Welcome to Al Rahji Bank!

I am now the proud owner of a bank account in Saudi Arabia!  Complete with ATM card!!  I am also a card carrying member of the Employee Social Club!  Yessiree I'm set up and settled in!!  I had a day off today so took care of that little bit of business and then explored more of Riyadh.  Two friends and I went to Olaya Street and found another huge mall (there are tons of malls here) but this one sold more textiles and craft items.  There was a small DMC store and we found out there was a larger one across the street!  DMC is a little like Hobby Lobby where they sell craft and artist supplies.  I was thrilled they sold beads and beading supplies as well as needlework kits.  We then went to Al Jiri Book Store.  It is more like a Office Depot than a book store.   There were lots of office supplies and computers but they did have a section that sold craft and artist supplies.  Upstairs they sold school items and some books but not many.  There were Best Sellers and a few nonfiction but not many.  I bought a book on Saudi Arabia to send to Matt's children since they seemed pretty interested in where I was going.  While we were trying to cross Olaya Street we were able to make it to the median because there was a traffic light that stopped traffic.  Getting to the other side was trickier because there is NO traffic light and the cars kept coming!  We were stuck on the median with no break in traffic!!  A man came across to us on the median and helped us make it to the other side!  I thought WOW!!  What a very kind (and brave) thing to do!  A word about driving in Riyadh...believe me when I tell you I am very very happy not to drive here!!  The traffic system makes no sense, there are no speed limits, the traffic is always very heavy and the drivers are crazy!!  The number one cause of death of children in Riyadh is traffic accidents!

My unit is interesting but not nearly as stressful as the one at CCMH.  They are using the same monitors we did before we got the new ones.  The people here did not know they could print vital signs or change colors of the waveforms or do a host of other things.  I showed them a lot of things they could do and the clinical instructor said "I can see we will be learning a lot of things from you!".  That made me feel very nice!  The drawback is they still do paper charting....and it is crazy!!  They want to move to computerized charting but some of the nurses come from areas of the world where they have very little exposure to computers.  They have to teach them basic computer skills and then try to teach them the ISIS (the charting system we will be using).  We have a very fancy PYXIS medication system that uses a bioscan after you put in a password. You have to return your empty narcotic vials and count those with the narcotics (but don't include it in the count on the PYXIS).  Returned meds do not go back into the PYXIS but get placed in a bin that says "outgoing to pharmacy". They are hoping to integrate the systems.  We are HANDWRITING the drugs out on a medication sheet!!  Modern equipment and stone age charting!

Christine xx
They use APIE charting here which I find a little hard to get used to.  It is OK for the chronic patients but not at all friendly for the acutes.  It is a very strange system but I have decided "when in Rome" and just go with it till they get the computer charting system up and running....patience.....