It's a Wonderful Life

The first week of my new job has been amazing! I never thought I'd hear myself saying this, but I love my job! Since there is so much to learn about working in a doctor's office they are training me on one thing at a time and giving me several days to catch on before they show me anything else. So all this week I've been working in the intake room. The first two days I was being trained by a co-worker, and the next two they gave me charge of the room by myself :-)



The intake room is where you call the patient back and get their vitals , talk to the parent/guardian about the reason for the visit, and answer any of their questions. If you feel it necessary you also order any flu or strep tests to be done in the lab. You also keep track of which rooms are empty and show the patients to their room to wait for the doctor.



The best part of working in the intake room is that you get one-on-one contact with all the patients......get to hold the 2 days old babies and everything :-)



The hardest part, however, is when you get a patient form and realize that you can't pronounce the name! Or, like what happened yesterday, you get a name like Geronimo and feel like if you go to the waiting room and yell 'Geronimo'! everybody is going to get up and run away :-) Or you get sister's named Ackinzie and Danae and accidentally call for McKenzie and Renae! Oh well.



I had to stay home sick today. My co-workers told me that I would most likely get sick within the first two weeks of working there, and they were right. A little boy was afraid of my temporal thermometer on Tuesday so I bent down to his level so I wasn't so intimidating and he coughed right in my face.....they said eventually my immune system will be strong enough to deal with it.



I'm also learning to be a 'holder'.....which put simply, is someone who helps hold the child down while getting a shot.



I want to thank everyone who has been praying for me. If my first week there is evidence of how all my time working there will go, then I don't see why I won't be there for years :-)

The Finish Line

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race ---2 Timothy 4:7

All the tests have been completed, all the forms have been signed, all the class work has been completed. I thought it would take forever, but in what seems like the blink of an eye the summer is almost gone and all the classes are over.

Now, its time to get to work :-]

Clinicals....Almost done!

If you had told me on June 15th when classes started that this day would come so fast I probably would have just laughed, thinking 'yeah right' in my head. However, believe it or not, the past 2 months have flown by and there are now only two days of clinicals standing between me and my certificate! To be honest, I have a problem finishing a lot of stuff that I start, so the fact that the end is in my grasp amazes me....and my family :-)

There are several people who have really helped me in making through a summer full of classes, and I would like to thank them publicly.

• Dad: Making phone calls to the business office, calling me off sick when I caught a stomach bug from the nursing home, and those much appreciated extra tanks of gas are just a few of the things you did that made this summer less stressful for me.

• Mom: I would be in such a hurry to get to class in the morning that my room would always look like a tornado went through it when I left. However, every day when I came home my room would be in perfect order. I know we joked about the little elves that cleaned it up, but I want you to know how much such a simple act means! And most of all, thank you for my daily proverb. Every one of them hit a place in my heart...usually exactly what I needed to hear that day!

• Wray: I so appreciate your encouragement! You may not realize it, but your text messages to me every morning before class started put me in better spirits for the day. Just to know that you were thinking about me made me feel like a pretty special sister :-]

• Joel, Jaime, and Kids: Thank you so much for your prayers. You both reminded me that you were praying for me and were always interested in how my day at school had gone. Thanks for being there in thoughts and prayers!

Just a few more days! I can hardly believe it!

Clinicals....One Day Down....

The first day of clinicals was a success...meaning no harm came to the residents while my class was on the property :-] I worked on the 4th floor, which houses patients who are still mentally healthy but need some help with daily care. Over the next few weeks, I'll have the chance to work with rehab and Alzheimer's patients as well.

Mom snapped my picture as I was coming home from my first day of clinicals.

I'm not a doctor, but I'll take a look....... :-)