Monday, April 21, 2014

Old Dog, New Tricks

So I posted awhile ago about wondering where I was going to be professionally in a few years... well change came sooner than I thought!
For various reasons I left Davis Hospital- while I adored the nurses and doctors that I worked with there- it was best for my and my family that I look elsewhere for work when my maternity leave came to an end.
I started looking in February, hoping to start hearing from employers right away. When that didn't happen I started to panic- What if no one hired me? Did I really want to go back to Davis? Would we live on the streets?! Of course we could live on Armando's salary- things would be very tight- but I was so anxious about it that my mind was running wild about the worst case scenario.
My cousin is a social worker and suggested applying at the hospice company she worked for- I didn't mind working hospice I am just too OCD to have to depend on other people to be really comfortable doing homecare. You have to schedule your day around someone else. Since the patients are home they are much more non-compliant and you are on their turf- literally: you have to be in their house, which is not always clean, happy or safe- no thanks. It was excellent paying but not for me so I was ecstatic when I got an interview with McKay-Dee's surgical center.
When I started applying for jobs I had resigned myself to working on some Med/Surg floor somewhere, probably graves and working all the holidays because I would have the least seniority wherever I went. If I were to land this job at the Surgical center it would be similar hours of what I was working before the baby came: no holidays, no weekends and no late nights.
During the interview they asked if I had any questions- Since it was an OR position, somewhere I had never worked before, I asked "How long do you train?" She looked me straight in the eye and said, "One week."
F@#K, I thought- Maybe if I take really good notes and write everything down.... I guess I could always get an OR Nursing book and reference...
While I was making a gameplan in my head, I hadn't noticed that she had started smiling and was laughing in my face- "We train for 12 weeks"
THANK, GOD.
The rest of the interview went great and we talked more about me being a new mom and what was different from Davis than the actual job.
I was so happy to hear from HR a week later offering me the position- a small raise, three days a week and a load off of my shoulders.
So far it has been great, I'm learning so much and it's awesome to work for a company that believes in taking care of it's employees. Lunch is catered every day for us- so even if we are very busy we all get a chance to eat. Extra staff is always scheduled so breaks and lunches are guaranteed for everyone and you don't have to stay after your day is done to pull cases for the next day. They have a cut-off time in their OR so that Dr's can't keep scheduling cases and therefore keeping staff way after normal hours. I'm really excited for where it will lead me.

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