Second hand jobs

So, as promised, I will spend this post looking forward and not back. Although I did neglect to mention one especially important nugget of gossip/insider information about my current digs. Upon telling my functional supervisor/fellow triage nurse about my plans of imminent departure, she both congratulated me, wished me well, and said in no uncertain terms that she would be following shortly thereafter! Which will mean that the only RN remaining, until they replace me that is, will have exactly 2 months experience. I can only imagine what a flippin nightmare it would have been to hear my supervisor's news and then have to continue working there.

The new job is, well, somewhat like my old job..........only different. They have undergone a radical transformation in the IV dept over the past couple months. They had an outside group come in (much like the Bobs above from Office Space) and evaluate and make recommendations. A lot of meetings, consultations, and general realignment was discussed which ultimately led to EVERYONE in the department having to reapply for their positions and then go through a 4 question, 15 minute, interview in front of a panel that included two managers from the department and two people who were outside of it and could, presumably, be unbiased. They all scored the answers on the 4 questions and then totaled those scores and used that along with some multiplication of absentee rate and ranked everyone top to bottom. But, that is when it gets a little, well, iffy.

So, lets say that Position A has two openings and Position B has two openings and 4 people are applying, lets call them 1,2,3,4. People 1,2,3 all apply unknown to one another for Position A and Person 4 applies for position B. They do the interview and factor absentee rate and rank them exactly as they are numbered. So, in this scenario Position A is filled by people 1 and 2. Position B is filled with Person 4 and, presumably, person 3 would be offered the 2nd opening in Position B, right? Wrong. The way it actually worked was that Person 3 would get no job at all. The remaining position would be opened up to anyone who applied and didn't get their preferred position.

The process allowed for a couple things to happen, likely both intended. One, use collected data to make staffing changes based on actual usage and not on the desires of other departments to have people constantly at the ready just in case. And two, weed out some staff whom either were generally not reliable/effective or they just didn't want around anymore without needing to go through the often lengthy and complicated process of firing someone.

As for me, I did not apply to the initial wave of offerings as I did not wish to, in any way, take someone's job. I had/have a job and they would ostensibly no longer. I may lack huge reserves of empathy, but I have enough not to be a total asshole. Plus, these were people I at least peripherally knew, if not knew well. However, once the first wave of interviews were done and positions were granted, there were actually some jobs still available. At the time, I did not understand the process. I honestly did not even know that they were effectively downsizing, thinking they were more or less reassigning roles. I clearly did not read the fine print (or between the lines), and I applied.

The jobs were posted late Wednesday, I spoke to my old manager that evening and applied the following morning. I was interviewed by her and another gentleman, who was not part of our department but did the other interviews, that afternoon. I was offered the job that evening. Accepted Friday morning and turned in my notice late that same afternoon. I found out that same day that one of my closest friends in the department did not fare so well, despite 7+ years in the department. She was rejected from a total of 4 positions she applied for (2 in the first wave and 2 in the second), though none were thankfully the one I accepted. I do not know the fate as yet of many of my former MP co-workers. I certainly hope they found something.

The specifics on the new job are not much different than what I did before, and wildly different. I will be the EM clinic. Just me. I will have help if I need it and someone will cover my breaks, but otherwise it will be just me and the patients. It is M-F and the hours are very similar to the ones I work currently, though I will now be a 40hr/wk employee. I will also get inpatient pay again, which is about a 10% pay bump. Strictly financially, it should be about about $9K annually (before taxes of course). But, honestly, I would have taken the job for the same pay I have now or even somewhat less.

The hope is that this works out. I will have the opportunity to do the kind of patient focused clinic care I love, though I will be going it solo which is a little bit nerve-wracking on a few levels. I will be able to keep up IV skills and do some PICC work as well on the floor should things quiet down in the clinic for stretches. I will be, in many respects, my own boss provided I don't rock the ship too abruptly. But, perhaps as importantly, I will not be sitting on the phone 95% of my work day. That alone is cause of some minor celebration!

Time for some gym work. Got another, albeit shortened, week staring me dead in the face. However much I am not looking forward to it, there is a lot less dread when you know the end is nigh. No matter how tough a day is, you can check it off the the calendar as one less you have to go through instead of just one less day until the weekend. Let the countdown begin!