Poor, Pitiful Me...Not!

My last post came across as a great deal more pathetic than I intended and showcased me as a brainless nitwit, incapable of grasping and retaining new information, new tasks and new ways of doing things. That just isn't so and I feel the need to attempt to redeem myself...at least a little. In truth, I've got a pretty firm handle on the job that I was hired to do. My problems begin when I get back to the Out Patient Department and have to answer the phone (when the receptionist is away from her desk, neither of the nurses in the back--if they're not out and about-- pick up and then it falls on me). There is an underlying understanding which, clearly, I did not understand when I accepted this position that we are all expected to have at least a rudimentary understanding of the overall workings of the front office. Hmm, "the overall workings of the front office" is the key phrase and the cause for my distress and overall stress at work.

I work in a place that is a microcosm within the city it is located. There are 300 plus people living here, all over the age of 65 and their health issues and needs are many, as one would suspect. From the minute we switch our phones back to our office from the skilled nursing desk (which fields our calls from 4:30 pm to 8:00 am when we're closed), they never stop ringing straight up to 4:30 and past that if we don't immediately switch the line back to the main nursing station. It's exhausting! The lady who runs the reception desk is efficient, knowledgeable, kind, helpful and she has been working at this life-care community for the past 19 years. She started as a CNA in the skilled nursing section and has gradually progressed to where she is now. I believe she's been running the front desk for about five years, certainly more than long enough to know what's what about everything. Even more to her advantage is that she recognizes just about every resident who walks through the door and is well aware of their general health problems, who their doctor is, etc. This is exactly what one one expect from someone who has been seeing these folks off and on, day in and day out for so many years. Obviously when you stack her 19 years of experience in general with the entire workplace up against my mere almost five months' worth, I have a great deal of catching up to do.

I am much too hard on myself. I know a great deal more than I did even two months ago. It takes a long time to win over a group of people, gain their trust and begin to develop any kind of a relationship. It occurred to me recently that I'd made more headway than I realized when people began to recognize my voice on the phone and notice and even make mention of the fact that I was off for a day or two. These are very good things and encouraging, too. Throughout the past year, our supervisor (who hired me) has been working to put together a team of individuals who work well within the system and with each other. It's been a rocky period and I arrived smack dab in the middle of it. I think our outpatient clinic personnel has finally calmed down to being comprised of those who intend and are wanted to remain. We get along reasonably well among ourselves and, secretly, I'm thrilled I've made it this far.

It seems I should stop sweating the small stuff and just get through each day one at a time. Like so many quaint adages, this is easier said than done but, by God, I'm going to give it my best shot!