Page 9 of Rules of the Heart

“I’m not suggesting either of those things. I think we should make changes to the patient intake protocol. The interviews for each patient take at least ten minutes when they could take under one. We only really need to know what they are in for and whether they have any medication allergies. If we skip all the other stuff, we can see triple the number of patients that we do now.”

Ella knew before she even finished speaking that this wasn’t going well. Valerie’s eyes were practically bugging out of her head. “That’s a terrible idea! We need to have a thorough patient history if we’re to treat them. Those are the rules.”

“So change the rules,” Ella said through gritted teeth. She had no patience for blind adherence to the rules when they got in the way of patient care.

Valerie folded her arms. “I am not changing the rules. The rules are there to save people’s lives. What if we were to do a procedure on someone whose history contradicted it? We could kill them!”

“If we’re doing a specific procedure that has the potential for that, then we can ask the relevant questions. There’s no need to ask all of those questions upfront before we know whether or not they’re necessary.”

“It’s better to be comprehensive than sorry later.”

“It’s better to see the patients who actually need help! You’re worried about potentially harming a patient, but what about the patients who aredefinitelybeing harmed because they’re leaving without help?”

“You have my answer, Ella.”

Ella was doing her best not to lose her temper, but it was difficult. “You’re being completely unreasonable! Did you not hear anything I just said? Give me one good reason why my system wouldn’t work.”

“How about this? If a patient goes into crisis, the doctors aren’t going to be focusing on asking the right question; they’re going to need to do the procedure that saves them as soon as possible. We need to have that information upfront, so that it’s there if we need it.”

Valerie had a point there, but her point still didn’t outweigh the lives that could be saved if they did things Ella’s way. “So you talk to the doctors. Send them on a training course if need be. Show them how to handle the stress of a crisis and how to ensure they maintain control of themselves well enough to remember to ask the right questions.”

“I can’t count on that. It’s a nice idea, Ella, but it simply won’t work. I am not changing the rules. Not for you; not for anyone.”

“That’s stupid! You could be helping so many more people if you’d just be a little more flexible about the rules!” Ella realized she was shouting, but she couldn’t help herself.

“Do you know what happens when doctors are flexible about the rules? People die, Ella!” Valerie was shouting now, too. She stood up and came around her desk, putting them standing a few feet from each other. Ella didn’t remember standing up, but she was now practically chest to chest with Valerie.

It didnothelp her to notice how sexy Valerie was when she was angry. If anything, that just made Ella even more pissed than she already was. It was bad enough that Valerie was shooting down her idea for no good reason. Did she have to look so ravishing while doing it? It wasn’t fair.

“People are dying now! Do you even bother to do follow ups on the patients who leave? Do you even care, or do your rules forbid you from doing so?”

“Fuck you, Ella! Don’t you dare pretend to know how I feel! You think that if I had the manpower to be doing follow ups, I wouldn’t be doing so already? I’m not superhuman! I don’t have access to more resources than the hospital is able to give!”

“You have the ability to change the rules, and you’re refusing to do so—to the detriment of your patients!”

“ENOUGH! I won’t hear any more of this. Get out of my office. We can discuss this more when you decide to be reasonable.”

“Well, that’ll make one of us,” Ella snarled. She resisted the urge to kick the desk on her way out. She wasn’t able to stop herself slamming the door like a teenager and couldn’t help the small wave of satisfaction it gave her.

She stormed through the hospital, sending doctors and nurses scurrying away at the sight of her. She must truly look ominous, and Ella made an effort to calm herself.

She wasn’t going to let the argument with Valerie ruin her whole day. She had made her case, and Valerie had shot her down. Those lives that were lost because of the stupid intake system were on Valerie’s head, not Ella’s. There was nothing more Ella could do. She should just leave it there.

Only, shecouldn’tleave it there. She didn’t have it in her, not when she could be saving more lives by doing it her way.

She’d have to figure out a way to do this. Valerie would find out eventually, but if Ella had positive results to show her, she would have to come around. In the end, doctors were scientists, and most would relent when presented with solid data.

So, she looked up Valerie’s schedule and found a time where she was booked up for a solid week. That’s when Ella would make her move. She applied for a few days of leave so that she could spend that week in the clinic. One way or another, she would show Valerie that her way would work.

“Good news! We have a new intake system.” Ella breezed in with the printouts she had made the previous day and started handing them out to the nurses and doctors working in the clinic.

“You got Valerie to approve this?” Stephanie asked doubtfully.

“Valerie can be reasonable,” Ella said cryptically. She wasn’t lying. She was sure that Valeriecouldbe reasonable, even if Ella hadn’t seen evidence of it yet. Hopefully, that evidence would come when Valerie saw how much better the new system was working.

“Well, this will certainly make things easier on us nurses as well as the doctors.” Stephanie ran her hand down the list of changes. “We’ll need to be careful to remember to ask the relevant questions when doing procedures, but as long as we do that, this should save time and lives.”

“Exactly. Now, let’s get to work.”

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