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...my work schedule gets flipped around.
As a reminder I am a Nuclear Med tech.
Some crazy things have happened these last few weeks. First, <hospital system> has cut 500 jobs system wide as a cost-cutting manuever. Thankfully, my job was not one of them. However, my boss and a couple of the rad techs got axed. I was quite bummed as I actually liked my boss. Even if you didn't agree with her, she was one of those people you just can't help but smile when you're around her. She'd been with the <hospital system> for many, many years and opened up several departments such as mammography, sleep lab, and MRI at several locations. Most of us feel she really got shafted.
Before Boss left, she extended Nuc Med's schedule from 8 hour days to 10 hour days. NewBoss has changed the schedule back to 8 hour days because the extended hours "aren't catching on." First off, the extended hours have only been in place a couple weeks, so I really don't feel like they've given it much of a chance. But our numbers are down. There are a few reasons for this. One being the state of the economy and people losing insurance coverage whether from employers or COBRA. It is still early enough in the year that those with deductables might not have met them yet and are delaying proceedures.
But the main reason for Nuc Med in particular being slow is the ongoing problems with the reactors we get our isotopes from. The NRU reactor in Canada has been down since last summer and recently the Dutch and South Africa reactors have been down as well. The isotope shortage has gotten so bad that over the past week the pharmacy wasn't sure they'd be getting ANY generators at all. We got lucky and got a small one, but the bulk technitium doses are being held in reserve for emergency lung and GI bleed scans. Thankfully, reactors are expected to start coming back online in the next few weeks (though when the NRU will be back up is anyone's guess), so business should be picking back up.
Since <Jedi's hospital> only has one camera, they only had me working one day a week since the other Nuc tech is full time and I'm PRN. Fair enough. But since NewBoss has switched back to 8 hour days, coworker M is going back to five days a week. Which means I'm losing my Fridays. All is not lost, however, because <other location> has some hours. Actually, lots of hours. All in all, I think I'm getting the better end of the deal since <other location> is a much busier department. At <home location> I might finish for the day by noon or 1pm. <other location> routinely goes until 5pm, and since I'm hourly, that means more muniez for me. Woo!
The downside is I just started volunteering for the local humane society and I'm going to have to switch days around and possibly go to an "as I can" basis instead of having 3 or 4 days of availability. As much as I'm thrilled to be working more and making more money, I love volunteering at the humane society. Animals can be so much easier to deal with than people.
As a reminder I am a Nuclear Med tech.
Some crazy things have happened these last few weeks. First, <hospital system> has cut 500 jobs system wide as a cost-cutting manuever. Thankfully, my job was not one of them. However, my boss and a couple of the rad techs got axed. I was quite bummed as I actually liked my boss. Even if you didn't agree with her, she was one of those people you just can't help but smile when you're around her. She'd been with the <hospital system> for many, many years and opened up several departments such as mammography, sleep lab, and MRI at several locations. Most of us feel she really got shafted.
Before Boss left, she extended Nuc Med's schedule from 8 hour days to 10 hour days. NewBoss has changed the schedule back to 8 hour days because the extended hours "aren't catching on." First off, the extended hours have only been in place a couple weeks, so I really don't feel like they've given it much of a chance. But our numbers are down. There are a few reasons for this. One being the state of the economy and people losing insurance coverage whether from employers or COBRA. It is still early enough in the year that those with deductables might not have met them yet and are delaying proceedures.
But the main reason for Nuc Med in particular being slow is the ongoing problems with the reactors we get our isotopes from. The NRU reactor in Canada has been down since last summer and recently the Dutch and South Africa reactors have been down as well. The isotope shortage has gotten so bad that over the past week the pharmacy wasn't sure they'd be getting ANY generators at all. We got lucky and got a small one, but the bulk technitium doses are being held in reserve for emergency lung and GI bleed scans. Thankfully, reactors are expected to start coming back online in the next few weeks (though when the NRU will be back up is anyone's guess), so business should be picking back up.
Since <Jedi's hospital> only has one camera, they only had me working one day a week since the other Nuc tech is full time and I'm PRN. Fair enough. But since NewBoss has switched back to 8 hour days, coworker M is going back to five days a week. Which means I'm losing my Fridays. All is not lost, however, because <other location> has some hours. Actually, lots of hours. All in all, I think I'm getting the better end of the deal since <other location> is a much busier department. At <home location> I might finish for the day by noon or 1pm. <other location> routinely goes until 5pm, and since I'm hourly, that means more muniez for me. Woo!
The downside is I just started volunteering for the local humane society and I'm going to have to switch days around and possibly go to an "as I can" basis instead of having 3 or 4 days of availability. As much as I'm thrilled to be working more and making more money, I love volunteering at the humane society. Animals can be so much easier to deal with than people.
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