I have survived my first week of work.
I always forget how tiring work is. It's frustrating to be out of work but it's tiring to be at work. It's doubly tiring to try to look busy at work.
Now don't mistake me. I am glad I'm back at work. I'm glad to be working where I am but at the moment, there isn't a lot for me to be actively working on. Until I get credentialed (a process that is slightly different in each place but basically verifies that I know my stuff well enough and can present it well enough that both Epic, the owners of the software, and my current hospital system both feel that I will be a good representative for them) there isn't much to do. This time is usually used to learn curriculum, training methods, specifics for a specific facility. I don't mean to brag because that usually gives the universe an opportunity to make you look the fool, but I'm a great trainer. I don't have to learn training methods. The material here is about 95% the same as the last place I was a trainer and there isn't much (so far) that is special for here.
That leaves me with forty hours to fill and little to fill it. There are a requisite number of hours listening to practice teachings by other trainers, or train the trainer classes on things like learning styles or training expectations. We use YouTube videos to bring people back from break so I spent a couple hours today building a YouTube library (suggestions welcome for funny PG rated under five minute videos!).
To make matters worse, it's been even harder to be at work this week because the weather has been amazing! The last couple of weeks, when I was off work, were gray, rainy and generally crappy. I started work on Monday and it was in the 60's and sunny and lovely. It's been that way all week, into the 70's. This weekend it's supposed to be 57 and rainy. That's proof that God created man (if that's what you believe) just to entertain himself and have a laugh.
Working with my contracting company (they hire and pay me to work at the healthcare facility but I still have to interview with the facility) was tough this go around too. It took all week to finally get the everything they needed and vice versa. I had to request timesheet submission information no less than four times. I sent them back their start up packet and apparently missed a couple signatures. I actually think two of the forms had been left out of the first packet but whatever.
I'm once again a working stif which does mean that weekends are significant again. With that, I'm off to daydream about making the most of my measly two days sans work.
Showing posts with label EMR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EMR. Show all posts
Friday, April 26, 2013
Monday, April 22, 2013
Apparently I don't suck at life
Or I just suck in temporary spurts.
I'm posting writing this on Sunday and posting it late on Monday because
DUM DA DUMMMMMMMM
I'm at work at the time I would usually be posting this. The interesting thing about working as a contractor in the field I do (Electronic Medical Records Trainer) is that the work comes and goes. I know someone who has been consistently employed over the last twelve months at three different positions. I know a couple women who I worked with one one project, had each worked on one since and and are each currently employed on a third, with periods of worklessness in between. I seemed to have the least luck with work. From October until March I worked an average of two weeks each month, though not evenly distributed. It sounds great, only working about half the time, but that also means less income and a lot less consistent income.
These projects tend to have high levels of chaos, miscommunication, confusion, and flexible timelines. As a contractor one must get accustomed to this very quickly. In the last three months, the three biggest projects I was put in for all had major changes to their timelines which changed the staffing needs and urgency. I was submitted as a candidate by two different firms (for different projects) and more than once for each project. Again and again I was told their needs had changed, they were postponing the projects, yadda, yadda. I wrote before that interviewing is like dating and again it proves to be. There was lots of hope and prepping for a company that just wasn't ready and it all turned out to be for naught. Then I got a call on Friday for a phone interview. wait, wait, wait then rush!
I'd reckon that a part of the reason I got the job is not only that I have applicable experience but that I am a local candidate and can start Monday. I am not going to assume that's the only reason. I am going to make the most of the opportunity and show them what a great trainer I am. I've been told the job could go through the end of the year. I want to be on the team that are there until the end. More information but probably a little less first while I adjust to being (happily) employed again!
* Note added Monday evening - First day went very smoothly, I even knew one of the other trainers from a previous project. It was unfortunate that it was a sunny beautiful day and I was in a room without so much as a window. It was doubly unfortunate that either I'm getting a head cold OR allergy season started like a piano landing on my head. D'oh!
I'm posting writing this on Sunday and posting it late on Monday because
DUM DA DUMMMMMMMM
I'm at work at the time I would usually be posting this. The interesting thing about working as a contractor in the field I do (Electronic Medical Records Trainer) is that the work comes and goes. I know someone who has been consistently employed over the last twelve months at three different positions. I know a couple women who I worked with one one project, had each worked on one since and and are each currently employed on a third, with periods of worklessness in between. I seemed to have the least luck with work. From October until March I worked an average of two weeks each month, though not evenly distributed. It sounds great, only working about half the time, but that also means less income and a lot less consistent income.
These projects tend to have high levels of chaos, miscommunication, confusion, and flexible timelines. As a contractor one must get accustomed to this very quickly. In the last three months, the three biggest projects I was put in for all had major changes to their timelines which changed the staffing needs and urgency. I was submitted as a candidate by two different firms (for different projects) and more than once for each project. Again and again I was told their needs had changed, they were postponing the projects, yadda, yadda. I wrote before that interviewing is like dating and again it proves to be. There was lots of hope and prepping for a company that just wasn't ready and it all turned out to be for naught. Then I got a call on Friday for a phone interview. wait, wait, wait then rush!
I'd reckon that a part of the reason I got the job is not only that I have applicable experience but that I am a local candidate and can start Monday. I am not going to assume that's the only reason. I am going to make the most of the opportunity and show them what a great trainer I am. I've been told the job could go through the end of the year. I want to be on the team that are there until the end. More information but probably a little less first while I adjust to being (happily) employed again!
* Note added Monday evening - First day went very smoothly, I even knew one of the other trainers from a previous project. It was unfortunate that it was a sunny beautiful day and I was in a room without so much as a window. It was doubly unfortunate that either I'm getting a head cold OR allergy season started like a piano landing on my head. D'oh!
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
How would I know if . . .
I suck at life? I can't be the only one who has wondered if I simply suck at life. Before you start wondering just how bipolar I am because yesterday's post was good news, this isn't out of the blue. Shockingly, I do keep the vast majority of my life to myself. I blog about selected topics but I don't tweet or instagram or vomit the details of my life on to multiple social media outlets.
It's been a rough stretch lately in every realm other than dating, which is quite the reversal. After moving back to the US, I got into the world of Electronic Medical Records as a trainer. I enjoy the work, it's interesting and profitable. The problem is that it's contract work and it is as fleeting as sunshine in Seattle in April. I worked about seven and a half months total in 2012 (granted I didn't move back until March. So far in 2013 I've worked about six weeks, which sounds great. When you're working, the prospect of time off to travel or complete tasks around the house is like heaven. The problem is when you're not working, there's no money for travel, or groceries. What people really want is time off work with unlimited resources. I've got a couple leads, but that's been the case since early March. Still nothin'.
When I moved back, I had to get a car. "Lucky" for me, my sister had a car that she used for about a whopping thousand miles a year. Since it was mostly just taking up one of the precious parking spaces on Capitol Hill, she gave/lent/sold it to me. A 1995 Nissan Maxima. I just rolled the odometer over to 150,000 miles yesterday. The engine was replaced at about 140,000 but the rest of the car wasn't. Since I inherited it, I had to recharge the AC ($350), replace the started ($300), replace two taillights and a side mirror ($95), replace both bumper covers ($250), replace the tires ($400 plus the single replacement in Portland for another $50), get an alignment ($80) and switch from regular oil changes at $30 to high mileage oil changes at $45. This car is costing me more than a new car with payments would. Not to mention that it smells like burning oil and has started smoking if I drive is more than fifteen minutes. The catch about living on the West Coast is that it is exceedingly difficult to do so without a car unless you both live and work downtown (which I'd love but isn't likely).
Then there are the thousand little issues that make me think I might suck at life:
I was worried I'd drop my phone in the toilet if I kept it in my back pocket so I moved it to the pocket of my hoodie and only then dropped it in the toilet.
PMS and PostMS have hit like an avil on the coyote's head. I'm a roaring, irrational bitch who may have had an internal organ melt down for all I'm bleeding. Good luck to anyone who's trying to have a conversation with me, especially 25.
Either due to my "monthly friend" or other reasons, I've had either a stabbing stomachache or screaming headache pretty much every day for about the last three weeks. I don't know the cause but it's getting old.
I've been very consistently hitting the gym for the last six weeks. I've been a little better about what I'm eating but did have a wedding and two birthdays during that timespan. Yet I haven't dropped so much as a pound. I am, however, pounding my head against the wall.
A bottle of creme de cacao tipped over in the car and now it smells like tootsie rolls.
The dog chews up something on a weekly basis.
The cat has become a whiny bastard and doesn't seem to be happy with anything I do to appease him. I realize that sounds typical of most cats, but he's never been that way before.
I think I'm just going to stop the list now.
On a lighter note:
I have managed to turn the Room of Doom (former bedroom/craft room.office that was overtaken by crap and became a storage room) into a less doomy, more usable room.
I've planted spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, garlic, two types of basil, four fuscia hanging baskets, and three sunny flower planters.
I am still going to the gym.
I'm figuring out how to use a food dehydrator, cook things I usually buy and stretch every dollar in the kitchen.
I haven't run 25 off.
I haven't started drinking at ten am . . . yet.
Maybe I only suck at certain swaths of life, not all of it.
It's been a rough stretch lately in every realm other than dating, which is quite the reversal. After moving back to the US, I got into the world of Electronic Medical Records as a trainer. I enjoy the work, it's interesting and profitable. The problem is that it's contract work and it is as fleeting as sunshine in Seattle in April. I worked about seven and a half months total in 2012 (granted I didn't move back until March. So far in 2013 I've worked about six weeks, which sounds great. When you're working, the prospect of time off to travel or complete tasks around the house is like heaven. The problem is when you're not working, there's no money for travel, or groceries. What people really want is time off work with unlimited resources. I've got a couple leads, but that's been the case since early March. Still nothin'.
When I moved back, I had to get a car. "Lucky" for me, my sister had a car that she used for about a whopping thousand miles a year. Since it was mostly just taking up one of the precious parking spaces on Capitol Hill, she gave/lent/sold it to me. A 1995 Nissan Maxima. I just rolled the odometer over to 150,000 miles yesterday. The engine was replaced at about 140,000 but the rest of the car wasn't. Since I inherited it, I had to recharge the AC ($350), replace the started ($300), replace two taillights and a side mirror ($95), replace both bumper covers ($250), replace the tires ($400 plus the single replacement in Portland for another $50), get an alignment ($80) and switch from regular oil changes at $30 to high mileage oil changes at $45. This car is costing me more than a new car with payments would. Not to mention that it smells like burning oil and has started smoking if I drive is more than fifteen minutes. The catch about living on the West Coast is that it is exceedingly difficult to do so without a car unless you both live and work downtown (which I'd love but isn't likely).
Then there are the thousand little issues that make me think I might suck at life:
I was worried I'd drop my phone in the toilet if I kept it in my back pocket so I moved it to the pocket of my hoodie and only then dropped it in the toilet.
PMS and PostMS have hit like an avil on the coyote's head. I'm a roaring, irrational bitch who may have had an internal organ melt down for all I'm bleeding. Good luck to anyone who's trying to have a conversation with me, especially 25.
Either due to my "monthly friend" or other reasons, I've had either a stabbing stomachache or screaming headache pretty much every day for about the last three weeks. I don't know the cause but it's getting old.
I've been very consistently hitting the gym for the last six weeks. I've been a little better about what I'm eating but did have a wedding and two birthdays during that timespan. Yet I haven't dropped so much as a pound. I am, however, pounding my head against the wall.
A bottle of creme de cacao tipped over in the car and now it smells like tootsie rolls.
The dog chews up something on a weekly basis.
The cat has become a whiny bastard and doesn't seem to be happy with anything I do to appease him. I realize that sounds typical of most cats, but he's never been that way before.
I think I'm just going to stop the list now.
On a lighter note:
I have managed to turn the Room of Doom (former bedroom/craft room.office that was overtaken by crap and became a storage room) into a less doomy, more usable room.
I've planted spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, garlic, two types of basil, four fuscia hanging baskets, and three sunny flower planters.
I am still going to the gym.
I'm figuring out how to use a food dehydrator, cook things I usually buy and stretch every dollar in the kitchen.
I haven't run 25 off.
I haven't started drinking at ten am . . . yet.
Maybe I only suck at certain swaths of life, not all of it.
Monday, October 01, 2012
Work is Hard
well, long anyway.
I have joined the productive members of the back breaking workers of America as one gainfully employed tutor.
I'm back at the hospital I had a training gig at but now I'm a tutor. That means instead of training people how to use it, I get to try and pick up the pieces from their lousy trainer. When the computer system is turned on, there need to be lots of tutors, like me, around to answer questions and report problems to IT. If IT and the trainers did their job, then I don't have to work myself to a frazzle. If they didn't, then. . .well, just don't plan to get ER style sick any time soon.
The good news about this job: It will probablys (hopefully) lead to bigger and better things in a month. I don't want to jinx it so I'll say no more, but fingers crossed.
I get to see the project through. I was there as a trainer the first two go-lives. This is the last one and I get to experience it.
I'm in a different department, learning a different part of the system.
I get to see all the folks I knew before!
Right now I'm on a month trial where I can see how they run things and if I really want to move up. Because it's a trial I'm on an hourly rate which comes in with good and bad news. I'm working six days a week, twelve hour days. That's 72 hours a week or roughly 312 hours (with two training days) this month. Great money, but hell on my social life.
Consider that your FYI folks. With so many hours at work, there are less hours to be spent on the interwebs. The blog posts may be few and far between until November.
Today was day one and I was at the hospital for fourteen hours. On that note, I bid you good night.
I have joined the productive members of the back breaking workers of America as one gainfully employed tutor.
I'm back at the hospital I had a training gig at but now I'm a tutor. That means instead of training people how to use it, I get to try and pick up the pieces from their lousy trainer. When the computer system is turned on, there need to be lots of tutors, like me, around to answer questions and report problems to IT. If IT and the trainers did their job, then I don't have to work myself to a frazzle. If they didn't, then. . .well, just don't plan to get ER style sick any time soon.
The good news about this job: It will probablys (hopefully) lead to bigger and better things in a month. I don't want to jinx it so I'll say no more, but fingers crossed.
I get to see the project through. I was there as a trainer the first two go-lives. This is the last one and I get to experience it.
I'm in a different department, learning a different part of the system.
I get to see all the folks I knew before!
Right now I'm on a month trial where I can see how they run things and if I really want to move up. Because it's a trial I'm on an hourly rate which comes in with good and bad news. I'm working six days a week, twelve hour days. That's 72 hours a week or roughly 312 hours (with two training days) this month. Great money, but hell on my social life.
Consider that your FYI folks. With so many hours at work, there are less hours to be spent on the interwebs. The blog posts may be few and far between until November.
Today was day one and I was at the hospital for fourteen hours. On that note, I bid you good night.
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