Tag: healthcare

Health, Life

Healthcare … On Your Terms

Karen

You know what’s crazy?

Other than our world right now, I mean honestly, take any subject and tell me, without telling me, how nuts it is.

But I’m specifically talking about healthcare. I think COVID broke our healthcare system, ya’ll. And it was pretty broken before that whole fiasco. But it’s not only broken, it’s changing.

Case in point: being able to buy antibiotics without seeing a doctor. And no, I’m not talking about buying it from a mysterious stranger on the corner with a long trench coat, (though I suppose those do exist), but being able to buy certain medications online.

I really thought my flu spiel turned into a sinus infection. I used to get them all the time so I know what they feel, and smell, like. So when the signs started appearing I thought, “well crap. Now I’ll have to make a trip to Urgent Care.”

Only. I didn’t have to.

I watch “The Chicks on the Right” every morning. I start work at 7:00 AM and they’re an early show so it works out well. I really like how they are informative but also have a great sense of humor – makes the darkness that is our current political landscape bearable, you know?

Anyway, One of their sponsors is All Family Pharma. It’s an online pharmacy out of Florida that prescribes COVID medications, antibiotics, Zofran, Prednisone, Tamiflu … and a few other things. It’s hard to believe that you can buy antibiotics without seeing a doctor, but you can and I did. I wanted to have some on hand in case what I had really was a sinus infection – I had a plan B.

I’m the kind of person who HAS to have a plan B.

All they did was ask my weight and … I think that was it, actually. The antibiotic cost $20, the doctor’s fee was $20 and shipping was $10 through FedEx. Fifty bucks for peace of mind? Count me in!

On one hand, it’s cool you can buy “simpler” medications online without seeing a doctor. On the other hand, it’s WEIRD to be able to buy medications online without seeing a doctor. I’m grateful that it’s a choice, though I do worry about people taking advantage and ordering too many antibiotics. That’s not a good thing. You don’t want to get used to antibiotics so that when you need them, your body doesn’t respond to them. I wonder how the pharmacy prevents that from happening? The pharmacy also strongly recommends that you take a probiotic to counteract the antibiotic killing off the good bacteria in your gut.

It all seems so … underhanded and sneaky, in a way, to be able to do this. Or, maybe we’re so brainwashed into thinking that you have to go see a doctor, that this is the way it’s SUPPOSED to be when in fact, it’s really not that big of a deal?

I don’t know. I’ve worked in healthcare for the past 13 years – I’m brain washed.

(*Side note: got an email from the hospital today – since the number of flu cases is on the rise, they have implemented the mask policy for the unvaccinated. (*GASP*) If I were still in the clinic, I would have to wear a mask. I probably wouldn’t outside the clinic, but I would have to wear one in the clinic – therefore advertising the fact to everyone in the clinic my vaccination status. Yet another reason I will NEVER go back to the clinic).

Something else that is new to healthcare – private primary care physicians (PCP). We have one, maybe two, in my hometown that I know of. When I retire and we are no longer on my company healthcare, I think that’s what we’re going to do. Pay a monthly fee to have access to a private PCP. This is a doctor not beholden to a certain hospital and completely independent. They can do x-rays and ultrasounds in the office, so that would save you money, if you needed something like that.

I like the concept and again, I’m glad we have a choice. Whatever we can do to get away from the “establishment” healthcare system, I’m all for it. Whatever we can do to break the mold and make changes, I’m in.

I hope buying medications without seeing a doctor and seeing a private doctor outside the “system” collects steam and opens a door to more and more anti-establishment options. Something needs to change with our current system and I feel like these options are a step in the right direction.

Work Stuff

Still Working Remotely

Karen

Did I tell you I was working remotely?

It’s been so long, I don’t remember.

This is how it happened, if you want to catch up.

How’s it going?

Glad you asked.

In a nutshell? I like it. I can see why so many federal workers don’t want to go back into the office. It’s a sweet gig.

Of course, I haven’t left my house for three days, I’ve become a hermit, (which I’m okay with, to be honest), and my biggest decision of the day is which color of sweats I want to wear for the day, but I’m loving it!

So, what do I do? I know you’re thinking it …

I still work for the hospital. I know, I sort of can’t believe it, either. Ever since the whole COVID thing I’m amazed that I’m still in healthcare at all.

Though I’m still in healthcare, I’m no longer in a clinic setting. Do I miss it? I miss aspects of it. I miss the people I worked with, I miss the mental gymnastics required to juggle my doctor’s requirements while also taking care of the patients. It was mentally stimulating to me. What I don’t miss are the patients. Sure, there were some that were awesome, genuinely needed help and it was so satisfying to help them, but the majority of patients were looking for a quick fix, something, anything, to make them feel better and an excuse to continue making poor lifestyle choices. They wanted to feel better without taking accountability for their decisions and/or the way they lived their lives. And they were rude about it.

THAT was frustrating.

I’m still working with patients but not directly. I’m sort of the go-to between patients and clinic staff. For example: the physician orders a test, like an MRI, a CT, an Ultrasound, etc., then the scheduled test drops into our queue. We’re all responsible for taking care of certain alphas and right now, mine are M-R. So, any patient cases that come in with the last name beginning with M-R, I take care of.

Next, I get some information about the patient, the type of test being ordered and notes from the provider as to why he/she is ordering it. Then, I sign into the insurance portal, answer some clinicals questions and fingers crossed, insurance approves it. Sometimes it goes to pending, meaning insurance is wanting to review clinicals and other times, they deny it. When that happens, I have to contact the providers and let them know that the test was denied and they have the option of reaching out to the insurance company to discuss, (i.e. fight), the determination and try and get it approved with information only a provider can give. (I.E. more detailed information, that would have been handy to have in their notes but you can’t tell providers that, unfortunately). And contacting the providers is never fun. They are usually cranky, take it out on their clinicals staff, who are also cranky so …. I’m the bad guy by proxy. Even though it’s the insurance’s fault for denying it.

And that’s it. That’s what I do in a nutshell. Sounds riveting, doesn’t it?

But I love it. I love the research, I love the challenge of finding just the right combination of diagnoses and symptoms to satisfy the insurance’s algorithm and that coveted approval status.

And I’m quite good at it. I can dig, read between the lines and get those suckers approved. Not always, but a big part of the time. My secret? I used to work in the clinic setting so I KNOW the clinical side of this equation. When it comes to the ins/outs of insurance plans/policies – nah – totally stupid.

But I get through it and I’ve learned a lot this past year.

I volunteered to become a peer mentor, which is a fancy way to say “trainer.” I really enjoy training. I like showing people the logical progression of learning a job and how it fits into the “big picture.” I feel like too many people get trained with blinders on, they only learn this small portion of the bigger process and that leads to people only doing a half-ass job and/or not fully understanding their job, period. I’d like to be a peer mentor for the whole group, but our group is split and we have different supervisors and I don’t know if the other supervisor would want me to come over and train some of their peeps, but I’m willing!

In the meantime, the UAT (urgent action team), which is my group, is expanding to six people and I’m training our two newest people. Urgent action team, by the way, is exactly what is sounds like, we handle stat/urgent cases, add-on cases, and any cases where insurance hasn’t been done or the patients show up with new insurance.

That happens a lot. Pst, if you get new insurance, can you let your doctor’s office know ASAP? Thanks.

I trained one girl the whole month of November, and now I’m training the other girl this entire month. Eight hours, every day. Talking non-stop. Unless I don’t have a voice, then I’m typing everything out. Which is a challenge, to say the least.

The new girl is with management the first day, getting her equipment, etc., then, she’s with me full-time after that first day. That first week, we go over the programs we use, the insurance portals we use, what we do, WHY we do it, etc.

The second week, the new girl shadows me while I work cases and we talk through the processes, the challenges, etc.

The third week, the new girl works cases with me shadowing. These weeks are usually pretty long as I’m not really doing anything but watching, guiding, advising.

The fourth week, it really depends on the trainee. Is she ready to work cases on her own with me available for questions? If not, we repeat week three until she is comfortable-ish.

I also get a bit more money when I train. Which is another reason I enjoy training. 🙂

I do enjoy working remotely and I can’t ever seeing myself going back into the office, though, if we have to, I’m okay with that, too. It is a challenge to work remotely at times. Especially when you have a group of about 80 women. Women are drama personified anyway, and then you add in text/written communication, which can be misconstrued, misinterpreted, etc., and it can be challenging. I sort of like that challenge, though. I’m a written word geek, I graduated from college with a Technical Writing degree and I’m very good communicating via the written word. I know how to word things without putting the other person on the defensive. I know how to word things professionally but get my point across.

In short, it’s my jam.

But not everyone is proficient in this form of communication and it can be challenging at times.

The precertification department is divided into three groups – and those three groups all have a supervisor and a team lead. The groups are: radiology (including my team, UAT), Cardio, GI, Ortho, Pain Management, Surgery, VA, Med/IV, Oncology, Sleep/Pulm, Therapies.

When the team lead position for my group became available, I was asked, (very strongly), to apply for it. I didn’t. At the time, I was still pretty new and didn’t really know much about the precertification department as a whole and quite frankly, I didn’t want the additional headaches and problems that come with being in a leadership role.

However –

I did sort of promise that if the position became available again, I would apply for it. I’m really hoping the current team lead doesn’t go anywhere because I like what I’m doing now and don’t want to go any further. I’m only about four years away from retiring … do I really want to end my working career dealing with a bunch of overgrown little girls who love drama?

No thanks.

But we’ll see. I did promise and who knows what the environment will look like six months from now. If you can count on anything in business, it’s change.

In the meantime, the hospital is getting ready to switch over to a different EMR (electronic medical record) program and the head boss reached out to me to ask me if I would be interested in participating in the pilot program and being one of a few that will be trained in the program so I can help other people learn the program. This is very close to my Technical writing degree and I’m all about it. I’m really looking forward to starting that process. It means on-campus meetings, and probably endless Teams meetings, but I’m ready. I’m going to make a cheat booklet of how to’s and I’m going to ROCK this challenge. It’s all supposed to start early next year so … I have that to look forward to.

It’s really nice to work from home. Especially on bad weather days. But … sometimes, not very often, I do miss actually getting dressed and going into the office. Actually seeing people face-to-face. Again, not very often, but it does happen. I don’t leave my house the entire week and sometimes that can feel a bit claustrophobic. I do shower and put on makeup every day, I don’t feel “put together” unless I do that, but I’m lounging around in sweats/comfy clothes the majority of the time. The only time I really fix my hair and put a nice-ish shirt on is when we have meetings where we have to turn our cameras on.

Since I sit all day, I do walk on the treadmill for an hour right after I get up in the morning. Then I take my shower, put my face on and I’m ready to face the day. Sitting all day/night is not good for you and I definitely feel better when I walk on the treadmill. Get that blood circulating. I’ve toyed with the idea of buying a standing desk, and I still might at some point, but for now, I do sit all day. I will take short breaks and walk around the house sometimes just to stretch my legs.

I realize I’m very fortunate to have the opportunity to work from home. It’s a luxury, for sure. There are cons, but there are more pros and I’m really enjoying it. Kevin and I are still trying to figure out how to make Starlink work. We would still like to take longer camping trips and have the opportunity to being able to work on the road but our first experience was very poor and now I’m a bit discouraged.

In a nutshell: we went camping at the Diamond Mines in Arkansas and though the campground was beautiful, it was very forest-y and though we could get a signal, and it was a strong signal, we couldn’t KEEP the signal and it was nearly impossible to work with an unreliable signal. We were hard-wired in, we can’t use WiFi because the camper is a converted cargo trailer and in essence, a metal box, so that never works very well. We’re going to try Starlink at home, again, and see what happens. The first time we tried it we had trouble maintaining a signal, not as bad as when we went camping, (the signal would come on for a minute, then be off for two minutes – it was crazy), but it still wasn’t consistent. I’m going to reach out to our IT people to see if maybe there is a conflict with the company VPN.

All of this to say, we’re not giving up on the dream of traveling and working from the road, but we have some obstacles.

Okay. Back to work. Thanks for reading!

Work Stuff

Well. This Was Unexpected

Karen

So apparently, I’m still employed.

After updating you last week, (I sound like a soap opera – and this week on Write From Karen), I went to work that following Monday. I was dreading it. Like, DREADING it. Largely because I was going to see Dr. M and his mid-level H in clinic that day and I didn’t know if they knew I had put my resignation in. I didn’t want to have the conversation, quite frankly, and I was hoping they heard all about it and I wouldn’t need to say anything, but at the same time, I felt like I needed to say something.

The day started as usual. We only saw recheck and post-op patients last week because Dr. M is going to be out these next few weeks to recover from his surgery so I knew it was going to be an easy day, and it was. But if felt tense. I tried my best to paste on a happy face and just sort of pretend that I was never going to see these people again after September 29th, but it was hard.

Another girl that I work with, M, was going through the same thing. She also submitted her resignation but her last day was going all the way to the deadline on October 15th so she had a ways to go. I took advantage of a little break between patients and went to her office to blow off steam. She hadn’t been in the office the Friday I announced to the clinic I was quitting though I did text her. I plopped down in the chair next to her and after a few dozen words, M says to me, “I submitted an appeal and they approved it.”

*blink*

“I’m sorry, come again?”

“I talked to a friend of mine and she suggested that I submit an appeal making sure to include a few keywords in my submission and I did that on Thursday. I heard back from them on Friday and they approved my appeal.”

*blink*

I just sort of sat there and stared at her for a few minutes. I was seriously shocked. I honestly had NO expectations for the hospital to approve ANY exemptions and yet, they approved hers. My wheels immediately started turning. Could I do the same? Would they accept mine? Did I want to try? Why wouldn’t I try? Did I dare allow myself to hope?

I asked M to send me what she put on her form. It wouldn’t hurt to see what she submitted, right? And what were these magical keywords she spoke of?

Now, before you go and think I’m a sneaky b*tch, because, I sort of am, using keywords to get what you want is not a novel concept. Whenever I was a scheduler I would have to contact insurance companies to try and get diagnostic testing approved and before long, I figured out they were looking for keywords, or phrases, something that would trigger their process into giving me an approval. I wouldn’t make things up, that’s dishonest and illegal, but if there was any hint of a condition or a diagnosis, in the doctor’s note you better believe I took advantage of that and used it.

Since we were still in clinic, I couldn’t stay in her office very long to talk to her about what she did in too much detail and I needed a moment to digest what she told me. I went back out to the clinic and it took everything I had to force myself to focus on the task at hand. But as soon as I got M’s email, I immediately sent it to Kevin and said, “What do you think? Should I try this?”

He helped me compile what I wanted to say because honestly, I was in clinic and didn’t have the time to devote to it and time was of the essence now that my employment clock was ticking, and by the end of the day, I had taken what he had given me, finessed it up a bit, took out some aggressive language, (because Kevin has been even more fired up about this ordeal than I have been), and I submitted my appeal.

I was really hoping I would find out as fast as M did because again, the clock was ticking and I just wanted an answer so I could move on with whatever answer they gave me. But I had hope. Why would they approve M’s appeal but not mine? And if they didn’t approve mine, I was planning on marching my butt into my director’s office and asking him, “What gives?”

I told Dr. M that I was submitting an appeal, just to keep him in the loop, because I thought he might be wondering what was going on and then the director of Neurosciences approaches me after clinic and asks if I have a minute.

Normally, I would be swallowing hard and wondering what I did wrong, but since I had submitted my resignation, I honestly didn’t care. Do what you want – I have one foot out the door anyway.

But he was very sweet and told me he was really sorry to see me go and if I needed to use him as a reference, I was free to do so. I thought that was so nice of him to offer that! I told him that I submitted an appeal to my religious exemption request and he perked up a bit when I said that. We did talk about the consequences of having the exemption approved, which I’ll talk about in a bit, but they are consequences that I will be willing to do, if accepted.

Tuesday rolls around and I’m covering Dr. S’s clinic. I’m actually really glad I covered her clinic that day because it didn’t give me a lot of time to obsess about my appeal but I was on pins and needles all day waiting for an answer.

Clinic was winding down and it was about 1:00 PM when I got the email.

I was afraid to open it. This email would literally decide if I stayed or left. This email would decide my future in healthcare.

I clicked it open and quickly skimmed it.

APPROVED!

What? What???

I calmed down a bit and then re-read the letter in more detail:

Your request for exemption has been granted through August of 2022, or the date upon which______________ again considers requests for exemption from the Covid-19 vaccination policy.  Please note that individuals will need to reapply for exemptions each year, unless otherwise determined by ___________. 

Now that your exemption request has been approved, we will begin assessing what accommodations can be made for you to continue to work.  Accommodations are determined on an individual basis and depend on several factors including the essential functions of a job, interaction with high-risk patient populations, and ability to work under varying levels of supervision.

In all accommodations, employees will be required to mask when on __________ property. Additional accommodations may include, but are not limited to, weekly nasal or saliva testing at ___________ expense; a change in work settings; possible work restrictions; and being moved to an alternative role if working with high-risk patients. 

We will coordinate with your department director to determine your accommodation, after which we will mail you a notification confirming your accommodation.  Because your exemption has been approved, you are not at risk of missing the October 15, 2021 deadline to be vaccinated.

Once you have been notified, your supervisor will be able to provide additional information to you regarding your specific accommodations.  Please also pay careful attention to the Connect Daily, which may contain additional information regarding requirements for unvaccinated staff. 

____________ reserves the right to take any necessary and appropriate steps, including but not limited to, imposing alternative COVID-19 prevention measures and accommodations, to ensure that individuals do not pose a direct threat to the health or safety of others in the workplace.

Okay. My approval has been granted through August of 2022. What does that mean, exactly? I’m reading it to mean they are thinking about mandating boosters. Or, yearly vaccinations, same as the flu vaccine. At any rate, I will need to re-apply each year. Annoying, but okay.

I do not work with high-risk patients so I don’t think I have to worry much about being moved to a different department. I work in an outpatient clinic. I’m assuming my “accommodations” will mean I will have to test weekly and wear a mask. We all wear masks at the hospital now as it is and quite honestly, I don’t see that going away any time soon so I’m not overly concerned about that, but the weekly testing will suck balls. But it’s still better than not having a job. And I was relieved to see the hospital will incur the cost of weekly testing. I was worried they were going to make me pay for it. I know some employers are penalizing their employees if they do not get vaccinated and have to be tested – like Delta airlines, actually. And the country of Italy says you can keep your job, but we’re not going to pay you. So, it could always be worse.

I forwarded the email to Kevin and then text him the good news. I’m honestly not sure if he’s happy or not. I think he has mixed feelings. He just wants me to be happy and not be treated like a 2nd class citizen or be discriminated against. I can appreciate that. And though this whole thing sucks, I DO get where the hospital is coming from, after all.

After texting Kevin, I went to our office to tell my nurse. I walked in, opened my arms and with a huge grin on my face said, “You need to hug me right now.”

“It was approved?”

And when I nodded she screamed, sprang from her chair and hugged me. I think she was as relieved as I was!

A HUGE weight was lifted from my shoulders. I knew I was under a lot stress but I don’t think I realized just how much until that email arrived and I could finally breathe again.

I. COULD. BREATHE. AGAIN.

I then went around the clinic and told everyone my appeal was approved and then went to speak to my manager to see what we could do to rescind the resignation.

(Spoiler alert: the hospital rescinded my resignation).

Wednesday, when I worked Dr. M’s clinic again, I told him that the hospital approved my appeal and that I would be there when he returned from his surgery. His reaction was underwhelming to say the least. I wasn’t expecting him to jump from his chair and pump a fist in the air, but a smirk, a nod, something would have been better than his “okay.”

Alrighty then. His lack of reaction hurt my feelings but I guess shame on me for thinking he would be glad that I was staying. I think he’s glad, I just think things are weird between us right now because he and I are not even remotely on the same page when it comes to this vaccine nonsense. In fact, none of my team are really on the same page as me, except for our medical secretary. I feel like the odd man out but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. At any rate, it is what is and I still have a job, that’s all that really matters right now, I suppose.

So. It’s business as usual. I had to forfeit my vacation because it fell in my last two weeks and of course, you can’t take vacation during your final two weeks so I’m bummed that we weren’t able to go camping like we had planned. We couldn’t have gone anyway with Kevin’s truck being down for the count, but still, having some time off would have been nice. I plan on taking some time in November and we’ll likely go camping at that time. But I have to be careful with my vacation time because when I start my weekly COVID testing, if it comes back positive, I will be expected to be off work for about 10 days and I need to keep some vacation built up in case I need to use it for that reason. And the likelihood that it will come back positive is more than possible because remember the PCR tests are flawed and will be recalled at the end of year. So who knows how often I will be “positive.”

But we’ll see. For now, I’m taking one day at a time. I still have a job which is more than I can say for some other people and I’m grateful and thank God every day for looking out for us.

Now … let’s see if they accept my exemption request for the flu vaccine. And more importantly, how will I respond if they deny it?

Work Stuff

Here We Go …

Karen

Nearly 200 staff members at a Houston-area hospital were suspended for not following a policy that requires employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Their suspensions followed a protest by dozens of workers on Monday night against the policy.

The hospital, Houston Methodist, had told employees that they had to be vaccinated by Monday or face suspension. Last month, 117 Houston Methodist employees filed a lawsuit against their employer over the vaccine policy. Source

The Houston Methodist Hospital deadline has arrived and 117 employees were put on a two-week suspension without pay – they have two weeks to “come to their senses” and get the experimental injectable …. or else.

I feel like healthcare across the country is watching this case. I know I certainly am because I’m QUITE sure that the hospital where I work is watching it very closely as well. And why wouldn’t they? If Houston Methodist wins it will only embolden hospitals across the country to pull the same stunt.

Including the hospital where I work.

On one hand, I get why they would require vaccines – their argument is to protect the patients. And I get that. They already mandate the yearly flu vaccine though the percentage of effectiveness is pretty low most of the time because it’s a crap shoot whether the drug companies “predict” what that season’s strain will be. And of course, I have a huge problem with this but I’ve gone along to get along for years. I don’t like it, but it was necessary to keep my job.

And now, here we are with COVID. Again, it makes ZERO sense to me to get an experimental injectable, that hasn’t been fully tested for a disease that has a recovery rate of 99% for most people. Not to mention, the really weird incentives that states are throwing out there to encourage people to get the vaccine. You mean, people are not scared enough of the disease? Shouldn’t the disease itself be motivation enough for people to get the vaccine if they so choose? Why do officials feel the need to bribe us to get the vaccine?

Is risking my health really worth a donut? Or a beer? I truly don’t understand how people can be so easily bought.

But whatever. Get the vaccine, don’t get the vaccine, I could give a shit, but DO NOT make me inject God knows what against my will. I’ll take my chances with the disease. (If I haven’t already had it).

Which by the way, health care workers have been not only exposed to COVID this past year, but likely a whole slew of diseases and will continue to do so while working at a healthcare facility. Just because you mandate a flu vaccine or an experimental injectable does not guarantee you will not contract the disease and take it to work with you. All you can do is take every precaution not to infect the patients you take care of and believe me, the hospital takes PPE VERY seriously. (Personal protection equipment). Not only to protect the employee, but the patients as well.

My point being, getting a vaccine does not guarantee anything. And since we don’t know what the long-term repercussions of this experimental mRNA can and/or will do to a body, I’m not willing to play that particular game of Russian Roulette.

The comments on this news story, and on Twitter, are alarmingly hateful. But then again, what did I expect? As with most issues, people are not seeing the big picture here. I daresay Houston Methodist is not seeing the big picture, either. Here’s why – we have been SEVERELY short staffed for a while. Even before COVID hit. Healthcare demand is going up but the supply is way down. I just don’t think a lot of people are going into healthcare right now, for a number of reasons. Can these hospitals really afford to lose 1/8 of their staff by mandating an experimental injectable? Or any other injection, for that matter. And if hospitals lose staff, that means the people that remain will be overworked to compensate.

When does it end?

All I know is, I DON’T want to lose my job. I love it, I love the people I work with, I’m confident in what I do but I’m mentally prepared to walk away if backed against a wall.

Let’s see what happens.

Podcast

27: Teaching First Graders Sexual Gratification. Why Are We Allowing This Madness to Continue?

Karen
boots
 
There is a lot to cover today. It seems like the world continues to get more “woke” and crazy every day. I guess my biggest question is – we all know this stuff being forced down our throats is crazy, WHY are we allowing it to happen? Are we afraid to speak up? If you don’t speak up, does this mean you agree with these agendas? It’s something to ponder. Do you think the experimental injectable contains a microchip? Why are magnets sticking to COVID injection sites? Book review is science fiction this week: The Solar War by A.G. Riddle. Take a moment to remember our brave men/women who have served our country this weekend!
Mentioned in podcast:
 
Intermission music:
 
It Is What It Is by Ron Gelinas Chillout Lounge | https://soundcloud.com/atmospheric-music-portal
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US
Take me on the go! You can hear my podcast on the following platforms:

Anchor.fm

Apple Podcast

Spotify

Overcast

Google Podcasts

Breaker

Pocket Casts

Radio Public

RSS Feed

I upload a new podcast every week. Thanks for listening!

*TALK” to you soon!

Here is our Podcast “Right From Us”

Podcast

26: It is the Beginning of the End of My Medical Career – What’s Next? Good Question

Karen
bathtub
Mentioned in podcast:
Book review of the week: “Winter’s Redemption” by Mary Stone
Intermission music:
Creamy by Limujii | https://soundcloud.com/limujii
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US
Take me on the go! You can hear my podcast on the following platforms:

Anchor.fm

Apple Podcast

Spotify

Overcast

Google Podcasts

Breaker

Pocket Casts

Radio Public

RSS Feed

I upload a new podcast every week. Thanks for listening!

*TALK” to you soon!

Here is our Podcast “Right From Us”

Sorry – my mic was turned up a bit high!

Work Stuff

College is Not Necessarily a Pre-Requisite to Success

Karen

I have a college degree. I graduated from college in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science in Technical Writing and a minor in creative writing.

I went to college for two big reasons:

— I wanted to prove to myself that I was smart enough to finish it. And I’m proud to say, I graduated Cum Laude. (Contrary to popular belief, I’m not that smart when it comes to book smarts. What saves me is I have LOADS of common sense).

— And I wanted to set a good example for our boys, to show them that you’re never too old to go to college, (I was one of those annoying, overachieving older students you see sprinkled throughout campus), and that if you wanted to make something of yourself, you needed to go to college.

I have since changed my mind on that.

College nowadays is not really about educating you and/or preparing you for the real world, it’s about indoctrinating you into a specific mindset and teaching group think. And for that completely worthless lesson you get saddled with tens of thousands of dollars of debt.

Whee!

When our boys graduated from high school, we didn’t really discourage them from going on to college but we certainly didn’t encourage them, either. We didn’t have to worry about that, actually, as both boys were firmly against going to college, primarily because they didn’t want to start life off in debt.

Smart kids, I wonder where they get that mentality? (*cough*)

At first, we were like, “but you’ll never get a good paying job without a college education! How will you be successful?” but now, I’m SO GLAD they didn’t go as I wouldn’t want them to be brainwashed to believe the sh*t that’s being taught now.

True. If you want a job in a specific field, accounting, law, medicine, you’ll need a formal education to pursue that goal, but it’s totally possible to be successful without a college education. And if the boys want to go to college at some point, we’ll certainly support their decision, (with some financial counsel, for example, take it slow, pay as you go, don’t take out loans and CERTAINLY don’t expect someone else to pay your bills for you). In fact, I think going to college later in life, when they are more mature and serious about what they want to do is preferable as opposed to right after high school when they are impressionable and easily manipulated – kids need to learn to navigate the real world first, get to know who they are as people first, before encountering pressures to learn and/or live someone else’s ideals.

I have a college degree, but I haven’t done anything with it, I’m ashamed to say. Primarily because

  1. I’m too scared to try
  2. I don’t think I’m good enough
  3. Technical writing is BORING

I know Kevin is disappointed in me. He has never come right out and said that, but I can see it in his face at times when it comes up.

Like now.

We had a “huddle” at work the other day, and my manager mentioned that she heard a “rumor” that the hospital was going to mandate the experimental injectable, i.e. COVID vaccine, this coming Fall. It will likely coincide with the annual flu vaccination, which, for the record, I HATE and don’t believe it and only get it to keep my job fully convincing myself that whatever poison they are injecting is not affecting my long-term health, at all.

Anyway, I was disappointed and sad, but not surprised. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to deal with this issue for at least another year, but it doesn’t sound like I’m going to get the luxury of time here. And it’s only a rumor at this point, maybe I won’t, but I think it’s going to happen, largely because I hear the hospital is requiring new hires to get the “vaccine” before starting.

So, it’s coming. I need to stop holding out hope.

I’m not going to lie, I have been waffling back and forth on whether to get it, or find another job. Let’s real talk here, I’m not getting any younger. I have about … ten working years left in me before retirement and do I really want to start over? Start from scratch? Learn something new and deal with the stress of that?

And the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is one jab and it at least resembles something like a normal injection in that it has a little bit of the virus in it as opposed to the Moderna and the Phizer which is the mRNA technology that is still …. pretty experimental.

The thing is, the hospital will make me sign a consent, (even though I technically DON’T consent), thereby releasing them from any liability if I have any sort of adverse reaction. And I know that according to OSHA guidelines, an employer could potentially be liable for any adverse reactions if they mandate the vaccine, though that wouldn’t apply if I’m forced to sign that damn consent, but it’s food for thought.

And I LOVE my job, I really do. It’s stressful and exhausting, but I’m good at it and the people I work with are pretty amazing, but is all of this worth my health? Remember, I never, IN A MILLION YEARS, thought I would find myself working in healthcare – I never wanted it and quite frankly, I could walk away from it without losing much – I don’t have a dog in this fight.

However –

There’s already talk of an annual COVID “booster” and where do I draw the line? I have to put my health and freedoms first.

I. HAVE. TO.

So now what? What are my options now?

I have my degree. Perhaps it’s time to pursue something in that field. What do I have to lose? I’m going to have to find another job anyway, I might as well see what’s out there. And honestly, NOW is the perfect time to look for a job since employers are practically begging people to come work for them.

That may not be the case in the Fall when people lose their unemployment checks and have no other choice but to get back out there and find work.

This situation is TEARING me up inside. I’m reaching a crossroads in my life and I don’t want to make the wrong decision.

Luckily, it’s only me and Kevin on my insurance now but quite frankly, when the boys dropped off my insurance, they found some pretty sweet deals on health insurance, which wasn’t an option ten years ago when Obama stuck his nose into the whole business, so I know we CAN find affordable health insurance (and quite frankly, it will likely be better than what we have now because contrary to popular belief, health insurance is not that great for healthcare workers).

So. I think I need to move forward. I need to think ahead and prepare myself for the very real possibility of not having a job this Fall. Where do I start? I haven’t been on a job interview in ten-plus years. I’m a bit rusty, to say the least.

I need to start with my resume. I will put that together and then I will dust off my LinkIn account and post my resume to my Indeed.com account. I’ll cast my line out into the employer waters and see what I can catch. Who knows what will come of that, if anything.

If that doesn’t work, then I’m not too proud to apply places like Wal-Mart, Hobby Lobby … whatever I can get. And quite frankly, I’ll likely make more money because again, contrary to popular belief, healthcare workers don’t make that much money.

Which is sad and wrong considering all they do for the public, but it’s just an unfortunate fact.

I haven’t made it a secret at work where I stand on this issue so if anyone from work reads this post they won’t be surprised to learn how I feel about this, but I definitely feel like someone turned an hourglass over and now my time at this hospital is running out.

To say I’m bitter and resent the HELL out of having to make this choice would be putting it mildly. Once again, I’m being forced to adapt to a situation not of my making and THAT PISSES ME OFF TO NO END. But I will NOT conform to something I don’t believe in. I just won’t. And if that means that makes my life harder, or I have to rearrange my life to accommodate the madness, so be it.

I don’t know. Won’t it be ironic if my college degree ends up saving my ass after all?