Monthly Archives: March 2024

Pride in my Work

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I was driving home from my work in the ER the other night and a thought passed through my head, “You know, I’m damn good at my job.”

Now this may sound a bit conceited and perhaps it is, but I went with it. The truth is, it applies to by my IT work and my ER Tech work.

Now, let me be clear, I’m not saying I’m the best there is. I’m not even sure I would say I’m great, nor would I claim I’m the best ED Tech there is in our department. I’m not even sure there is a single “best” since our job responsibilities are so broad. But I am damn good.

I’ve talked about my IT work and how some of my code is still running years later without any real issues. It’s not world shattering code, I didn’t write the next LLM AI code (and I’m not even sure where I’d begin on that) but it does its job and is solid. So I’d say I was damn good at my IT work. I’m a published author (though last year apparently my book sold zero copies according to my most recent royalties statement) and have several online articles to my name. I’ve also spoken at numerous conferences. I’m proud of my work. Yeah, there’s better folks out there in many specific SQL areas, but I’m still proud of what I’ve done.

Similarly, with my ER work, I’m at the point where I think I’m pretty solid. There’s one skill I definitely am NOT solid on (blood draws for those curious) but other than that, I look back at where I started over 3000 hours ago and I’m proud of where I am.

There are several reasons I like to think I’m good at my job. One for example is that I’m often the “go to” person. More than once a nurse or even doctor has told a colleague, “oh, go ask Greg, he’ll probably know.” Often this is in relation to where particular equipment or materials is stocked, but sometimes it’s on a policy or procedure.

I also appreciate the fact that in terms of general skills I have received positive comments.

Lately I’ve also been doing a lot of precepting new techs, something I very much enjoy and I like to think I’m good at (and based on the comments from more than one, they seem to appreciate my teaching). I also received a HUGE compliment from one of my managers who praised me for how I teach and what I was teaching. One of my real joys in life is to be an effective teacher and to have that recognized really meant a lot to me.

And, as I am about to begin the second round of PA School applications, I’ve had more than one of the provider offer to write a letter of recommendation for me. This also means a lot to me.

Now that all said, as I stated at the top, I’m not great at my job. I think anyone who starts to claim that is probably wrong and should have a close eye kept on them. But I think I’m damn good and every day I strive to be a bit better than the previous day and to keep getting better.

So I’m good, but every day, a bit better. I hope.

Ending an Era, Starting Another

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First, a quick update on my PA school applications. Another school reached out to me yesterday to say “Thank you for applying, but no.” There’s a longer story there, but suffice to say, I’m now down to waiting to hear from one last school, which is a super longshot, so at this point, I’m basically considering my first round of PA school applications over. (Astute readers may recall I’m still waitlisted on one, but it’s doubtful, even if I move to “accepted” I’d attend there at this point.)

And I’m fine with that. It’s very hard to get into PA school on your first round from what I understand. But more so, now, it gives me some closure for the rest of the year. Several events I had been trying to plan, but were in limbo lest this most recent school accepted me, can now be finalized. So, the no, while a bit disappointing gives me some certainity.

Meanwhile, another step in the process been moving forward, and that’s ending my consulting status with my largest (by far) client. This has been a mutually agreed upon process and if anything, my work with them extended longer than I had originally hoped or expected.

It’s a bit bittersweet though. For one thing, the money is pretty good, and that makes a difference when making my plans for school and other projects. But honestly, I haven’t been able to dedicate as much time to the client as I’d like because of my ER schedule and how much time I’ve been dedicating there. Most of the time I’m now working overnights in the ER. This client has required my time for meetings and other events during the day. This has meant a few weeks where I’m definitely sleep deprived for multiple days in a row. So while I’ll be making less money, I’ll definitely be getting more sleep. I think that’s a good trade-off.

It’s been clear to me for awhile, that the move to medical is the right one. This is evident in my paychecks as much as anything else. I honestly make about 6-12x as much doing IT work (depending on scheduled work or overtime work) as I do for my ER Tech work. This means I can easily work 2 hours of IT and then go into the ER and work a 12 hour shift and make about the same at each. Obviously, in general most of us would rather work the 2 hours than the 12 hours for the same pay, but I 100% enjoy the ER work more.

So, at the end of this month, I’ll be removing a number of scheduled ongoing meetings from my calendar. I won’t be checking my work email account nearly as much. I’ll sleep in a bit more. I’ll evolve my non-work schedule around my night shifts. And I’m good with that.

When I started working in the ER over 15 months, and 3100 hours ago, I saw it as sort of a “necessary evil” to get my patient contact hours for PA school. I wouldn’t say I wasn’t looking forward to it, but I definitely did not expect to enjoy it quite as much as I did. Fortunately I have. It’s reinforced to me that medicine, in some capacity, is where I want to be.

So, one era, IT is closing, and the other, medical continues to open.