Tuesday
May042010
the job
Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at 5:51AM
History, well at least my own personal history, has just been made.
I received and accepted an offer for a position as a Unit Clerk in an ICU (swinging to Telemetry) with one of the hospital systems in the area. The job is entry level but I'm about to become immersed in critical care in a way I didn't even dream of this early in my career shift.
Terrifying is the word at hand to describe what I'm feeling at the moment.
Six months ago work involved sitting at a desk and typing away. Each day brought trivial challenges that were easy to cope with and completely forgettable. There were no surprises and even new work didn't quicken my pulse. My eyes on the RN prize, working at the bank only served to pay for school. Nights and weekends were reserved for classes.
As of today I haven't held a job in six months. During that time I became a CNA, moved closer to finishing all my pre-nursing pre-req's, moved to a significantly smaller apartment, lost one of my closest companions in life, and actually found time to stop and smell the roses between A&P and Chem classes.
Calling the recent changes drastic is an understatement.
Next week orientation to the hospital system begins. Although I'll still sit at a desk typing away, the stakes are much higher. I've heard nurses allude to the intimate immediacy of results that working in critical care brings. While I won't be touching patients, I'll be working with a team of people focused on the minutiae.
So what do I bring to the table? The opposite of what I suspect most folks bring to healthcare. I have a limited medical background, reinforced through a bit of coursework and a touch of clinical training. Instead, I spent lots of time in the corporate trenches where I learned to organize my time and prioritize, manage people and expectations, and perhaps most important of all, communicate across many levels.
That latter is the kind of thing I honestly don't see in many people. In my previous jobs in information technology I met so many poor communicators it shocked me. Awful emails, banal presentations, mind-numbing conference calls, and ambiguous goals were laid down in front of me daily by "college educated" people. (said the college dropout, me)
I honestly think they should rename the industry misinformation techonology
There's no doubt I'll meet more of the same kinds of people in the world of healthcare. The difference is that my new job demands I help improve communication. According to one person I met during my interviews with the ICU folks, if I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere.
So it begins next week. New job, new industry, new future.
I received and accepted an offer for a position as a Unit Clerk in an ICU (swinging to Telemetry) with one of the hospital systems in the area. The job is entry level but I'm about to become immersed in critical care in a way I didn't even dream of this early in my career shift.
Terrifying is the word at hand to describe what I'm feeling at the moment.
Six months ago work involved sitting at a desk and typing away. Each day brought trivial challenges that were easy to cope with and completely forgettable. There were no surprises and even new work didn't quicken my pulse. My eyes on the RN prize, working at the bank only served to pay for school. Nights and weekends were reserved for classes.
As of today I haven't held a job in six months. During that time I became a CNA, moved closer to finishing all my pre-nursing pre-req's, moved to a significantly smaller apartment, lost one of my closest companions in life, and actually found time to stop and smell the roses between A&P and Chem classes.
Calling the recent changes drastic is an understatement.
Next week orientation to the hospital system begins. Although I'll still sit at a desk typing away, the stakes are much higher. I've heard nurses allude to the intimate immediacy of results that working in critical care brings. While I won't be touching patients, I'll be working with a team of people focused on the minutiae.
So what do I bring to the table? The opposite of what I suspect most folks bring to healthcare. I have a limited medical background, reinforced through a bit of coursework and a touch of clinical training. Instead, I spent lots of time in the corporate trenches where I learned to organize my time and prioritize, manage people and expectations, and perhaps most important of all, communicate across many levels.
That latter is the kind of thing I honestly don't see in many people. In my previous jobs in information technology I met so many poor communicators it shocked me. Awful emails, banal presentations, mind-numbing conference calls, and ambiguous goals were laid down in front of me daily by "college educated" people. (said the college dropout, me)
I honestly think they should rename the industry misinformation techonology
There's no doubt I'll meet more of the same kinds of people in the world of healthcare. The difference is that my new job demands I help improve communication. According to one person I met during my interviews with the ICU folks, if I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere.
So it begins next week. New job, new industry, new future.
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