The Learning Curve

California was a great time in general. I could have done without going to LA, because basically it sucks a lot. San Diego was a pretty fun time, although I'm not convinced that anyone actually lives there. San Francisco is a pretty chill place, chilly too. It's a place I could consider living but I still think I like Boston better. I would definitely like to revisit though.

The job is... okay. It's rough goings since I really don't know how to do anything. Today was Day 7 and I feel like I've become more useless than I was Day 1. Is that even possible? I don't even know why I'm not catching on faster. I almost feel like I'm over thinking the whole job.

Here's a rundown of what I'm suppose to be doing.
- Bring patient into room
- Pull up chart
- Start the chart with the reason for the visit and preliminary questions about the issue.
And here's the first problem. Abbreviations. I have to go through the person's chart from the following visit to see what they did the last time they were here. But if I read some abbreviation that I don't know for a diagnosis, then how am I suppose to ask followup questions.

Unfortunately it's not as easy as just asking the patient "What are you here for?" or "What did you do last time you were here?" because often there are a million different things that the patient was here. Cause in dermatology you must find as many little, insignificant problems that you can bill for.

On top of the abbreviations, there's the handwriting. If the office is going to have computers in every room, than why can't we just type all the notes in? I feel like that makes a lot more sense than printing out a new follow-up sheet every time, and then having to scan it into the system. The only draw back I see to doing this is that you wouldn't be able to draw on the nice little figure of people. But hell I've only seen those diagrams used once as is. But really, the doctor especially makes zero attempt at having legible handwriting. Not fair.

So after the preliminary stuff is written on the chart I then have to transcribe whatever it is the PA or physician says/does to the patient. This is where I'm finding the hardest time. I don't know if it's that I'm thinking about other things, or if I'm just retarded, but I never seem to pick up on what I'm suppose to write down. Or even when they specifically tell me what to write down a fall behind because I have to think to long about how to spell and medication of something, and I need them to then repeat it. Very frustrating.

The last major part of this job is getting treatments ready for the physician or PA. Am I like a moron or something for not knowing how to prepare an injection? Is this some kind of skill that I missed out on learning? I feel like everyone assumes I know how to change the needle on a syringe, or know what the name is for every tool. The answer is no I don't. And the only time I ever get any practice at it is when we're seeing patients and time is not to be wasted. So I end up looking like an idiot when I'm fumbling around to just get a freaking cortisone injection ready. UGH! God help me if they ever have me start doing injections.

This is not a difficult job. I really feel like I should be able to catch on to this faster. ROAR! And it's not like my co-workers aren't trying to teach me. They are, but I feel like it's my fault that I don't know how to do what they're telling me. They try to be supportive, but I don't accept praise well. I'm very self-deprecating.

At my interview I asked how long it generally takes for someone to get the hang of working in the office. I think they told me it generally takes 3 months to begin to get situated. I totally underestimated this learning curve. I really want to be useful and it's annoying me how freshmanic I am.

Employment

I accepted a job offer today. That's fairly exciting. It's a Medical Assistant position at a Dermatology practice, where they're very focused on teaching the assistants. w00t! It was pretty quick too. I applied through Craig's List some time last week. Got an interview scheduled on Tuesday, interviewed today, got an offer 2 hours later. Pretty sweet. An hour after that I found out that I didn't get a job at the local hospital. It's cool though cause I was going to withdraw my application from there today anyway. Sitting in a room with one other person all night watching a computer monitor probably wouldn't offer the same teaching experience. Granted, it did offer twice the pay...

This all went totally according to plan. I wanted to have a job lined up at the end of the summer, and start right after my trip to California, and that's exactly how it worked out. My new philosophy of throwing everything against the wall until something sticks is proving quite effective.

Two of my friends are really pissed with me because my job search lasted all of 17 days, and I applied to a total of 6 jobs. They've applied to many more than that. I've got nothing in terms of comforting them.

Update: Cablevision/Verizon

Today my grandma started making phone calls cause now she wants to switch our phone to Verizon. This would then complete the circle of bringing us back to EXACTLY from where we started.

I took charge this time and said, "No, I'm going to solve this problem without us switching again." So today I will be registering her pre-paid international call account. I WILL NOT SCHEDULE ANOTHER INSTALLATION FOR THIS HOUSE!!! ROOOOOOARRRRR

ps - Match.com and I made up.