Sadly, your telework agreement is way more generous than other VISNs.
Our site is still largely functioning as hybrid telework for psychologists supposedly due to spacing, but it's a ghost town every day I'm there. We have several psychologists working fully remote who were not hired as remote but moved away. We have newer staff who aren't allowed hybrid any more and are fully RTO since April. Management says that was decided by big VA based on number of virtual appointments or something like that. Our psychologists who are fully remote due to work arounds (combinations of accommodations and management getting their positions reclassified as remote) have complained a bit about no longer getting our local SSR and having to get the SSR of the VA hospital system of their actual physical location, but the reality is they aren't entitled to remote work and they were being paid more than they should have been to be fully remote at their preferred location. There is an undercurrent of resentment/frustration here about legitimate unfair treatment across different psychologists who have similar functions (e.g., outpatient general mental health and specialty clinics). I think management is right to advocate for their people, who knows when positions will actually get backfilled if our remote workers leave. It is a little harder to like some of my colleagues who are getting advantages I don't get and then whining about their lot (e.g., slightly reduced SSR, difficulties with patients connecting to VVC) when they don't have a commute and literally have to put in less effort to do the same job while other VA systems are not giving their psychologists the same level of leeway. None of us are entitled to anything at this point, not even relative job security, and it is important to keep that in perspective.
This actually sounds credible (and typical).
It was such a cute game! I have been doing Stardew Valley again as things have gotten dystopian.
You should try Rimworld, then, lol. It's been described as a 'war crime / atrocity generator.' Very much in keeping with current events/stressors. It's sort of like "Sims in space" (colony building) with assault rifles, starvation, organ harvesting, and molotov cocktails.
I take a different approach when I see people getting things I don't have. It's a place to negotiate. I didn't start with any teleworking days, but I saw some providers had them. I negotiated for them because I was always in the position to leave and my boss wanted to keep me. It didn't cost the VA anything and it was a simple way to keep me happy. It's better to have people getting MORE things to open the door for you to ask for the same. It's harder to get something approved if it's not approved for anyone. I appreciate when people complain and advocate for better stuff.
I watch other people play RimWorld because of all of the controls it has. It does look fun though!
I don't think the frustration gets directed at anyone. It is not a fair situation, but it is equitable. I'd rather have my colleagues remote working than not working or dealing with unstable income. They could probably be a bit more considerate about some of the privilege they have right now, and vice versa.
No need for an argument about semantics re: entitlement vs. privilege. I was just saying what my local hospital is doing and that the same RTO rules aren't getting applied even within the same discipline here where I am. I appreciate that because I'd rather my colleagues keep their jobs, and they could also check their privilege at times.
My ability to leave may give the people left the leverage they need to negotiate for better opportunities. Our clinic was in this same situation several years ago where multiple psychologists left at once for a host of reasons. It gave a lot of negotiating power to my supervisor and leadership gave much more freedom for them to recruit and retain staff. This ultimately benefited everyone, including new people hired (myself included). OIG recently listed psychologist as a critical position. Assuming we stabilize and build back, it will put psychologists in a good position to negotiate again.
What can you negotiate?
I negotiated a sign on bonus and higher step when I started ~1 year ago but was only able to do that because I had a competing offer. Even though my debt load is relatively small, they wouldn't allow me to negotiate a term less than 2 years for EDRP. As far as telework, local leadership is not budging here.
Accounting question for you: If you are formally diagnosed with DID, are you (or your boss) required to collect two paychecks from the same business? Fund two retirement accounts?
I guess I worry that I would be blacklisted for leaving after a few weeks. But I am so, so tired of having to say things like “I’m not comfortable being locked in a room for 9 hours,” “I have to go to the bathroom everyday,” and “if you only open 2 of the 3 doors, I’m still stuck” and to be met with blank stares.
Backlisted? Really. Is this a thing? Do we know how many terrible psychologists and psychiatrists there are out there???
Was there some drama with them leaving?
Yeah, I could see that being an issue.
No, but glad to hear the VA is attempting to embrace technology. I feel like their tech rollout for most projects are a mess.
Yeah, I have been digging into the details and it seems interesting. I can see a lot of my folks opting out though.
Just what we need. More and more documentation that ISN'T the result of an actual, thinking, professional human being carefully and thoughtfully processing, weighing, judging information and crafting a coherent narrative. It's hard enough slogging through all the TEXT in the chart and trying to isolate the meaningful clinical INFORMATION as is.
I'd be curious if this has the potential to pull more useful information into the documentation. If it's like the one I've been using, it's prompted to look for specific information like suicidality/risk factors, specific clinical techniques used, and statements relevant to the treatment plan progress. It also summarizes the plan for the next session. I delete a lot of the diagnostic stuff because I don't find it helpful, but it'll give me specific phrases the clients said to build the rationale. I do find that part helpful in interpretation.
90% of EMR documentation is trash. I haven’t used CPRS in forever, but it was just as bad if not worse than EPIC in regards to useable information.
This is the single biggest unrealized "secret" of the VA mental health system right now. The APPARENT 'demand' for actual effortful, structured/intensive "evidence-based" psychotherapy FAR exceeds the ACTUAL demand for such services...something like 8 to 1. If they ended service connection for mental health diagnoses/conditions, referrals for psychotherapy services would drop by 80-90%...overnight.
Agreed, I don’t even practice EMDR, but I’ve done enough review of the EMDRIA and VA handouts to know what should be described in a note. We had a EMDR consultant at our site and her notes are nonsense. Doesn’t follow the protocol, doesn’t describe half of what should be going on in a standard note…
