our office, from patient check-in to communication with patients to office visits, as the front office, nurses, and doctors use the new system.  Everything that goes on in our office goes through the new system.  Needless to say most people were nervous about this change as it was undoubtedly going to change workflow and how people do their jobs.  I, on the other hand, was pretty laid back about the change because I use Epic in one of my other jobs and thus am used to the system.  I was wrong about being laid back.  I should have been nervous.  The month of November is almost finished and I haven't had one good day at work this entire month.

It's difficult to describe in words what this change does to an office.  You almost have to witness it in person.  Everything is delayed.  Checking patients in, getting them to the rooms, doing routine tasks are delayed.  Refilling medicines and placing orders for labs or images get dropped or lost and patients call back wondering what happened.  Even filtering messages from phone calls around the office is a challenge.  For the first time in my career I have began telling people that we don't have time to address all of their concerns and that they will need to come back.  For the first time in my career I have not looked forward to going to work.  Last week, we were running over an hour behind schedule and when someone told me they didn't think I was listening to them I snapped at them.  When you go to work for 3 straight weeks and everything you do is wrong or in question you can only take so much.  When you have to apologize again and again for delays it gets to be a bit much.

Things will get better as we all get used to the whole system.  In fact, things are already better now compared to when we first started.  But there is a larger issue here, one that is beyond the scope of this post.  I am concerned about the future of healthcare in this country.  It is increasingly complex to provide even the most simplest of care.  If the non-medical person saw what goes on behind the scenes (how much effort is needed) after the patient leaves the office to deliver their care I think most people would be shocked.  This coupled with increasing cost and higher demands to deliver top quality care in less amount of time I believe is an equation that can't be solved.  Time will tell I suppose.  In the meantime, I hope things with Epic improve sooner rather than later.  I can't handle too many more days of this.

So It Begins...

Autumn was way too short this year.  My favorite season has come and gone for the year.  We've had our first snowfall of the year with accumulation and it seems way too early for that.  Not only that but it is cold outside.  Like January cold.  It was in the teens this morning on my way to work.  The only saving grace at this point is that it is supposed to be in the 50s this weekend with rain.  Maybe one last fall hurrah?

I have a busy commute as it is.  There is plenty of opportunity for slow down from wrecks, cops pulling people over, etc.  Add snow and/or ice and it is significantly worse.  Here's to warmer weather.  Winter is just starting and I'm already ready for it to be over.

Keeping Calm and Carrying On

October ended with a trip to Seattle which I would classify as an interesting place and a place that I'm glad I visited once but also a place that I'm not planning on returning to anytime soon.  The surrounding area is beautiful, however.

Trick-or-treater's never came to see us in our apartments and unfortunately we weren't able to participate in Halloween last year so this was our first year as a home owner where we could hand out candy.  Sarah bought some but the weather was crummy, in the upper 30s/lower 40s with rain and sleet.  We had very few trick-or-treaters.  Sophie and Elle dressed up as the monsters from Monster's Inc. (see Sarah's facebook page) and they had fun crawling around in their outfits, probably confused about the situation.  We have a lot of leftover candy.  I've had more snickers bars in the past week than I've had in the past several years.  I forgot how good those things are.

I think I'm finally used to using a Mac over a PC.  That didn't take long, maybe a few days.  I'm pretty happy with the switch thus far.  I'm also switching computer systems at work, which is a major hassle.  Luckily I already use the new system at one of my other jobs, but the rest of my office staff isn't so fortunate - it is brand new to them.  Hiccups are expected in the upcoming weeks.

A Week To Forget

Last week was one of those weeks where everything seemed to go wrong.  It started out with mild annoyances at work.  On Tuesday I had to call an insurance company to do what's called a peer-to-peer review.  I ordered a sleep study on a patient who had excessive daytime sleepiness and their insurance wouldn't cover it without me talking to them first.  It got approved but the doctor I talked to was an absolute ass for no real apparent reason.  On Wednesday I saw a new patient who left mad because I wouldn't give them antibiotics for a 3 day illness with normal vitals and a normal exam.  They had a viral illness that would improve with time.  I explained to them that antibiotics were not helpful.  Even after 10 minutes of explaining they were still mad.  It frustrates me how I can spend over a decade learning medicine and then people with absolutely no medical training come in and think they know everything because they read it on Google.

Things massively got worse from there.  On Thursday my 9 year old computer died.  I was using it and it shut off.  I thought the power in the house went out but it didn't.  It was just the power to my computer.  I tried to trouble shoot the problem but there were too many variables and the computer was nearly a decade old so I gave up.  I thought I would be able to rip the hard drives out and access our data but I was wrong.  Apparently the hard drive was a dynamic drive, a more advanced type of drive that many Windows platforms can't read (even though it is a type of Windows drive).  I am in the process of still figuring that out but so far have been unsuccessful.  Oh yeah, I started to develop a cold on Thursday too.  I never really got sick, but didn't feel great, just bad enough for it to be annoying.

Then on Friday, I got a call from my dad saying my mom had a massive gallbladder attack.  They took her to the hospital and removed the gallbladder and all is well now, but she apparently was pretty sick over the weekend.

I was more than ready enough for last week to be over.  Oh, and to add insult to injury my new student loan payment terms kicked in this week.  My new payments are similar in amount to a house mortgage, which, you know, is fantastic.  I am using my MacBook now as my main computer and am still in the process of getting things set up and organized the way I want and had them on my old desktop.

A Link To The Past

Last week I came across a link on IGN where they ranked their top 125 Nintendo games of all time.  The list brought back all kinds of memories from old Nintendo games, from Mario to Zelda to Excitebike and Punch-Out!.  I became so nostalgic, in fact, I downloaded an SNES emulator for my computer so that I can play some SNES games (I have most of these games on the Wii too, but it is in storage.).  My first order of business was to download A Link to the Past, one of my all time favorite games from 1992.  The music alone (see below) is enough to get me excited. 

Interestingly enough, this weekend was my birthday and Sarah got me the Zelda version of Monopoly as well as this really cool map of the Chicago transit system with Zelda logos and theme to hang in my man cave (see below).  The title of the game is really appropriate as it does provide a link to my past, growing up and playing video games.  I don't play them too often anymore but it is always fun to go back periodically and remind myself of how much I enjoyed certain games when I was younger.  Thanks to all for the birthday wishes, especially Auntie.

Trouble With The Spreader

I will place this experience into the "live and learn" category.  In early summer I placed fertilizer on my yard and I somehow had a lot leftover in my spreader when I was finished.  I didn't think much of it and left it sitting in my spreader all summer.  Thursday I tried to clean it out in order to use the spreader for fall fertilizing and weed killer.  To my surprise, the fertilizer from the summer was rock solid, jamming up my spreader.  This is odd to me because I have the exact same fertilizer sitting in my garage in a non-sealed bag and it didn't get hard at all.  I tried to get it out with a mini-shovel and when that didn't work I decided to spray it with water to soften it up.  This worked, except that it made the fertilizer quite sticky, jamming up the spreader again.  I didn't realize this until I had already poured the fall fertilizer into the bin.  So I had to remove it and place it in a trash bag so that I could manually move the fertilizer from the spreader that was getting stuck.  I finally got the fall fertilizer on the yard.  It just took me about 30 minutes longer than expected.

iPhone 6 == Bleh

I remember when the specs (processor speed, amount of memory, hard drive space, etc.) on computers were really important.  Not long ago, you actually had to pay attention to the specs because the computer you selected may not be able to adequately run the programs you want and need.  For the overwhelming majority of people, those days are gone.  Sure, if you're running a business or doing something very specific with your computer, the specs probably matter.  But for the average computer user who is checking email, surfing the net, and running basic programs, any computer on the market will be able to handle their tasks easily.

My current iPhone, the 4S, is about 4 years old.  It runs well but is getting to the point where battery life is becoming an issue.  It is time to upgrade.  I've been waiting all summer to hear about the iPhone 6 to see if I wanted to get one.  Now that the details have been released, I'm not sure I want one.  I'm not jumping to Android.  I'm happy with the iPhone, and now that I have a Mac I really enjoy the integration between the phone and the computer.  I'm just not sure that I need a 6.

The iPhone 6 release was filled with specs: which processor the phone uses, the screen resolution, the camera pixel number, and on and on.  Thing is, the 4S, which is years old, does everything I want and need in a phone.  I run a few basic apps, check my email, and text.  That's about it.  Also, I'm generally against larger phones.  I use my phone for work while I'm at work on a daily basis.  I want something small enough to comfortably fit in my pocket and be transported without feeling like I've shoved a laptop down my pants.  But the market is going towards larger phones and there isn't anything I can do about it.  Sarah has an iPhone 5 with a larger screen (but smaller than the 6 screens) and I think the 5's screen size is fine. 

I think I'm going to wait for the 6 to come out and then get a 5S once the price drops to $99.  It will be faster and lighter than my current phone, it will do everything I want and need it to do, and it will cost $100 less.  I'm placing the label "I'm getting old" on this post because there was a time, probably 5-10 years ago, where there is no way I would settle for anything other than the latest and greatest.  I wouldn't use logic like I am currently displayed in this post.