Non-standard definitions of research.

Given that the research I do at the hospital is based in and focuses on the emergency department, one might think the hustle and bustle of such an environment would provide endless opportunities to conduct engaging research, to see life-saving procedures, and to make a difference.   In truth, that is not always the case.  Although countless people come to the E.D. with ‘emergencies’, the vast majority of those cases are far from engrossing medical anomalies requiring immediate intervention.  So even when all the rooms are full or if no one is hustling or bustling about, say at 5:00-ish p.m. on a Sunday afternoon, “research” takes on a broader, more all-encompassing definition.   That is not to say that one watches paint dry during one of theses lulls, but conducting so-called "quality studies" is an analogous process in many ways.  One such quality study, for example, involves monitoring the number of interruptions a nurse faces while gathering a patient’s medicine from the automated dispensing machine, monitoring the number of interruptions a nurse faces between the machine and the patient’s room, and then monitoring the number of interruptions a nurse encounters between entering the room and administering the medication.  Gripping, right?  I too was on the edge of my seat with anticipation for the nearly two full hours I spent looming by the prescription machine.  Most of the time the process of medication gathering, transport, and delivery goes uninterrupted, and hence one then writes a big goose egg in all the associated boxes on the form.  And that, that is what we call research.  I anticipate the coming shifts to be more eventful.  Stay tuned for updates.