When I entered nursing school, emergency medicine was my hearts destination. I wanted to end up in the ER, working traumas, having adrenaline highs on a regular basis. Well, as life would have it that just isn't how my life turned out for the long haul. Yes, I did some stints in the ER, but mostly ended up in the step-down unit with some rotations through ICU and ER, but more ICU. But that was okay, I loved every aspect of my job. For 15 years I walked the halls of the hospital and felt quite content, even though I wasn't at my first choice in my profession, I learned all I could where I was at and believed that 'one day' I would end up there. I had an EMT-Intermediate license, so I did get my hands in that pot now and then on the outside.
Then I had an offer. From the only doctor at the hospital that I had ever actually considered working for. He needed a nurse at his office, and he came to me. He asked, I accepted, and life changed. I had two small younguns at home, so it was a good change for me at the time. And again, I loved my job. I was older and wasn't so much in the need of all the adrenaline, so it was a good fit. I learned more as doctor offices present different medical situations, and expanded that resume' job abilities in ways I never expected. I got to assist with a lot of varied procedures.
Then, 10 years later came the 6 back surgeries, lots of time out of work, and it was time for yet another change.
After a short time home unemployed, I decided to take a medical transcription course. That would be something I could do from home, no pulling/tugging on patients, no bending over patients doing procedures and drawing labs. My last job wasn't that hard on my back, but it had it's days that challenged it. This would be something I could stop and lay down and rest my back if I needed to. So, the course done, and no job. It would take just short of another year before I landed my first, and as it turned out, my only transcription job. The plus was that the Family Nurse Practitioner that recommended me and worked there also made sure that they knew that I was a nurse. They ended up hiring me also to work a few days in triage. Yeah, not as exciting as it sounds. I worked this part of my employment for a year, and was one of the few jobs I've ever had that I was really not thrilled with. "Triage" turned out to be sitting in the office upstairs and answering the ever incessant phones! The only part of nursing I have always disdained. Calling test results, calling pharmacies, getting yelled at and cursed because for some reason the patient had the mistaken impression that their doctor was sitting in his office twiddling his thumbs Just Waiting for Them to call and see them immediately. Anyway, I ended up letting that part of the job go and sticking with the keyboard that didn't talk back. I worked another 3 years typing away happily at home. I learned a lot of the GI part of nursing, an area I had very little experience in before. And then, as so many things go these days, outsourcing struck. The doctors office that I worked for decided that it would be cheaper in the long run to go to using one of the online transcription companies, and I once again found myself out of a job.
I was out of a job, homeless for a span of 3 months as my marriage had finally breathed its final breath and I moved on, just before losing the job of course. But, looking back, it was a good thing. It worked out exactly as it should have, as I believe most things do.
I decided that after a few months of trying to find transcription work that I would get my nursing license back and see what I could do with that. An old friend of mine that I was friends with on Facebook saw that I was getting back into nursing, and suggested that I check into working for her, at a detention center. I was very curious, but open to anything. I had in the meantime gotten a job for Interim Healthcare and was being sent to 3 different facilities to work, only one of which I actually liked. But I considered it a job, not the career choice I was looking for. One of the places I did get to work was Schenck Job Corps. That one, I loved. If there had been an opening there for full time work I would have jumped on it. It was a field of nursing that was strange and new to me, but in an atmosphere I felt at home with. I learned more. The other two facilities paid my bills, and killed my back. I had to do something. So I remembered my friend's offer and pushed for more information. It wasn't up to her, but the company she worked for to hire me, so I started sending in messages, praying I would get chosen. Eventually, that is exactly what happened. One of the selling points I was told was my vast array of experiences. In the job I would be entering, it would definitely come in handy.
So the time came for me to begin a career again, and this time it was one I was very excited about, and once again found myself in love with my job. I worked at that initial facility, a 600-bed detention facility for 3 months. Then came another offer. To change detention facilities. The company that I work for is a contract company and has contracts for the medical departments of many jails, large and small. The offer of the new facility would put me with half the traveling distance to work, 20 minutes versus the 40 minutes that I had been traveling daily. It would take me off of 12-hr night shift to Monday-Friday 8:00-4:30. It would put me by myself as the one-woman show of the medical department over a 120-bed jail. I made the change, starting living in the daylight again, and found myself at home in jail. I have been here now a year and a half, and boy, the stories I could tell you ... haha
And so began THUGville ...
THUGville ~ Stories from behind the bars ...
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