New Life

Hi all - it has been soon long since I have posted. Once you get into the working world you find you have a lot less time trying to find a way to stall doing studying while on the computer so that is the likely reason I am just getting around to finally posting a new entry.


So here is the long and the short of it - working in a hospital as an inpatient hospitalist PA was very rewarding. I learned a lot about myself and medicine and I learned about the urgency and medical management of many different diagnoses both chronic and acute.  To fill you in, my boyfriend graduated with his doctorate just about the time I started this job.  About 5 months in, after he had passed his licensing boards and such, he got offered an amazing opportunity about 2 1/2 hours away from where we were currently living. Based on his job market versus my very versatile and in demand job market  - I agreed the best course of action would be for him to take the job and I would find something new down in this area.
I was very lucky to get 3 interviews scheduled all in 1 day when I would be visiting the new area in hopes that I would find a position prior to moving down but with no expectations.  I interviewed at a spinal surgeons private practice, a hospitalist position in pediatrics, and also at an urgent care center. I was offered the job at the urgent care center the same day that I interviewed which was wonderful as it was also the job I was most interested in and excited about.
I have been living down in this area full time since August 2014 and have been working in urgent care medicine since that time and I have been loving every minute of it! I don't think I realized how exhausted I was with the day to day operations of a hospitalist position until I took this new job. No longer am I at home at night finishing up notes or logging onto the hospital's network from my home to follow up on labs or imaging studies that weren't back by the time I was leaving for the day. I find it a lot easier to separate work and personal life now that I am working at this outpatient urgent care center. I work 12 hours shifts 3-4 days a week which gives me a lot more time off to enjoy life - especially since my boyfriend also does 12 hours shifts so we have more days off together.
I didn't realize until I started my old job how much I missed doing the procedures and hands on stuff I did as a student until I started this job. I am so happy with sutures or an I&D (incision and drainage) comes into the office. Small procedures like this keep the energy up throughout the day as you never know what you are going to get.
Also at this center I am the solo practitioner for the day which is daunting but a good challenge at the same time. you learn a lot, not only practice wise but confidence wise by doing this. I have greatly enjoyed this new chapter of my life. My hope is to start back up with at least weekly updates again from now on - so stay tuned for the next post sometime in the next couple of days describing some interesting patients I have seen lately!