[asik]

What is wrong with you people wanting more and more government and police? This isn't the USSR, even though many of you would like that.
Try freedom for a change.

[Matthew64]

Thanks to all of you who have responded so far. It is good to see a balanced viewpoint from most of you. I realize that LV is a different kind of city in many ways, but yes, it can be the "same old, same old" in terms of comparisons. I am not sure if I like being called "darling" or "sweetie" by persons I don't know (a southern custom), but I am getting used to it (after 4 years). LOL
Of course I would visit LV for a time and get a feel for the place and its citizens. I went blind to New Orleans (never been there, never been in the South, knew no one), and while it was an adventure, it was also extremely stressful at times. So never again for that. I figure, if I could acclimate, find the good points about New Orleans, deal with the bad, cope with the extreme climate there (sub-tropical), and make good friends and get an education, then I can deal with anything, for the most part. The social services in NO were horrible, and the need was great, even before the storm. Now it is worse. But that is another story.
There also may be some misperceptions about what social workers actually DO. This is not uncommon. Most persons think that we are child protective workers, work with food stamps and street level interventions with homeless persons, and are mostly female, extremely liberal, and much like Tyne Daly on "Judging Amy." :>) Some of my peers do this work. Some of the others, like myself, are in the Mental Health branch of service. I really enjoy working with folks in psychotherapy, helping them to help themselves. However, my true love is crisis intervention. I am hoping to do my dissertation on the experiences of those who loose a loved one to homicide, and what kind of immediate crisis services they receive to help avoid issues with PTSD (which may be overdiagnosed). So I hope to work in an ER, or with the police.
Sorry to digress.
Have any of you just felt drawn to a place, although you may have never been there? This is how I feel about LV. Why I don't know. I do know that all I have seen of it is what the media has presented, which is why I need to come and visit BEFORE I graduate and look for work.
I have seen from some of the posts that your PD is not so highly thought of. Any other insights into policing, or the quality of the hospitals and medical care in LV?
In exchange, if anyone is considering moving East, I grew up in Rochester, NY. I can provide insights into upstate and western NY state. Also, I can help if anyone is wanting to move or visit Louisiana, or Central Alabama.
Did all of you survive the wicked heat wave recently? And I thought it was hot here in Tuscaloosa!
Thanks for your insights so far.

[Idaho Spud]

Las Vegas is nothing but a cesspool of self-centered, arrogant, rude, human trash. Do yourself a huge favor and live anywhere else. If you are a corrupt person of the above description you will fit right in however. Your choice. Mine is elsewhere.

[ParkTwain]

If you are dependent on services from the state and local governments, Nevada is not the place for you. Nevada government generally does everything on the cheap. (We'll see how much longer the populace accepts this philosophy.) If you are reasonably self-reliant and can live so as to take advantage of a relatively low cost of living, you can be successful living in Nevada. Vegas is also a pretty good place to start a business, with all the growth these days.

The quality and breadth of health care services in Las Vegas needs to improve. I have also noticed that there aren't too many doctors with Anglo-Saxon names in Vegas. You might have noticed recently in the news here about the death of a premature baby at Summerlin Hospital due to an overdose of zinc in an IV drip bag; this was due to pharmacist mistakes inside the hospital and is an indication of undertrained workers and inadequate procedures (poor management).

[olecapt]

Originally Posted by ParkTwain

If you are dependent on services from the state and local governments, Nevada is not the place for you. Nevada government generally does everything on the cheap. (We'll see how much longer the populace accepts this philosophy.) If you are reasonably self-reliant and can live so as to take advantage of a relatively low cost of living, you can be successful living in Nevada. Vegas is also a pretty good place to start a business, with all the growth these days.

The quality and breadth of health care services in Las Vegas needs to improve. I have also noticed that there aren't too many doctors with Anglo-Saxon names in Vegas. You might have noticed recently in the news here about the death of a premature baby at Summerlin Hospital due to an overdose of zinc in an IV drip bag; this was due to pharmacist mistakes inside the hospital and is an indication of undertrained workers and inadequate procedures (poor management).

I find the medical care pretty much interchangable with suburban So. California. Aside from open heart surgery or some other highly specialized procedure I would have anything I needed done here.

The sad tale at Summerlin deals more with ability of errors to compound beyond belief than it does with undetrained workers or inadequate procedures. Note that one of the major fixes is the "have another sign off" thing that invariably leads to less care in all the signoffs. After a year no one will be paying attention as they have not seen an error in that period.

Note that one of the final opportunities lost was by the tech who was concerned that it was wrong - but was afraid to open her mouth because the pharmacist involved had fired her from an eariler job.

[ParkTwain]

Originally Posted by olecapt

The sad tale at Summerlin deals more with ability of errors to compound beyond belief than it does with undetrained workers or inadequate procedures.

I completely disagree with this statement. Every individual can make a mistake. It is the responsibility of management to put into place a procedure that effectively makes it very improbable that, if a mistake takes place, that mistake is not propagated forward in the process. For instance, why does the computer into which the pharmacist enters orders not automatically check for dosage that exceeds a certain absolute maximum but also for a maximum that is based on the patient's weight? This is unbelievable mismanagement. If the equipment cannot automate these kinds of checks, then checklists must be put into practice so that it can be demonstrated to supervisors that certain necessary steps have been taken as part of an overall process. It is the responsibility of management, regardless of the kind of business or process, to put this kind of procedure into place.

[olecapt]

Originally Posted by ParkTwain

I completely disagree with this statement. Every individual can make a mistake. It is the responsibility of management to put into place a procedure that effectively makes it very improbable that, if a mistake takes place, that mistake is propagated forward in the process. For instance, why does the computer into which the pharmacist enters orders not automatically check for dosage that exceeds a certain absolute maximum but also for a maximum that is based on the patient's weight? This is unbelievable mismanagement. If the equipment cannot automate these kinds of checks, then checklists must be put into practice so that it can be demonstrated to supervisors that certain necessary steps have been taken as part of an overall process. It is the responsibility of management, regardless of the kind of business or process, to put this kind of procedure into place.

I am well aware of such procedures. I believe the ones used here were "industry standard" and involved multiple checks. I think you will find the error dealt with a large number of factors including MDs specifying in a way that differed from that the Pharmicists want. That forces over-rides and opens the door for error. The MD would likely argue his way is better in that it specified the end product...and did so correctly..

I too would have thought the software would have had a built in check...though this may have been nutrition rather than drug software. Nothing in the discussion has suggested that a computer over-ride was made. I believe the only significant change actually made was that a pharmicist would run the compounding machine rather than a tech.

Right up there with the airplane that got liters and pounds confused. Could not happen...but it did.

[Sinkbean]

This thread is interesting. I too am from Alabama (went to UA in Tuscaloosa myself) and my sister went to Tulane in New Orleans (she chose to stay and find a career there even after Katrina), so I feel like I have some of the same questions at Matthew64. Although, my degree is in journalism (a far cry from social work)...

I'm moving to LV next week. My husband has been there since June 10th for his job with a terrific engineering firm. It has been hard for him, considering he doesn't have a car, the house he shared with some strangers for two months was a nightmare, and he went out there with $50 to his name.

Despite all of that he loves Las Vegas. He said the people ARE friendly. Sure there are homeless people all over the place, but hell, we are from Birmingham, I pass people holding signs and panhandling in parking lots every day. So what? As for crime....again, I live in Birmingham, murders, kidnappings, armed robberies are daily news events here (I know I was a producer for years). Schools suck here. Everyone moves to the suburbs or sends their kids to private school. So how is this any different from what I am going to encounter in Vegas?

I'm not under the assumption that I am moving to Oz. Bad crap happens everywhere. Hopefully the house we just leased is in a decent neighborhood (zip 89113 in the Nevada Trails neighborhood) and the school (Steele Elementary) will be good.

I'm a good old southern gal who is excited to move to a big city, and it disturbs me when I read such generic, negative statements about Las Vegas, these problems are universal.

[ParkTwain]

Originally Posted by olecapt

I am well aware of such procedures. I believe the ones used here were "industry standard" and involved multiple checks.

Well, it was reported in the RJ that Summerlin Hospital said it had changed about a dozen of its procedures in response to this incident, so its "industry standard" procedures were no longer deemed adequate, it seems.

[Zinnia]

Sounds like a good study for a publication... why don't you get a job teaching there and make it your research?