Tag: medical assistant

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?

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
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https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US
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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

Nursing Shortage – Bracing for Impact

Karen

Let’s talk about work –  bae-bee … (referencing this song)

I haven’t talked about work for a while so let’s bring you up-to-date on the madness that is my 40-plus hour work weeks ..

For those of you that don’t know, I’m a (reluctant) medical assistant. I say reluctant because I never, not once, as in, it never crossed my mind, had any desire to work in the medical field. I never had any aspirations to be a nurse or anything else inside the field but it just sort of happened and before long, I found myself eyeball deep in a “career” not-by-choice. If you’re interested in hearing/listening to how I stumbled into the medical field, you can click on these links: Podcast: Being a Medical Assistant – I Got a Promotion! (Sort of) – Accidental Health Care Career

But suffice it to say, I’m here and I’m giving my job 150% of myself. It’s exhausting, challenging and rewarding every day. I don’t see myself doing anything else (I have about ten years until I retire – but don’t quote me on that – you never know what life will throw at you), nor making an effort to be anything more than a medical assistant. (Again, don’t hold me to that).

This past year has been tough, I don’t have to tell you that. We’ve all had challenges but I’ll be honest, it’s been especially challenging for healthcare workers.

I have it easy, honestly. I work in an outpatient clinic for Neurosurgery. There are nine surgeons in my office and though I help wherever and whenever I’m needed, I work primarily for Dr. M. Dr. M’s team consists of him, his PA, his nurse, me and his medical secretary. And if you think that’s a lot of people surrounding one doctor, you would be right, but he needs all of us to handle the work load he alone generates.

He’s not special (though I think he’s pretty special – ha!), all of the doctors in our clinic have the same number of staff. Our jobs, broken down are as follows:

  • Dr. M evaluates patients in clinic and does surgery. (duh)
  • Physician’s Assistant (PA) or Nurse Practitioner (NP) compiles detailed information on patients in clinic and assists with surgeries.
  • Nurse sets up the surgeries and are available to patients after surgery to help manage post-op questions/pain and after care.
  • Medical Assistants (Me) set up his clinics (appointments, making sure patients have images and everything is ready for clinic) and clean up clinics, meaning patients are scheduled for testing and any follow up appointments.
  • Medical Secretaries help answer phones, request images from other facilities, fill out FMLA paperwork, etc.

These duties are simplified, of course, as we all have many other duties that we’re in charge of but you get the gist of what we do and what we’re responsible for.

We are a unique group. We’re not any more special than anyone else but I mean we’re unique in the way we’re set up when compared to other outpatient clinics.

Most clinics only have one nurse and the doctors have their own MA’s. Not very many clinics have both both a nurse and an MA for each doctor. Our clinic started out as an independent clinic from the hospital and that is how the doctors wanted it when they structured their practice. But then the hospital bought the practice and we integrated into the hospital structure and though the hospital wanted our clinic to get rid of the nurses (thereby saving them a ton of money), the doctors said no and kept their nurses.

I’m very thankful for that fact as again, I wouldn’t want to be my doctor’s sole “go to” clinic person and quite frankly, I don’t want that responsibility.

COVID changed the way we see patients. Our doctors never once even entertained the thought of offering Telemedicine visits. But then COVID hit and we were left with the challenge of how are we going to keep seeing patients, thereby keeping everyone employed and generating money for the hospital by continuing to do surgeries if we weren’t allowed to actually SEE anyone?

Enter, telemedicine.

To say it’s been a challenge, and continues to be a challenge, would be sugar coating it. I have grown to hate Telemedicine with a passion. At first, I loved it – I didn’t have to actually deal with patients in-person and it was a challenge. Now, I’m over the challenge and frustration and I’m MORE than ready to go back to in-person visits. But alas, my doctor is not ready for that and he continues to insist on only offering Telemedicine visits. So. I continue to grit my teeth and practice more patience that I ever thought I was capable of and somehow we get through the technical difficulties of Telemedicine.

There have been times, (and continue to be times), I just want to throw my headset down and walk away. Seriously. I can’t tell you the number of times I have allllllmost walked out. Screw this, I can make more money at Hobby Lobby and have a lot less stress. There have been times, (and continue to be times), that I want to throw my laptop through a window, but of course, I haven’t. I have stayed because ultimately I didn’t want to upset and disappoint my team. I’m quite attached to them and I genuinely like them. It’s a good thing too because honestly, and I’m being dead honest here, I would have left a long time ago if I wasn’t so attached to everyone.

We’re now to a point that I’ve gotten pretty good at Telemedicine visits. I have clawed my way through troubleshooting moments and I can pretty much talk a patient through anything. The only line I draw is when a patient tells me they don’t know how to access his/her email. If you don’t know how to access your email, I can’t help you. I’m done. My doctor continues to insist on Telemedicine visits and doesn’t want to see anyone in the office until the vaccine is being widely distributed to the general public. I can respect his decision but it doesn’t mean I have to like it. Luckily, or unluckily, due to the rising cases of the disease and the fact that we’ve had 150 patients with COVID in the hospital and a number of employees out because of being positive for COVID, it hasn’t been a hard sell at this point. However, there will come a time that selling Telemedicine to patients will become harder and harder. I don’t think Telemedicine will ever go away entirely, it’s really handy for patients who live hours away and it saves them a trip to town, but locals will not likely accept it as easily.

But I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. We’re not there yet.

My nurse and her entire family had COVID. She was out for three weeks. She was very sick for about two weeks of it and too weak to come to work the third week so she worked from home. That was a long three weeks for me and gave me a small taste of how my working life would be different if we didn’t have nurses.

I could handle it. It would take some (major) adjusting, but I could do it. I couldn’t do all of it, obviously, I’m not licensed and do not have the authority to give medical advice when it comes to medications but I could certainly put in meds in a patient’s chart with the PA’s guidance. And I could learn to put in surgery orders. But I wouldn’t have the knowledge to round or visit patients in their rooms nor the knowledge to give medical advice to patients with various medical issues. Not having a nurse could be done but thankfully, we don’t have to deal with that.

But with that said ….

We are about to be down five nurses. F.I.V.E. We currently have nine nurses, one for each surgeon, well, ideally we have nine nurses. We’ve been down two nurses for quite some time. Another one quit (being a clinic nurse is not for the faint of heart), another one is going PRN (which is Latin for “as needed”) to go to nurse practitioner school and another one is retiring.

Big deal, you’re thinking, just hire more nurses.

Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Except the big challenge is – we haven’t had any applications. NOT ONE. And the positions have been posted for MONTHS. In fact, when speaking to the charge nurse on the floor we send our patients to after surgery, she hasn’t had any applications, either.

There are simply no nurses to be had.

I don’t know if this means there is a nursing shortage overall, or if every available nurse out there is being utilized to take care of the influx of COVID patients.

Maybe both.

When speaking to my nurse about this, she poo-poos the notion that there might be a nursing shortage.

According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing site:

I think a lot of people who thought about going to nursing school has declined in recent years because of the threat of socialized medicine programs (which means less money and more work), the cost of schooling, which has skyrocketed in the past few years alone, and the fact that most people want a quick buck and don’t want to work for it and let’s face it, nursing is HARD.

So yes, I think the nursing shortage is going to be more keenly felt now more than ever – COVID just pushed it down the hill much sooner than anticipated.

Once again, screw you COVID.

All of this to say, we’re coming up on yet another hard curve in the working road. Hopefully, we can take the turn slow enough that we don’t skid off the side and careen down the cliff exploding at the bottom into a fiery ball of skin and bones.

How’s them visuals?

Our clinic is finally fully staffed with medical assistants. There for a while, we were down a few MA’s and we had to all work together to cover each other. But now, it’s the nurses’ turn to be short staffed and we’re going to all have to work together to help them out as much as we can. Each nurse is going to have to consistently cover two doctors and that is going to take a lot of patience and cooperation from us.

It’s so weird, because this situation used to be exactly opposite. We couldn’t find decent MA’s for YEARS. It wasn’t a field that people went into, let alone really knew about. And many people think you have to go to school to become an MA – not true. A lot of places will hire you and train you on the job – at least, it used to be like that. But now that more people are going into the field, employers might be a little more choosy on who they hire and NOT hire someone who hasn’t had any schooling.

Being a medical assistant isn’t hard, but you do have to have a lot of patience, superior multi-tasking, communication, and time management skills, If you’re not very good at juggling several balls in the air at the same time, being a medical assistant is not the job for you. I’m just keeping it real.

So. Once again, our clinic is getting ready to enter a challenging time. It’s rare to have a time period where everything is going great and we’re fully staffed before one domino falls over and before long, we’re scrambling to rebuild the entire thing. But I supposed that is the case for every industry in one form or another.

Anyway. All of this to say, that’s the biggest reason I haven’t posted in a while. I’ve been busy working overtime and filling in for my nurse. But now that my nurse is back, the challenge has shifted and who knows how much I will be needed with the upcoming nursing shortage.

I guess, all we can do is live our lives one day at a time, right?

I can say this for our clinic though, we are a tough crowd. We have been through some CRAZY hard transitions over the years and most of us are still standing. Yes. We’ve lost a few people over the years but the majority of us have stayed.

That says a lot about us, I think.

Camp NaNoWriMo, Work Stuff

I Don’t Play, I Slay

Karen

(Fifty points if you get that reference).

Work is going well. I took two weeks of vacation off in May to go on our cruise. Our cruise was 8 days so I had nearly a week left of vacation when we came back and I spent that time doing whatever I wanted to. *snap* It was a time to recharge my batteries, Lord knows, I needed it.

I went way too long between vacations. By the time our vacation came around in May, it had been a year since I took any time off and I was going crazy, not to mention my attitude was BAD by the time April rolled around.

I won’t do that again. For my own mental health.

I love my job as a medical assistant. I work for neurosurgeons and there really is never a dull moment. You’re never caught up and there is always something to do and learn. Especially for me, since I didn’t come from a medical background, I just sort of fell into this job. (I was a scheduler and the hospital decided to eliminate my position and said, either become a medical assistant or bye Felicia).

It’s pretty much the same job, day-in-day-out, just the characters change. I think the biggest challenge is making people understand that ultimately they are responsible for their own health, that there is no magic solution, pill, or surgery that is going to fix them. It may help them on their way, but when push-comes-to-shove, people have to take responsibility for their life choices.

Another big challenge is reminding people to keep their expectations real.

For example: Dr so-and-so is going to cut you open, use surgical retractors to keep you open, move organs aside and expose your vulnerabilities to the surgeon working on you. He is then going to cauterize your vessels to keep you from bleeding out, drill and saw into your bones, move your muscles back into place, sew several layers of skin back together before closing you all the way up and stapling the incision closed.

Now you tell me, do you think you’re going to experience pain afterward?

Let me answer that question for you – DUDE, YOU’RE GONNA HURT.

Do you think the doctor prescribes muscle relaxers and pain medication because he thinks you might need it? Trust me, you’re going to need it.

It never ceases to amaze me the number of people who call us after major back surgery to complain of being in pain. I’m not talking unusual, something is wrong pain, THAT’S when you need to call, when something hurts so bad you can’t breathe and it won’t go away. I”m talking about people who call and complain of intermittent muscle/nerve pain. That’s completely normal.

These calls got so bad that our clinic came up with spine camp to help offset those calls. Whenever someone is going to have a fusion, meaning, something is going on with the back and it’s severe enough the surgeon feels like the patient will need hardware placed in their spine, we send them to spine camp. This is a two-hour meeting where the nurse teaching the class goes over everything to prepare the patient for the procedure. From getting things ready at home, to what goes on in the operating room to what kind of pain and experience they can expect in the hospital after the surgery.

Since implementing that class, the number of calls we’ve gotten has DRAMATICALLY decreased. It’s because we have done a good job of teaching patients realistic expectations.

It’s a fine line between being real and being … polite. Patients need to understand there are consequences for poor choices. If you smoke, you could get lung cancer, or COPD, where you are short of breath simply sitting down and trying to have a normal conversation. If you eat too much, you will become obese and suffer from the problems that come from that issue. And speaking of that, I have a “too fat for surgery” speech that I have to give some patients. That sounds crass and mean but it’s true. If your BMI is too high, which is doctor speak for too fat, then you can’t have surgery because the risks of surgery outweigh the benefits (pun intended). For example, you’re under anesthesia for longer because it take the doctor longer to get to the issue because there are layers and layers of fat to swim through first. This in turn, is stressful on the heart, which is already stressed because the patient is too large to begin with. It takes longer to heal and if you’re carrying too much weight, that puts too much stress on the spine and the surgery won’t if the spine continues to be under stress, the surgery will not be successful.

It’s harder to intubate a large patient. Wounds tend to take twice as long to heal on a large patient. And the list goes on.

And yet, I feel sorry for patients in that situation because sometimes, they really need the surgery but they have to get their weight  under control first. When that happens, the surgeon recommends bariatric surgery to help kick start their weight loss journey. (Side note: my spell check does not like these medical terms).

Luckily, I’m a pretty good communicator and I can take my cues off the patient’s tone of voice and body language as far as how to handle them. Some patients are very no-nonsense, so I need to be no-nonsense. Some patients need to tell their story because it helps them understand and process what is going on with them, so I simply sit and listen to them. Some patients need some TLC because they are scared, frustrated, angry at their situation and just want someone to help them.

Being a specialty, we often times get patients that at their wits end. They have seen multiple doctors and have been told, repeatedly, they can’t help them. Sometimes, when patients find out our doctors can help them, they will burst into tears because finally, FINALLY, they see a light at the end of the tunnel.

I have to tell you, I didn’t go into healthcare with the thought it would be my career, like ever, not once did I even contemplate it. But now that life has thrown me into it, I have to say it’s SO SATISFYING whenever someone comes back in after surgery and they are doing well and so happy to have their life back. I can’t imagine how a doctor must feel when that happens.

Anyway, I got off topic.

The purpose of this post is tell you that when I’m at work, I’m there to work. I’m not there to play, to gossip, or sit around and watch the clock hoping that 4:30 will hurry and get here. I’m one of those people that give 150% and have little to no patience for whiners, complainers and people who like to make excuses. You don’t have to like me but if you are fortunate (!!) enough to work with me, then by gosh, you better get the job done. Am I a bitch? Depends. We all vent, it’s how we cope with stress and frustration, I do it as well. But if you have an excuse for everything and you are always asking for help when you can clearly do it yourself or you’re being friendly to my face but ugly behind my back, yeah, I don’t like you and I’m not going to pretend otherwise.

Will I be professional? Of course, but don’t expect me to care about you, or your life. The hospital is paying us to co-exist and give the best care we’re capable of giving to the patients, anything more than that is bonus material.

However, with that said, I am very fortunate to work with some pretty amazing people. They are professional, compassionate, knowledgeable have great senses of humor. We all have bad days, we wouldn’t be human if we didn’t, but we all get along and that makes working alongside these people that much  more enjoyable.

I think people are a little scared of me, if you want the truth. And since we’re being truthful, I’m going to say that I sort of dig it. If you’re scared of me, then you’ll take me seriously and think twice before crossing me.

I tell people all the time that you have to have a line when you deal with the public. I will allow you to push me, scold me, and get me in my face if that is what it takes to get whatever is bothering you off your chest, but there is a line – if you start cursing or getting hateful or disrespectful then all bets are off. I use my “professional firm voice” and trust me when I say, I don’t give a rats ass if I piss you off or “offend” you.

Enough is enough. Back off, check yourself.

And people are so self-centered and selfish nowadays. It’s amazing how often you have to steer a conversation in another direction and point out to people that there are two sides to a story. Just because you heard this way or want it this way does not mean IT’S THAT WAY. You know?

I”m awesome to work with, but don’t cross my line.

Post Five

 

Work Stuff

Insert Coffee to Begin

Karen

insert-coffee
And MAN, do I need to coffee to keep up at work! Read on …

Hi. I’m still alive, always lurking in the background and avoiding my blog because every time I sit down to write and I see that little blinking cursor, I freeze up and go brain dead. But I feel like life is starting to settle down and I have found my new normal, so I feel ready to start sharing my life again.

Work is good. My new nurse has been working with our team for over a year now and things are settling down into a routine. I feel like we all work extremely well together, we all get along, we make each other laugh, patients compliment us as a team, we throw fun little parties, we make an effort to eat lunch together at times and we genuinely like each other.  I hope this continues for a very long time. I feel like after the two years of hell I had with a super crappy, crass, rude/crude nurse, I deserve some fun times at work. And I’m having fun, I truly am. I ADORE the people I work with and I don’t mind going to work each day. In fact, I really enjoy it.

If I haven’t told you, I work in a neurosurgery clinic. I feel like it’s the perfect balance of patient interaction. My doctor sees patients in the clinic two times a week, and when he’s in surgery the rest of the week, I manage the phones and make sure tests are scheduled and we’re ready for the next batch of patients for the upcoming week. I love this balance because I truly don’t think I could handle working in a family medicine clinic where they see patients every day. I generally don’t like people. I know that’s sort of a shocking thing to say considering I’m in healthcare, but I can only handle listening, sympathizing and being nice to people for so long before I’m simply DONE. I truly enjoy helping people and it’s SO REWARDING to see people feel so much better after having surgery, but being at everyone’s beck and call for 45 hours per week just sucks the life out of you.

But, as I mentioned, I have a phenomenal team who all pitch in and pull their weight. I trust them and I hope they trust me. Somehow, we get the job done. We have perfected the way we do things and our clinics run like clockwork. So much so, in fact, that my boss has asked me to put a clinic prep “guide” together to teach my fellow medical assistants. I guess the doctors, (not my doctor, thankfully), have been complaining that things aren’t being done fully or correctly and they want changes. I’m flattered my boss is asking me to do this and I’m glad to help in any way I can, but if people aren’t willing to make those changes, then no amount of “teaching” will help them. I guess we’ll see how it goes.

We’re planning some fun stuff in the upcoming weeks at work. We have two birthdays coming up, our medical secretary and our physician’s assistant. The nurse and I have been shopping for presents and we’re planning on “themed” food days. For example, our doctor’s birthday was the first of June and we had a “beach” party because he mentioned how he really wants to take his family to someplace like Mexico but he’s afraid of exposing them to “bad” people so we brought the beach to him. I think he really enjoyed himself. Here’s a picture of our beach party:

beach-party

Starting on the left side: Nurse, Doctor, me, secretary and physician’s assistant. Our facial expressions KILL me! LOL (By the way, see the matching scrubs? Our doctor bought us matching scrubs for Christmas – how cool is that??)

As you can see, we like to act goofy.

Then we had a 4th of  July party. We actually had the party on the 2nd and here’s why. Since 4th of July was on a Wednesday, and we have clinics on Wednesdays, we tried really, really hard to talk our doctor out of having clinic on Monday, then some of us could take a few vacation days off. But for whatever reason, our doctor didn’t want to do that so we thought, “okay, fine. If we have to work on that Monday, then we’re going to have a party, damn it.”

And we did. Our doctor, and another doctor from another team, bought BBQ meat from City Butcher and we all brought in side dishes. I brought in deviled eggs and Snicker-doodle cookies. and though it’s always a challenge to try and find time to eat together on clinic days, we managed to do it. It’s so fun to let our hair down and just be goofy and funny. It blows off steam and we bond a little bit more as a team.

Here’s our 4th of July party picture:

4th

God Bless America, I love these people! LOL The nurse and the PA are hugging me because I jokingly said, “I don’t know what to do with my arms” since I was in the middle.

Here are few older pictures:

workgroupBB

This was when our nurse came back from maternity leave. She actually surprised us one day in clinic. We were setting things up and she walked in and said, “I’m back bitches!” I squealed like a stuffed pig and hugged her. (Which is sort of a big deal because I don’t like hugs – at all). So, we were all feeling a bit stupid and giddy in this picture. It was a very good day.

This picture is our PA’s birthday last year:

workgroupA

Yes. We made t-shirts because we love her so much.

We’re a fun group, what can I say?? We enjoy each other. I don’t know if our doctor really knows how to take being surrounded by so many crazy, alpha females, but damn, we have fun.

I’m so, SO thankful we have a fun group. I hope none of us goes anywhere for quite some time.

In the meantime, we’re planning a few more parties. The entire clinic is dressing up for Halloween. The year before last, our group dressed up like the Wizard of Oz, I was the scarecrow (of course), our old nurse was Dorothy, our secretary was Glenda the Good Witch, our PA was the wicked witch and our doctor was the Wizard of Oz but unfortunately, he wasn’t able to participate because his dad passed away a few days before Halloween. But we had a yellow brick road around our part of the clinic, a huge Wizard head, a house, a tornado, haunted trees and a hot air balloon. It was pretty incredible and OF COURSE we won the costume trophy that year. We didn’t dress up last year, it fell on a surgery day and our team wasn’t together (I was sort of glad, I actually hate dressing up), but THIS YEAR, it’s going to be a blast.

The entire clinic, (well, the teams that have clinic on that day and since it falls on a Wednesday, that would include us), are dressing up in time period costumes. Each team got to pick a time era and our team chose the roaring 20’s. I GET TO DRESS UP LIKE A FLAPPER!! I can not wait! We’ve already picked out our dresses on Amazon – they are all going to be the same kind of dress but different colors, and we found a “flapper” set of accessories to go along with it. Including candy cigarettes! I’m pretty sure I already have some shoes that will work.

It. Is. Going. To. Be. A. Hoot.

Our doctor is game, so our PA is going to find some wingtip shoes, suspenders, tie and a gangster hat for him to wear.

Oh, don’t you worry, we’ll take pictures.

Then, for Christmas, we’re not dressing up, but we’re decorating our clinic for a Holly/Jolly Open House. We plan on having five (?) themed Christmas trees, a hot chocolate station, a “decorate-your-own-cookie” station, an area for the kids to do a craft and watch snippets of “Elf” while their parents rub elbows with our doctors, a station for people to write notes to our soldiers and a LIVE Santa where we will have a photographer taking pictures. The clinic is throwing this shin-dig to help promote neurosurgery to referring doctors in outlying areas. Since patients have more of a choice on where they can go now with insurance changes, (which, I’m not a big fan of OBummer care, but giving people a choice on where they want to go is a good thing), it’s forcing everyone in healthcare to compete and step up their game to provide better service. Capitalism is a good thing, people!

In addition, we’ve had two new doctors start in our clinic and a slew of new faces to staff those teams and I’ve been busy helping to cover those new doctors as well as train new people. It’s been busy, we plan on getting busier (because the hospital hasn’t approved to hire another MA for our newest doctor yet, which means we’re all having to take turns to fill in and help out) but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Everyone is so incredible and I’m so blessed to work with each and every one.

I have to confess, this time two years ago, I didn’t know if I would be able to stay in my current job. I was miserable and so stressed out that it was affecting my health but I’m glad I stuck it out because honestly, I’ve made some pretty incredible friends and I’m really having a lot of fun – which is a rarity in today’s working world.

 

Work Stuff

Too Many Changes in Too Short of Time

Karen

I can honestly say, these past three months have been the most exhausting, frustrating, rewarding and fulfilling months in my life. Well, maybe not my life, but they certainly rank in the top five.

1. We moved offices.

It was a confusing, whirlwind mass of chaotic activity. We all knew we were going to move to our new office at the hospital, it was inevitable, but we were told it wouldn’t be until closer to Thanksgiving, so though we knew we were moving, we weren’t really PSYCHED to move. Suddenly, our new office was done and the CEO of the company didn’t see the need to delay the inevitable so we got the green light to move.

It wasn’t a slow, organized move, it was a crazy, throw everything in boxes and load up our cars move.

We moved on a Friday but we didn’t close up shop to move. It was business as usual and we packed our crap up in between patient phone calls. Each team was allotted about two hours to pack our crap, load it up and drop it off at the new office. Then, once the phones shut off at 4:30, we all went into frenzy mode and moved the rest of our stuff. We unloaded just the stuff we knew we would need for clinic on Monday and the rest stayed in boxes.

It was a crazy, disorganized but sort of fun time. And we survived our first clinic in our new place. My doctor was pretty patient, (what choice did he have?) and when we explained the situation to the patients, they were pretty understanding and patient, too. (Again, what choice did they have?)

I love this office. I truly do. It’s spacious and still has that NEW smell. We’re located on the 7th floor and we have a spectacular view of the city. We are the only specialty on our floor so we have the place to ourselves. I’m proud to work here. I know it’s impressive and people are impressed when they get to us.

We’ve had issues. We’ve had doors that wouldn’t open and doors that opened so fast that they were seriously a hazard to anyone within slapping distance. We have been unable to locate light switches and we still have problems with light-motion sensors that are too sensitive and often shut off leaving us in the dark and either having to wave our arms to bring the lights back on or we have to work in the dark until we physically get up to turn the damn things on again.

The toilets flush so loudly they are seriously damaging our eardrums and everyone has to hold their ears when they go off to protect ourselves. At least we won’t have to worry overly much about clogging them as I’m pretty sure they have so much suction they would suck a small child down the pipes if given the chance.

Our docs don’t have offices. Instead, we have collaboration spaces within each “pod.” We have five pods total. In fact, I’m using a collaboration space right now to write this. (More on that later). These collab spaces are intended to allow the physicians to sort of disappear whenever they need a break or want someplace private to eat their lunch. These collab spaces also double as meeting rooms or in my case, study spaces. Since the doctors are only in the clinic two times a week, they are in surgery the rest of the week, they didn’t see the need to have permanent spaces for temporary occupancy.

We’ve been in our space now for three months. Three months, in some ways, it feels a lot longer. We still don’t have enough stools to sit on in the exam rooms and supplies to supply 55 exam rooms. (Each pod has five exam rooms each – we also have one large procedure room in case the doctors need to treat wounds or more complicated issues). For several weeks, we didn’t have enough scales and we had to routinely share and move scales around in order to work our clinics.

Even though we are the only specialty on our floor, we still have room to grow. The front part of our floor is undeveloped and locked off. I have no idea what the hospital plans on doing with this undeveloped space and can only guess that it’s intended to add on more doctors, but we’ll see. So that’s exciting, knowing that at some point, there are likely more changes in our future.

If you can count on anything in business, it’s change.

Let me see if I can explain this set up for you …

When you get off the elevators, you can only go one way and that way is to a centralized podium. The person at the podium then “blues” you in on the schedule so that people like me will know you’re on the floor. The podium person will then direct you to the pod where your doctor is located. I work out of pod 5. Patients will then settle into our waiting room and wait for me to call them back to a room where I start their charts and get their vitals.

On Wednesdays, we share the waiting room with another doctor and last week it was so crowded it was literally standing room only. It’s so weird how the patient flow works out – we will be an hour ahead of schedule and suddenly, we have an influx of patients and we’re an hour behind.

I think this week, I’m going to ask my doctor if he would mind if we used the main waiting area – the area that people see when they first get off the elevators. It’s just too confusing for patients and awkward for me to try and keep track of everyone.

I’m all about efficiency. In fact, I’ve sort of developed a reputation for being “on top of it.” I probably over plan clinics but in my mind, a little preparation goes A LONG WAY towards a more organized clinic. In fact, I’m pretty sure my doctor has come to expect this preparation from me now so there is no way I would NOT plan my clinics, I wouldn’t want to disappoint him.

Which leads me to the second big work change ..

2. We finally switched over to the hospital charting software program in August.

The hospital has been “warning” us for years this change was going to happen so it’s not surprising that it happened once we moved onto the hospital campus.

We spent weeks staying after work transferring people over on to the new schedule program and into the new charting system. It was exhausting but it allowed us to make extra money and to familiarize ourselves with the new program so that ultimately, we taught ourselves how to get around it faster than if we hadn’t stayed to do data entry.

The first week we went live, we had software representatives available for questions. Which sounds awesome on the surface, but wasn’t really awesome in reality. Though they knew their way around the program, they were unfamiliar with our specialty and our specific needs. I can’t tell you the number of times I heard, “well, this is the way it’s supposed to work, but the feature is not working now.” After a time, they were just in the way and became super annoying to have around.

You could FEEL the tension emanating off our bodies that first week we went live. IT. WAS. FRUSTRATING. to say the least. And it’s still frustrating to this day. It’s hard to find anything, let alone quickly. Everything is filed into folders, each doc has a folder, I have a folder for all of the documents I put into the patient’s chart, every type of document has a folder, days have folders, it’s pretty insane, quite frankly.

And the programs, the charting program and the scheduling programs, are GLITCHY. Things will disappear, or we get error messages, or the program will just shut down. And our servers SUCK. They are SO SLOW. In fact, these programs are SO glitchy and slow that our ER finally put their foot down and refused to use it. They use something different.

It’s not unusual for me to completely shut down my computer, several times a day because it just locks up.

AARGH.

I think our docs had the most trouble with the program. They were definitely not set up the way our physicians wanted them to be set up and we’re constantly coming up with ways to get around restrictions. The hospital will likely figure out some of the workarounds we’re doing but that’s the only way our physicians can get their work done so I’m sure the hospital, at some point, will no choice but to make those changes. In the interim, we make do.

So. We moved on July 17th and went to a new software system one month later.

I was working 60 hour weeks for WEEKS during this process. I’m just NOW getting to a point where I’m now going home at 6:00 instead of 8:00. I haven’t seen my family in three months. Truly, I haven’t been home to have dinner with Kevin or the boys, during the week, in three months. I haven’t had time to stop. It’s been crazy.

Some of that crazy came from our phones.

3. We FINALLY went back to voicemails.

Some knucklehead had the bright idea that answering all of our calls live was the way to go. And for a while, it seemed to work. We answered live calls and did our best to help the patient with his/her questions/requests. But after a while, that’s ALL we did. Let me break it down for you.

Monday – I was in clinic. So I didn’t answer calls. I focused primarily on making sure the clinic ran smoothly.

Tuesday – I needed to schedule the Monday clinic patients for testing, but I didn’t have time to do that because I was in the pit answering live calls. So, I was taking calls for other doctor patients who had to tell their stories, from the beginning, to me because I was not familiar with their background. And then, being on a new system, it look three times as long to look anything up because we couldn’t find the damn information. AND/OR we had (still have to) access our old system – so in essence, we were working out of four systems, our old charting/scheduling programs and our new charting/scheduling programs. And when you answered live calls, you had to stop what you were doing before the call, to take the call, and when you hung up, you didn’t have time to start your own work because the damn phone would instantly ring.

Can you tell I LOATHE the phones??

Wednesday – I’m back in clinic. And I haven’t had a chance to touch my Monday clinic.

Thursday/Friday – I’m back on the damn phones. And again, I do not have a chance to get my clinic work done because I”m now forced to take care of patients for all of the docs. So the ONLY time I had a chance to clean up my week’s clinics AND prepare for my upcoming clinics, was after hours.

It was an insane process.

And to top it off, I started having chest pains. I don’t know if it was because I was under so much stress and working 60 hours weeks, or if it due to gas from starting to take Coconut supplements, or maybe a combination of both, but I ended up in the ER one night.

I was working clinic on a Wednesday and I just couldn’t breathe. I felt like I had to continuously take large breaths in order to function. I made several trips to the restroom just so I could pause, close my eyes and force my body to settle down. I took my blood pressure and it was way high. And my heart rate was over 100. I had chest pain but no arm/jaw pain so I really didn’t think I was having a heart attack but something was OFF.

Then that night, I just couldn’t sleep. My heart was racing double time and I was laying down!! I started hyperventilating and text Kevin (because he was at band practice) and he rushed home and took me to the ER. They hooked me up to an EKG machine and luckily, I wasn’t have a heart attack. They put me into a room and gave me liquid Ativan. Liquid GOLD, I say. That calmed me right down and my blood pressure went back down to normal. They didn’t give me an explanation for my crazy, but I’m pretty sure I had a panic attack. I think the pressure just got to me and I snapped.

I haven’t had an attack since then. I’ve adapted and learned to cope with this stress.

We had another person in the office break out into a rash because of the stress. When the director of our department found out about our physical manifestations to all of this stress, he put his foot down – it was time for changes.

We narrowed down that the phone situation just wasn’t working for us. So, we called our communications department in and they set it up so that each doctor has a voicemail now. Now, I can get to phones on MY time. And I’m already familiar with my doctor’s patients so that cuts down on response time. And I can return phone calls all at once so it’s way more efficient for everyone.

We’ve been back on voicemails for several weeks now and everyone is WAY more relaxed. We have time to BREATHE. We can all go to lunch together, if we want. We’re more in control of our processes and time. And that has left more time for me to pursue my next goal …

4. I’m studying for my CMA test

The CMA test is the Certified Medical Assistant test. The hospital has put together a pretty sweet incentive package for the medical assistants to become certified. It’s better for us, for the doctors and of course, for the hospital. So that has motivated all of us to study for the thing. A few of use have been staying late, or coming in on the weekend (like today – but I’m writing to you instead because I was feeling it today), to prepare for this. It costs $150 dollars to take the 3 hours test so I’m also motivated to take this pretty seriously because I don’t want to blow $150.

I’ve purchased study materials and I plan on purchasing a practice test so that I can focus my studies on the sections that will be on the test. I’ve only really been studying seriously for the past several weeks and I already feel like I’ve learned a lot. It’s stressful though – I feel like I’m cramming four years of medical school into about six weeks. I’m not going to tell you, or anyone I work with, the actual date I plan on taking this test, that way, if I fail, no harm, no foul. My goal is to just announce to everyone that I passed. If I told everyone my plans, took the test and then failed, I’m pretty sure I would be too mortified to show my face again. Everyone is wanting to go take it on the same day, but I simply can’t do that – I will be a bundle of nerves anyway, let alone taking the test with a bunch of people I work with.

The hospital is not only offering a bonus for becoming certified, but they’re also offering an hourly pay increase. And it’s a pretty sweet jump, let me tell ya.

So yes. I’m focusing my energies onto passing this thing now. I’ve been staying after work not only to finish my work, but on collaborating with my fellow co-workers on studying for the CMA.

I’m looking forward to the day when things get back to normal. Our entire worlds, and not just working worlds, but personal worlds, have been turned upside down these past several months.

But then I’ll have continuing education requirements after I pass the CMA in order to KEEP my CMA status.

It just never ends, does it.

Daily Prompt, Work Stuff, Writing Stuff

Prompt: Accidental Healthcare Career

Karen

Tell us about your first day at something — your first day of school, first day of work, first day living on your own, first day blogging, first day as a parent, whatever.

It’s Obama’s fault that I work in healthcare.

I never, in a million years, even TOSSED the idea around of working in healthcare before our glorious dictator, erhm, leader, (*said with sarcasm*) started the current nightmare we’re living in right now. (Have you guessed that I DESPISE the man?)

It never even occurred to me to attempt it. I knew I could never be a nurse. Not so much for the gross factor (though there is that – KUDOS to nurses!), but I get so impatient with people who are sick or in pain. (Just ask my family). My first reaction is to say, “suck it up, buttercup.”

Not exactly stellar bedside manner, right?

This attitude applies to me, too. It drives me CRAZY to be sick or have some pain I can’t seem to control or get rid of.

But when Obama waved his scepter and deemed Obamacare to be the law of the land (*snicker* – yes, I’m being bitchy), I knew I had to DO something to protect my family. I had been a stay-at-home mom for the past seven years – the kids were old enough to take care of themselves and it was time to get back to work. But where to work? I could try and use my degree (I graduated from college in 2003 with a Technical Writing degree – more on why I didn’t pursue this later), but what if it took me forever to FIND a local job in that field? Time was of the essence, who knew how Obamacare would screw everything up for us?

Kevin was (is) self-employed. And with me not working, we were paying ASTRONOMICAL fees for family health insurance. And we were looking at even higher fees once Obamacare passed.

What were my options? I could go back to retail, banking or even the restaurant business. I have a lot of experience in all of those fields, but even then, how much would it ultimately cost us for health insurance?

I admit, the main reason I applied at the hospital was because I wanted to thumb my nose at Obama and his stupidity. How ironic would it be to have health insurance through a healthcare facility? Oh sure, I know that Obama will never know, nor care, about my decision to work in healthcare simply because of his God-like complex to ultimately control his minions (again with the bitchy), but I figured, on some level, that it might be the safest option in order to protect my family.

So. I applied and to my utter astonishment, I got the job.

Actually, that’s not true. I applied first to the insurance processing center and made it to my second interview. I sat at a table with four other women, the women I would be ultimately working with, interviewing me and I guess they didn’t like me because I didn’t get the job. I didn’t give up though. There was a scheduler’s position at the neurosurgery center that I went for and got. I was now responsible for scheduling testing for two neurosurgeons.

I was both excited and terrified. I bought my required scrubs (at that time we were wearing a different color every day so it was quite expensive initially) and my first day on the job consisted of all-day training, becoming familiar with the hospital rules and regulations, signing up for benefits, etc. We were allowed to wear business attire for my first two days of training.

There were a handful of us – maybe around 20? I remember feeling VERY THANKFUL because the economy was tanking at that time and I was just grateful to have ANY job, let alone the job I landed. I felt extremely grateful to be there.

That feeling quickly dissipated when I started my first day at the clinic. It was on Wednesday and after my boss took me around the clinic and introduced me, I began to fully appreciate what I had gotten myself into.

I knew nothing, NOTHING, about the medical field. In essence, I had to learn a whole new language. I had to learn new software; I had to learn how to be what they wanted me to be by constantly adjusting and readjusting my expectations and my personality. I was absolutely terrified and I wondered, on more than one occasion, just what the hell I was doing there.

I also came very, very close, to walking out several times. (Even recently).

I was so stressed. Just when I thought I had “gotten it,” something, or someone, would throw me a curve ball and I was left floundering. I suppose I did a good job of hiding my terror because months later, when I had become comfortable with my position and the people I worked with, I told them how I felt when I first started and my co-workers were shocked – they had no idea, they said.

I guess that was something, at least.

I could BS my way through patient interactions. I’m telling you, the most helpful class I took in college was communication. It taught me to understand different personalities and how to get along with those personalities. It taught me patience and how to word things so that people didn’t take offense but at the same time, it allowed me to maintain control over the situation.

I think everyone should be required to take a communications class like that (and I’m talking about the art of communication – studying Aristotle and the likes. It sounds boring, and it was, for the most part, it was also difficult to digest, but once that light bulb went off in my head, I feel like I can pretty much handle any personality now).

What stressed me out the most, and still does on many levels, was interacting with the doctors. As if rubbing elbows with doctors in general is not nerve-wracking enough, I’m rubbing elbows with BRAIN SURGEONS. To become a brain surgeon, you have to be the top 1% – these guys are SCARY SMART. Human, but Einstein smart.

I would feel nauseous anytime I had to speak directly with a doctor. Did I ask my question plainly? Should I have been able to answer my question without going to the doctor? Did I present myself in a professional manner? Will they like me or ask management to get rid of me?

(Hey – that’s actually happened before).

The doctors TERRIFIED me. I drove home, on many, many occasions when I first started working for the hospital, crying because I was so stressed out from trying to learn everything. Thank God I’m a fast learner. I tend to catch on quickly.

Looking back, I’m pretty proud of myself. I stepped into a world I knew little to nothing about and conquered it, somewhat. I’m currently working on educating myself so that I can take a certification test and become a CMA (certified medical assistant) which will lead to a raise and more responsibility. I’m feeling more comfortable in my duties and I’ve been told by both management, and the doctors (EEK!) that I’m doing a good job.

It sort of blows my mind, to be honest.

Oh – one more first to tell you about – the first time I had to take staples out. It was a PLIF (posterior lumbar interbody fusion). The nurse showed me how to use the tool and I got down on my knees, swallowed the bile back down my throat and took those suckers out. It’s actually sort of fun, to be honest. Unless they’ve been in for a while and they’re starting to scab over. Then you have to dig into the flesh a bit and that hurts the patient. I’m still not 100% confident on removing staples, but I just swallow my apprehension, grit my teeth and force myself to do it and appear confident while doing it. (Which is key – my lead nurse told me that patients will never know that you haven’t done something very often, as long as you sound confident while doing it).

I watched a carpal tunnel suture removal the other day. I haven’t done one of those yet. My doctor doesn’t do very many carpal tunnels. That’s pretty cool. You first don a pair of clean gloves, swab the stitches with rubbing alcohol to remove germs/bacteria, then you take your scissors and snip the stitch while pulling it by the knot with the tweezers. I’ve yet to see one long continuous stitch removed – I’ve put the word out if anyone gets one of those to come get me so I can watch how they do it.

So those are some of my firsts. Without sounding like a braggart (too late, I’m sure), I have to admit, this job is one of the things I’m most proud of in my life. I have grabbed this medical monster by the tail and conquered it. Not bad for someone who didn’t go to any sort of medical school. The other girls I started out with? The other schedulers? Didn’t last. They couldn’t hack it and transferred to other departments.

I’m the last scheduler standing.