Category: Work Stuff

This is what my world looks like right now.

Everything is out-of-focus – colorful, but fuzzy.

I’m talking both metaphorically and literally.

My time is no longer my own. I charge for my time at work, then I come home and donate my time to my family. I’m not complaining, mind you, it’s just an adjustment.

My days are one big furry mass of colorful snippets of conversations, expressions, impressions, thoughts, jokes, stressful moments … I spend most of my days desperately trying not to look like a fool.

No small feat, I assure you.

I’m getting better it, I think. The pieces of the puzzle are starting to fit (or I’m MAKING them fit), and I sort of “get” it now. Though I don’t handle NEARLY the number of patient check-outs that the other gals do, I am starting to help more and more and they assure me I am helping them not feel so overwhelmed themselves.

Every patient is different. Every patient needs something different. So every patient is a challenge and I learn something with each patient I help. I’m getting the hang of the software though and am getting faster navigating the different areas.

In case you’re wondering, or in case I haven’t told you, I’m a scheduler. I work at a clinic that houses ten neurosurgeons and it’s my job, along with three other gals, to make sure that these patients are scheduled, and set up, to take tests the doctors have ordered for them. It sounds simple, but I assure you, IT’S NOT.

It’s very involved and detailed. For instance, there are FIVE steps to checking out a patient. In fact, one of the gals I work with gave me this acronym to put on each patient’s chart so that I won’t forget to do something. PSNOB. Pronounced: P-SNOB.

P = pre-certification. I schedule patients for MRI’s, Cat scans (plain or with injections), injections and physical therapy. The MRI’s and Cat scans are EXPENSIVE tests and a lot of insurance companies require pre-certification for these tests. Since our doctors like to get paid (funny that), I have to contact the patient’s insurance company and go through the process of pre-approving the procedure before the patient is scheduled to come back and have the procedure. Sometimes this is easy and I can do it online – most times it’s time consuming and I end up spending 15 minutes on the phone with a company before I get what I need.

In short – they are time sucks. But necessary time sucks.

S – schedule. I have to schedule the patients not only for their procedures, but for their follow up appointments with the doctors. This could include follow up appointments to discuss their test results, or a post-op appointment to see how they are doing after surgery. (Thankfully, the nurses schedule surgeries).

N = notes. I have to make notes on every order I place or every appointment I schedule to remind the nurse and/or doctor what the patient is coming back for and what they need. A lot of times, I simply copy and paste the doctor’s orders into this area.

O = order. Whenever I schedule a patient for a test or a procedure, I have to place the order for that test or procedure. This means, I fill out the order with the patient’s diagnosis – which consists of codes that the doctors list on the patient’s summary. This has to be exact. Putting the wrong diagnosis on the order could be disastrous. I then fax the orders to a centralized “hub” at the main hospital and they farm the orders out to the correct facility. (We have an imaging facility right next door, but sometimes the procedures require medical intervention, so I have to schedule the procedure at the hospital. Or, the patient lives out of town and I have to schedule the procedure at a nearby facility or hospital. It’s NEVER cut and dried).

B = book. Every doctor has a black book. And every procedure that is scheduled has to be written in the black book so that the film guys downstairs can get the results of those tests together and ready for the doctor to look at before they have contact with the patient again.

Then, and ONLY THEN, am I done with that patient. In between making sure all of these steps have been done, I’m constantly being interrupted by patients checking out, voice mails that need to be answered (patients call in to cancel appointments), or faxes need to be sorted or I’m answering flags from the nurses (which is basically like an instant message system that is tied to the patient’s chart).

And did I mention I have to document EVERYTHING to cover my butt?

I do.

It’s crazy. But I love it. I honestly do. It’s SO FUN to shuffle all of those papers around and I’m kept so busy that I look up and what I perceive as fifteen minutes going by is actually HOURS. Time FLIES and I love that. I hate jobs where I’m twiddling my thumbs and watching the second hand on the clock.

I also really LIKE my co-workers. I was a little worried about getting along with them at first, but so far so good. *knock on wood* We seem to be bonding and though they’re all very different, I can handle the differences.

I only get 30 minutes for lunch and it’s all I can do to scarf something down and grab some coffee in that time period. I usually put my lunch box in the fridge and when it’s my turn to go to lunch, I grab my lunch and eat in my car. It gives me a chance to stretch my legs, listen to the radio and sort of decompress before I have to return to work and jump back into the crazy.

Tomorrow, I have to report to the main hospital to get a general check up. UGH. I have no idea what that will entail, but I will be late getting to work in the morning because I have to report there first. (Which reminds me, I need to send a reminder email to my boss about that).

In addition to all of this craziness, my eyes have been driving me NUTS. Because I’ve been so tired and it’s allergy season to boot, I’m having a little trouble seeing even WITH my reading glasses. And since I only need my reading glasses for the computer, I’m constantly putting them on, taking them off, or looking over them like a little old lady.

It’s really QUITE annoying.

I would love to go without them entirely, but that’s just not an option. I do think, because they are giving me such a hard time right now, that it might be time to get my eyes checked again.

Swell. Something else to add to my to-do list.

I feel like I’ve been sequestered from my family. I’m so busy that I don’t have time to check for text messages and though my family can call me at work and leave a voice mail, there’s really no telling when I’ll actually get around to listening to it. (Voice mails are pretty much the least of my worries). I think they’re handling the separation okay, but I do miss them. I still take Jazz to school in the mornings (My shift starts at 8:30), but Kevin picks him up every day. And if Jazz is going to tell us anything about his day, it’s going to be after school. I miss those “talks.”

I hope this job doesn’t drive a wedge between me and Kev. We’ve been pretty much inseparable these past several years and it feels weird not having him around. Though he swears he’s okay with it, I think he misses me. We’ll just have to make sure we spend time together.

It’s all about balancing the sacrifices we have to make. Right?

I mean to write something.

But I’m just so wiped out that I can’t bear to think anymore.

This new pace both excites me and exacerbates me.

On the one hand, I’m using my brain again. YES. I can’t tell you how GOOD that feels. I’m making enough money to feed my family. We’re saving money by putting everyone on my health insurance. It’s so wonderful to be around people again (now there’s a sentence I never thought I’d say) and I love the feeling of accomplishment as I leave work every day.

But on the other hand, I have no time – zero. I drop Jazz off at school, come home, pack my lunch, go to work, have just enough time to eat lunch (we’re THAT busy all the time), come home, scarf down dinner, run Jazz to his band rehearsal, run to the office supply store and buy some fun/funky stuff to help me organize my notes and hopefully make my job easier, come home, answer emails (I had 15 today) and then? Then? I’m done. I can’t think anymore. I don’t WANT to think anymore. All I want to do is veg in front of my computer (because I stream Netflix through my computer) and watch some mindless TV series that doesn’t require anything more than a click of my mouse.

And I miss my family.

I’ve been using my brain so much these past few weeks I smell that musty smell whenever you turn your heater on for the first time in the winter.

There are so many thoughts, so many emotions I would love to share with you, but I’m simply too tired to first process them and then regurgitate them. It takes too much energy.

But you know me, I can’t stay away for too long. I will soon get used to this new life and then I will be back to cram my thoughts, opinions and beliefs down your throat.

I know. I’m charming, aren’t I. Don’t even pretend you don’t miss me.

I’m pretty much brain dead.

These past two days have been a blur. I have stuffed so much information into my head that it feels like the top is going to blow off at any moment.

My job sounds so easy – I schedule patients for procedures. But I can assure you, it is NOT as easy as it sounds. I’m also responsible for pre-certifying procedures and making sure that patients are getting what they need BEFORE their next appointment.

Did I mention I’m scheduling patients for TEN doctors?!? Actually, me and three other girls schedule patients for ten doctors and all ten doctors don’t work on the same day – there are only about three or four that work at the facility in one day. All of the doctors can’t work at the clinic every day, there simply isn’t room for all of them and their patients.

I am feeling overwhelmed. And that’s putting it mildly. I’m brand new to the medical field therefore I know SQUAT. ZILCH. NOTHING. I’m reading pamphlets now to familiarize myself with the procedures and terminology. If all of that wasn’t bad enough, each individual procedure is unique AND THEN there are exceptions to rules.

Lots and lots of exceptions.

I honestly felt like crying today. I felt so out of my element. Everyone is so, SO nice to me and I really hope I don’t let them down. I’m going to try very hard to absorb all of this as quickly as I can – I just wish I was already at the point where I felt comfortable with the procedures. It’s so disorienting being thrown into the middle of so much unknown.

I bought a funky binder tonight, along with sheet protectors and dividers. All of the doctors do things differently, so I’m going to make a section for each of them and keep notes so when it’s their time to work in the clinic, I can pull my notes out and familiarize myself with the way they want things. In addition to molding my work habits to each individual doctor, I (and the other schedulers) often get emails requesting we do a certain thing when a certain situation comes up. So I’ll be printing those emails out and putting those in my binder as well.

Yesterday, I sat with the front desk girls and then sat with another gal to see how the whole process gets started and how they check patients in. Though I felt useless, it was really helpful to see how the whole process all fits together.

Today, I sat with my supervisor and she trained me on the program I’ll be using to schedule patients. I didn’t get to play around with it today, but hopefully, I’ll be able to click around and get familiar with it tomorrow. It’s one thing to have someone show you what to do, but quite another when you get to actually DO it.

I was signing onto my account and setting up my Outlook yesterday when I got an unexpected email sent directly to me. It was from a gal I used to work with at Wal-Mart! She had seen my picture on the company Intranet (they post a picture of their new hires every week) and sent me an email. Talk about a welcome distraction! It really made me feel good that she took the time to say hello. It also made me feel just a little less lonely, too.

I wish I could go into details about the type of work I’m doing and my impressions of the people I’m working with, but of course, I can’t. I do think I have a feel for the other girls’ personalities though. I’ll be honest, it’s a challenge to work with SO MANY different women, but I think I can manage. I plan on remaining neutral, keeping my mouth shut, my opinions to myself , a smile on my face and to be as friendly as I can be to everyone, regardless of what type of feedback I get from them.

That’s really all you can do when you’re surrounded by females. Women can be so cruel to each other and I’m not really sure why, but I’m determined not to go down that road. I’d like to A. keep my job and B. work for this company for many, many years.

Oh. I also bought myself t-shirts and long johns. The clinic allows us to wear t-shirts under our scrubs because it gets so cold and I wore a white t-shirt today. I nearly froze to death this afternoon. In essence, I’m wearing paper-thin pants and my legs and feet were pretty much ice when I left work today. I’m thinking long johns will really come in handy when the temperature drops.

Some gals came over from another facility today to talk to us and they took me back to their building and gave me a tour. When I make appointments for patients, I’m sending them over to this building, so it was really helpful to see what they did. They were super friendly (everyone really has been SO NICE to me!) and I really hope I don’t let them down whenever I start getting into the nitty gritty of things.

It’s really fun to wear different colored scrubs every day. So far, we’ve worn the teal and the lavender scrubs. Tomorrow we’ll wear the wine colored ones. I really felt like I was going to work in my pajamas wearing the lavender ones today. Even though they aren’t very warm, they are super comfortable to wear. I can see why so many women gain weight working in health care – when you wear scrubs, they aren’t tight, or restrict you, so it’s easy to let that pooch go.

I intend to buy a girdle to wear under my scrubs. No really! That way, it will restrict me and remind me that HEY, I have a figure under there (sort of) and if I sit around and eat Doritos all day, I’ll lose it. So yeah – girdle is on the shopping list.

It also doesn’t help when you have a candy dish, meant for patients, staring you in the face, either.

Overall, it’s been a wild, crazy and confusing two days at the clinic. I’m trying hard to retain everything that I’ve been learning and it’s my goal to completely wow them with my awesome multi-task abilities.

Oh. That’s something else. It is REALLY HARD to concentrate on any one thing. There is so much going on and so many people talking, that I’m finding myself paying more attention to what is going on around me than on what I’m supposed to be focused on. I’m really going to have to work hard to train myself to block all of those outside distractions out whenever I start talking to patients either in front of me, or on the phone. The other girls seem to do that quite well but I’m easily distracted and concentrating on the task in front of me is going to be hard, I think.

I’m glad tomorrow is Friday. This week has really stretched out and I’m ready to come down from my stress high, at least for a few days.

Second day of orientation is in the bag, ya’ll!

*high five*

Today was more “serious.” They covered confidentiality issues (which includes blogging, by the way), and compliance issues.

So yeah. I’m going to have to gloss over a lot of what happens at work, but I would have done that anyway. I can, in no way, talk about patients or even relate patient stories because there’s a chance that someone, somewhere, might read this and put two-and-two together and BAM – I’ve violated the confidentiality issue.

They told us stories of some of the things that people have done over the years and no matter how innocent the intention was, the bottom line is, they compromised a patient’s right to his/her confidentiality.

I have no idea how much, if anything, I write about work from this point on. I certainly don’t want to get in trouble or, God forbid, lose my job because of this silly journal – I’m not making any promises.

I was also told today that I’m pretty much going to be required to get a flu shot.

I AM NOT HAPPY ABOUT THIS.

I have never gotten a flu shot and I certainly don’t want to start now. But if I opt out of the flu shot and we have an epidemic? I could be put on suspension until the epidemic is under control.

It sounds crazy on the surface and UGH, but I do understand where my employer is coming from. And I certainly don’t want to put myself at risk. We’ll have to see what they say at my general checkup appointment.

But I’m really hoping I can opt out of it. I really don’t want a flu shot.

Orientation is over. It was a grueling two days but I learned a lot about the company and I’m really looking forward to starting at my “office” tomorrow. I’m nervous. I’ll be glad when the initial awkwardness is over.

I get to wear my teal scrubs tomorrow.

Also? I look like a football player in scrubs.

Sexy.

Oh. And I almost forgot: the company’s annual picnic is this weekend. ……….. And we might go!! OMG!

It’s 5:00 a.m. and I’m up.

WIDE AWAKE up.

I couldn’t sleep. I woke up with a headache at 1:00 a.m. This is not that unusual for me for this time of year – whenever the weather starts to change, I get sinus headaches. The barometric pressure, I guess. So, I took an Aleve. Only that didn’t knock it out entirely, so I ended up taking an Excedrin Migraine at 3:00 a.m. this morning.

I don’t know if it was the combination of medicines in my system, but I felt a SURGE of energy and now, here I am – WIDE AWAKE.

I am SO going to pay for this later today.

I also just can’t shut my brain down. I had my first day of orientation at my new job yesterday and it was information overload. In addition to the whole “rah-rah go company” spiel, (which actually worked on me because I’m SUPER excited to be working for this company), there was a lot of information about benefits, duties, attitudes, etc. that I needed to absorb.

I also thought about what I was going to wear today (professional attire – I’m in scrubs tomorrow), and whether I should grow my hair out or not. It’s spikey now and I love it, but it’s a bit harsh and maybe I need something to soften my face?

I also thought about the new website I made for a middle school that is awaiting the green light from the principal to upload and tweak in time for their Open House on Thursday.

And then, of course, there was the usual worrying thinking about each individual in my family and his specific situation. Not that there’s anything to worry about, per se, it’s just a mom thing.

You know what I mean, moms, right?

Getting up this early reminds me that I may need to get up this early to write my novel when NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) begins in November. Because I really want to try and keep up my writing in between every thing else. I can do it, I just need the discipline (and energy) to get it done.

Anyway, those are just a few of my thoughts this early Tuesday morning.

How did my first day of orientation go?

Well, thanks for asking.

There were 21 people in my “class.” Which I thought was a lot, until I found out later that these “classes” used to be 40 large. The reason? This crappy economy. (Thanks Obama – for making it worse). In fact, to get off topic for a moment, I talked to most of the people in my “class” and most of them were SO GRATEFUL to even have a job. In fact, a few of the gals I talked to actually had tears of gratitude in their eyes because it had been SO LONG since they had worked and their situations were getting dire.

I felt so bad for them. I mean seriously, it’s bad out there, people. And I live in the Midwest where it’s not as bad when compared to the rest of the country. I’ll tell you one positive thing about this crappy economy though, it makes people appreciate their jobs more. I’m sure every one of us will go to our respective offices and give 150% to KEEP our jobs because the competition is fierce out there. This company is hiring exactly HALF the number of people it used to hire.

And given how hostile the environment is for corporate America right now? It’s little wonder that they’re hiring at all. But this is a large company and they have a lot of employees and people are retiring or there’s turn-around in positions and really, that’s the only reason they’re even looking outside the company for people.

So. First and foremost? I’M SO GRATEFUL TO HAVE A JOB AT ALL.

I’m dead serious about that.

There was actually one other gal at orientation that will go to the same facility as me so we naturally sort of “stuck” together. She’ll be working on a different floor so it’s highly unlikely I will even see her at work, but still, it was nice to have an anchor, so to speak, in the midst of the chaos.

The day both dragged and sped by at the same time. We had speaker after speaker from different areas (human resources, benefits, 401K, fitness, motivational, etc). come by to talk to us and give us the low-down on the company and what they expected from us. The CEO even came by to talk to us and we were allowed to ask him questions about the company.

I thought that was pretty impressive. In fact, this company has new employee orientation every Monday and Tuesday and every Monday, the CEO of the company comes to talk to the new hires. I’m betting a lot of CEO’s don’t do that. I appreciated his time and his efforts. It only served to reinforce my positive attitude about the company, overall.

I ate lunch with my table mates in the cafeteria. We were given a pretty hefty employee discount, which I really appreciated and because I was too intimidated to really look at the selections (because it was crawling with employees, many of them nurses and doctors) I ended up with a mini-Dominos pizza for lunch.

I’m going to stick to something lighter today – probably just soup and sandwich.

Speaking of nurses, there were a few new nurses in my “class.” One was going to surgery and one was going to our brand new ER. I know this sounds cheesy and cliche, but I have the UTMOST respect for nurses. They are like soldiers on the front lines and they have to put up with so much while retaining razor sharp focus in taking care of the both the patient and the doctor.

If I had the stomach for it, I might even consider going to nursing school.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

I mentioned there are a ton of opportunities to advance in the company, and there are. Today, we sign on to their Intranet and I’m sure I’ll find out more details about the various departments through that. I’m REALLY looking forward to browsing around and seeing the whole company in the virtual sense.

Everyone was super nice (which is usually the case during orientation – we’re all enthuiastic about starting a new chapter in our lives) but I got the sense that they truly enjoyed working there. It was more than the “I’m supposed to act excited for the benefit of the new hires” sort of attitude and that really encouraged me, quite frankly. You can tell when people are faking it and I didn’t get a sense that they were faking it.

At any rate, I go back today for my second day of orientation and then tomorrow, I dress in my teal scrubs and I actually go to my facility to begin work. I’m nervous, but it’s an excited nervous and I just hope I can do a good job and that the ladies that I will be working with will like me.

I felt so … detached from my family today. This is the first time in eight years I’ve really been away from them all. This is the first time in eight years that I haven’t been in the middle of everything that is going on. Kevin had to be both mom and dad yesterday and he’ll have to do it again today. He’ll drop Jazz off at school, but he’ll be out of the office later this afternoon, so Dude will have to pick Jazz up from school.

I sort of feel like I’m watching my family live their lives from the sidelines. It’s … weird.

But like I mentioned before, I think it’ll be good for everyone, actually. I think everyone has relied on me for so long that it will be good for them to fend for themselves. (Not that they didn’t before, but mom was always the back-up plan in the past).

Wow. Time flies. I need to get ready to go – I don’t want to be late for my second day.

Have a great day and I’ll talk to you soon!

But who is gainfully employed, you ask?

ME!

That’s right, friends, I have jumped back into the working pool. I was interviewed for the job yesterday and she called me yesterday afternoon to tell me I had the job.

I can’t go into details, obviously, but I can tell you that I’m now working in a doctor’s office.

I KNOW!!

My title is “scheduler” and I’m in charge of making sure people are referred to the right places and to take care of patients who come in. I will be working with three other gals (though I will also be directly communicating with about seven doctors and their nurses and PA’s, too!) and I couldn’t be more excited about this. It’s a challenging position and requires quick thinking and good communication. Since I thrive in that environment, I say, BRING IT ON!!

The woman who interviewed me is SUPER NICE and we hit it off immediately. I wasn’t too sure about this position when I first went in to interview. I had a general idea of what I thought the job would be, but when she explained it to me I got excited because it really sounds fun. I’ll be super busy and I love jobs where I’m busy all day long. I feel productive and on top of my game.

I went in this morning and filled out some preliminary paperwork and was taken around the facility to meet everyone. The facility has a basement, which I wasn’t aware of, so suffice it to say, this place is HUGE and WOW, so many people! I quickly felt overwhelmed, but everyone was so nice and I really felt like I could fit in.

After I left, I went and got my drug test taken care of and then came up to the office to give Kevin and Dude the good news. I have a stack of papers to fill out to have ready to go when I go to orientation on September 19th. I have two days of orientation and then I will start my first day at the facility on Wednesday, September 21st.

But the best part of this? (Though it’s really only icing on the cake because I really think I’m going to like what I’m doing) is that I GET TO WEAR SCRUBS!!!!!!!!!!

*SQUEE!!!!*

I’m insanely excited about that. I know that sounds lame, but I’ve always thought scrubs were ‘da bomb and I can’t wait to wear them. It’ll be like working in my pajamas!!

The office wears certain colors certain days, so I will be going to a place that sells scrubs this next week to buy what I need. My boss said to tell them where I’ll be working and they would know what sort of stuff I would need.

Here are the colors:

Monday is olive
Tuesday is eggplant purple (FAVORITE COLOR)
Wednesday is teal
Thursday is lavender
Friday is wine

I’ll be working 8:30 to 5:00, Monday through Friday, which is PERFECT, because I’ll have my Saturdays off to go to Jazz’s band competitions next month.

I can’t wait to buy the scrubs. I’ll take pictures, of course. 😀

When I had my drug test, they made an appointment for me for a general checkup. They said it was standard practice for all employees, so I will go in on October 10th and have that done. I’m sort of nervous about that actually because I haven’t been to the doctor for a general checkup in … gosh, probably not since the boys were born.

I’ll try and write about my experiences as much as I can, but it will be limited and generic, of course.

I have no idea how often I will be updating this blog, but I want to keep a record of what’s going on, so I’ll try and get to it as much as I can. I have 30 minutes for lunch, which means I’ll be taking my lunches and eating in the break room. I plan on taking my laptop with me to stay on top of emails. (They have free Wi-Fi at the office).

I still plan on maintaining websites while I work. So, in essence, I will have two jobs. I will catch up on emails when I get home every night. In short, I’m going to be busy and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’ve already told Kevin that he’s going to have to be Mr. Mom now. I won’t have the flexibility to drop what I’m doing and take care of the family now. He says he’s more than ready to take on that role.

I can’t believe all of this happened in just two days. I’ve been looking for a job now for quite a few months, but this is only the second one I actually applied for. I’m really surprised they gave me the chance considering I don’t have any medical experience to speak of.

But I suppose we all have to start somewhere, right?

I seriously see myself working in this industry for the next 30 years. There are so many opportunities that it makes my head spin. Who knows? Maybe I’ll find some way to utilize my technical writing degree.

I can’t wait for September 19th to get here!