Life Doesn't Get in the Way

Whenever I have had someone not get something completed, such as a study assignment, an article with a deadline for a newsletter, or any task that might have a specific time frame, I don’t like to hear the job or goal was not accomplished because “life got in the way.”  Life does not get in my way—it is my way.  Of course, there are things in our lives that keep us very busy, oftentimes having more to do than it would seem there is time in the day.  When that happens, then you do have to prioritize, as there are always things that can be put on the back burner for a later time.  So I’m not going to use that excuse for my allowing more than a month go by without adding to my blog.  I love to write, but there are times when I don’t make it a priority, or I simply put it down towards the bottom of my “to do” list.  And, yes, I will also confess that a little bit of procrastination must also be added to the mix.  

So as I was discussing way back in March, I took a job with a small national MT service, and once the word got out I was hired, one of the largest companies, Medquist, decided to buy this small MTSO because they did not want to lose out on my skills!  Yeah, we know it did not really happen that way, but I did become an IC for Medquist literally before I transcribed one single line.  They would still be using the platform used by the smaller company, so I had to fly into Dayton, Ohio, to get some training, which was a great trip, because I was being trained by my good friend Sandy, and after that, we headed to Columbus to meet up with other MT friends, a picture of which still sits on my desk. 

They provided me with a computer because it was specific to their platform, which was WordPerfect DOS, if you can believe that.   They kept saying they would be changing that over, but it never happened while I was there.  I still had my small service, so there I was working with 2 computers in my office—one for Medquist and one for my local clients. 

I will tell you if you think you can stay away from transcribing for any length of time and jump right back into it, more than likely that will not happen.  I had been transcribing chart notes, some operative reports, CT scans, things like that, over the last several years, but only in a few specialties.  It had been probably about 5 years since I had transcribed acute care dictation of discharge summaries, H&Ps, and so on.  They did take me off QA after the first week, because I did clearly show I had the skill set and good quality of content.  What slowed me down was the researching time, since I was hearing new medications, new terms, new voices, even new formats and account specifics.  I worked on 3 different accounts, and all 3 had different formatting rules.  It took me about 3 months to get up to speed, which was a surprise to me, but it did make me realize your skills can get rusty in short order. 

Students have told me over the years, at least once in a while, that they thought I was being too picky or even unfair when taking off points on a test for not following directions.  I am so happy that I had the experience of working for a large national company, because I learned firsthand about the importance of following details, even if I did not agree with them.  One account required only 1 space after a heading with a colon.  I was in the habit of using 2 spaces, in fact, would hit that space bar twice without giving it a thought.  I was told 3 times about that error, and on the third mention, my boss was not pleased with my refusal to follow that particular guideline.  I actually wrote a note and pinned it to my desk in big letters about that one space for that particular account so I would not forget.  I’m glad I went through that incident, because it definitely came in very handy to use that situation when dealing with a student who felt those types of details were nonsense.  Employers and/or clients can be picky to a point of being almost ridiculous, but it is not up to us to make those types of decisions unless we are given that option. 

I worked at the national level from July 1998 to January of 2000.  It was a good experience, and I feel it was a huge help when I found myself heading into a new area of my profession, that of teaching. Now that is something I never dreamed I would do or could do.  I had a good friend, in fact my best friend, who saw something in me I could not see.  Sometimes it is better to listen to someone else and not your own voice.  It can lead to amazing things, which I will get into next time.

So I will close by getting back a little bit to the life-getting-in-the-way business.  If you fail to meet a goal or deadline, even if it was just from good old procrastination, don’t make excuses.  Own it and learn from it.  It doesn’t mean it will never happen again, because it will.  We are human, after all, and it is very easy to let that list get jumbled up, but there is always time to put it back in the proper order and get things done.  Now that is always a good feeling!  As always, I thank you so much for reading.  Until next time, enjoy your day (and look over that list)!

In the Blink of an Eye

Well, first, Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  And second, sorry it has been so long since my last post.  A very long and uncomfortable cold (well, are colds ever comfortable?) and a bit of writer’s block has kept me away far too long.  I have found when you blog and build up several posts, you can forget what you already wrote about.  So from time to time, I need to review so I won’t bore you with repeat ramblings. 

If you are a regular reader, and I thank you for that, then you know back in September I made mention of how heart attacks thankfully don’t run in my family, but they do seem to creep up in my life from time to time.  We had settled into Idaho as our new home, and I had gotten pretty busy with my service as I noted in my post from November of last year.   Within 2 weeks of moving to Idaho, my service was up and running, and by the end of 1997, I was very busy with full-time work. 

Then in January of 1998, things changed literally in a split second with one phone call.  It was a Saturday morning, and Joe was going to go to the mall to try out as an extra for a movie that Bruce Willis was making in Twin Falls.  He never made it to the mall.  That phone call was his office informing us that one of the physician’s, the one who was Joe’s main referral source and the one who kept me the busiest in my service, had dropped dead of a heart attack.  He was skiing in Sun Valley.   He loved doing that so much that he also kept a condo up there so he could spend the weekends without having to drive back and forth.  It was about a 75 to 80-minute drive from Twin.  He also had plans to expand their practice up in that area as well.

As a side note, Sun Valley, Idaho, is one of the most beautiful places on earth, at least for me.  If I ever win the lottery (or maybe that progressive on that favorite slot machine of mine at my favorite local Vegas casino), I would build a log home in Sun and maybe never leave Idaho again.  Even just driving into town and seeing those mountains, it just sucks the stress right out of your body, and you feel like you don’t have a care in the world or that the world has any cares.  I’m not a skier, but you don’t have to be to feel the essence of those mountains deep down in your soul. 

At least Dr. M. died doing what he loved most, apart from being a physician.  He was at the top of the mountain and mentioned he was not feeling very well.  He skied to the bottom and said it again and fell to the ground.  His heart more or less imploded, and he was dead before he even got all the way down.  The ironic thing was that it was his first heart attack, and previous to that, there was no heart damage.  Even more ironic—he had a doctor’s appointment that following Monday for a checkup, and more than likely they would have found the blockages, fixed him up, and he would have been good as new.  Timing…

So overnight I lost one of my busiest accounts.  I did have some of his dictation to finish up, which was needless to say very difficult to do knowing he was no longer with us.  He always finished each chart note or letter with “end of dictation.”  So those were the last words I ever heard from him.  

One thing I always drive home to my students is to always keep your skills up, especially if you are working in only 1 or 2 specialties or even if working for a national company.  Things can happen at a moment’s notice.  Maybe not something quite as drastic as a death, but companies get sold, doctors retire, or new technology comes in to eliminate the need for your services.   Keep up with your skills and with networking, and if you lose a job suddenly, it should not take you that long to replace what you lost.  In the summer of ’98, a friend told me the national service where she worked was needing MTs.  I had picked up a little more work on my own since the death of that physician, but I definitely had time to do more. I had never worked for a national service, so I thought it would be a good experience. 

Even though it was a smaller company, it was a national service, so I decided to go for it.  I especially liked the fact it was a smaller company, since the atmosphere with smaller services can feel a bit more family-like rather than getting lost among thousands of employees.  I got the job, and the day I was notified I was hired, that very day, I got some news about the company that definitely took me by surprise.  You probably can figure it out, but I’ll keep that story for next time.  I will tell you that as I have written this blog, it really has made me aware that my career has been pretty remarkable.  I have had some wild experiences, but every single one of them has led me to something new, challenging, and rarely boring.  So until next time, enjoy your day, and if it’s cold where you are (sorry, but it is 77 here in Vegas today), just remember that spring is only a few weeks around the corner!  Take care.