New Beginnings

All that I know of tomorrow is that Providence will rise before the sun

-Jean Baptiste Lacordaire

(I am the most dreadful blogger.  If I leave too much time between posts, I get overwhelmed with all of the things I want to write about, and then I go into overload paralysis.  This is my attempt to break free.. again...)

The last thing I wrote about was that things were looking up on the job front.  When I wrote that post, I had a few interviews in the works but hadn't heard back with an offer yet.  The day before, I had an interview for a trainer position with Providence Health & Services, and that Friday I got a verbal offer for the job!  It took more than a month to get everything settled, and I didn't want to talk about it because I didn't want to jinx it.  (I'm still a 4th grader at heart who believes in the power of jinxing things.)  But over the course of 5 weeks, I got the written offer, went through salary negotiations, completed a background check, a health and drug screening, and a bunch of nire hire paperwork.  And now that I've been working for 5 days, I think it's finally safe to talk about my new job! 

I'm the new Credentialed Trainer in Epic Administration (though I'm not credentialed yet...)  Providence switched to using Epic - an electronic medical records system - with the help of government stimulus funds, and I'm going to be teaching hospital staff - providers, surgeouns, OB's, therapists, and a few other support professionals - how to use the Inpatient application of Epic.  I'm really excited about the switch from K-12 Education to Healthcare and I'm happy that I still get to teach.

I even get an ID badge!  

I started this week with a full day at the Providence Office Park with the generic new employee orientation along with about 100 other new hires from all different departments and backgrounds.  It was an interesting day and I'm glad they start all new employees off with the orientation.  And it was really weird at the same time because I was treated really well.  I know this is probably standard with most businesses, but there was a breakfast buffet, free lunch at the cafe, snacks brought in during the afternoon sessions, and hearing about all the benefits and perks of being an employee just made me feel like Providence really values their staff.  I made some new friends at lunch - just like it was my first day of school - and talked to quite a few people who were returning to Providence after hating their other jobs.  People who'd worked at insurance companies, or even competing hospitals like Kaiser, and were tired of working in the corporate world.  So it was encouraging to hear the stories from people who'd left and came back because they think Providence is such a great place to be.  After my last work environment, this is a breath of fresh air and a relief that the people who work here are happy. 

For the rest of this week, I've been at Providence Milwaukie.  I'm not actually in the hospital, I'm working in a house right behind the hospital that Providence owns, and which they call a satelite office.  My days are a little bizzare for now, and will be for the next few weeks because I don't actually start my training until November 13th.  Intially I was going to start my Epic training on October 1st in Montana, but the hiring process took too long and they couldn't get me onboarded in time to start the program.  But they didn't want to loose me, so they got me started and I'm going to be doing random stuff until I start my training program.  I'm still a little mixed up on who's who and what's what.  I've met a few people working on the Epic project but some of them are private contractors from out of town only here for a few months, and some of them work for Providence but don't live in Portland.  I haven't met my supervisor yet, and I only met the project coordinator briefly on Tuesday because she lives in Renton.  I have a feeling that after my training program is complete, I'm going to be traveling a lot.  :-) 

My "office" aka the living room of an old house

The people that I have met so far have been great, and super helpful.  I don't have a lot of direction and I don't work with any supervisors in the building so there's no one around to tell me what to do.  I've just been trying to be helpful for others on their projects, and in the meanwhile, trying to learn Epic and some medical terminology on my own.  I'm meeting my supervisor and getting hooked up with a CT buddy on Monday so hopefully I'll have some more to write about in the coming weeks.  For now, even though I don't have a lot of direction, I'm really happy with my new position and am looking forward to learning new things and becoming an expert in my field. 

Congratulatory flowers and wine from Bryann  :-)