Very productive day today. Partly luck of the draw, as I got files that had very clear decision pathways: this one must go to physician, this one needs a claimant call, this one needs to go back to the analyst for information they want me to review but has not arrived. Watch those file sail out of The Sauna (my name for the cubicle in which I sweat out my work week)!
But the other part was me: I was fairly certain I was making good decisions. That has come from analyzing the process of how to most efficiently handle the problems that pop up with this job, and that meant taking a lot of notes, then looking for common themes. Just like in any nursing specialty, I needed enough cases under my belt to start that journey from from novice to expert.
One of the reasons I hated the idea of taking this job was having to be a noob all over again after years of being the experienced professional. It’s hard to start over again, particularly when you’ve been slogging in the same trench for almost 3 decades. Like a lot of things, surviving a career change has lot to do with hanging on by your fingernails until the ride smooths out. Continue reading →
So, I got a job.
Not a job like I thought I would have. No brave new world of healthcare IT, no remodeling of the medical information infrastructure. Instead, I have turned into a consultant, of a sort.
It turns out that there are insurance companies that use nurses in an advisory capacity, translating medicalese into legalese so that contracts can be administered and claims paid (or not). My wife, She Who Must Be Obeyed, started working at The Company about a year before I finished the Medical IT survey course up at OHSU. She thought it would be a great match and that my critical care nursing experience and knowledge base would be a winner in the workplace.
Well, kinda.
Anyway, I have been there for about a year and a half now. It doesn’t feel as weird as it used to, seated in front of a computer monitor instead of a cardiac monitor. The folks I work with are nice (if a little straight laced, a positive quality in an insurance company that like to project a conservative, practical image) and the hours are fine (if you like being awake when that really bright shiny thing in the sky – Sun, yeah, that’s it – is out).
It’s been kind of a strange journey to suitville, and I miss the patient care. But I still do nursing of a sort, and the stories still come.
I’m back.
