I am so frustrated I can't even see straight (OK, with my reading glasses on, I can see the computer straight. But that's it). Trying to figure out what medical discipline to learn is going to be the death of me.
Last we heard, I was leaning toward switching from Ultrasound to Radiology. On Tuesday, I officially switched to Radiologic Technology at the school where I'm taking Anatomy & Physiology. That program has a three-year (or more) waiting list, and they take you first-come first-served, provided all your prerequisites are satisfied. Mine will be, once I take Medical Terminology, and I'm due to start that on Monday, through the online Michigan school. But some of the people in my A & P class have said that the college we're at is really picky about which other Terminology classes they'll accept as equivalent, so there's a chance they won't accept my online class.
But if I end up attending another school, like the online one, what does it matter? The online school will get me finished sooner (albeit more expensively).
So then I thought of another plan (they suggested this during our Intro to Health Occupations class, but I ignored them at the time): Become a Medical Assistant while I wait, get a job, and when it's my turn, start the Radiology program. I could even become a Medical Assistant, move to another state with a shorter waiting list, work in the new state for a year to establish residency, and then start the Radiology program. Think of the money I'd save, not having to pay Michigan all that out-of-state tuition.
Or maybe I should just pay it and be done ASAP, which would still be 3 years away. Oy!
So I went back to the internet and started searching some what-if scenarios. What Radiology programs are accredited in some of the states that might be affordable? Tons of them! But funny thing, the Radiology program at the Michigan school is NOT ACCREDITED by the gold-standard accreditation board. Their Ultrasound program is accredited (different accreditation board), but not Radiology.
This is not good.
One of the guys in Anatomy said he just switched to Respiratory Care, because he'd be able to start in the fall (no waiting list for that program, and it seems to pay about as well as Rad Techs with almost as much demand).
When we had our presentation on Respiratory Care in the Intro to Health Occupations class, I wasn't very interested for three reasons: (1) People with respiratory problems tend to retch up bodily fluids that are better left inside (Eeewww!); (2) It involves quite a bit of chemistry (you need to analyze blood gases), which has intimidated me for much of my life, though I couldn't say why; and (3) I really find the guy who runs the program annoying.
He's the guy who ran the Intro class, and throughout the entire class he had that obnoxious smile people get when they know something that you don't know and they darn well aren't about to tell you. To spend two years learning at the feet of a man who just won't stop with the aligator-smile, well, I'm not sure I'm up to it.
But I could start soon, and people say Respiratory Care is more rewarding because you keep the same patients for a long time, rather than having one broken leg after another coming in on an assembly-line basis. I don't know. I don't know anything anymore.
I sure miss my dad. If he were still alive, I'd have called him by now. He'd know what to say and how to ask me questions that would help me figure out a good course of action. Instead, I'm up way past my bedtime, spilling my guts all over a laptop and hoping that the spilling will miraculously put it all in the best order.
But it's not working yet. I'm still making endless circles.
I'm going to bed.
4 comments:
I should have my son talk with you Skye.
I heard most of this 2 years ago when he was fast tracking a career in the health care industry. He was certified as a STNA about a quarter the way through his LPN studies when he started working at the hospital where he worked in the cafeteria since he was 14.
After he passed his LPN boards they hired him as an LPN and paid his (our) tuition back. He also gets to take classes at Marymount for continuing his education and when he passes he again receives his tuition back. CCF (Cleveland Clinic Foundation) Marymount Hospital & their school of practical nursing ( both of which are affiliated with Trinity, where he attended high school) is the only place he's ever worked and they've been very good to him.
All these options, what a fantastic country!
I always feel like I should offer sage advice when this subject comes up on your blog... But I'm not a sage and I don't want to lead you where you'll end up unhappy!
But I'll offer this:
1) Every [EVERY] job in healthcare incorporates the "Eeewww" factor... and as a grown-up - your compassion and sense of responsibility kicks in - and you do the job.... And, you DO get used to it.
2) You don't seem to be terribly picky. And, I know your intellect and have witnessed a bit of your heart - and I know you would be good at anything you decided to be good at. And, for you, it would be a ministry.
3) The "technical" trials of most healthcare professions are strictly restricted to the "classroom." For instance, at our hospital - we in the lab do the blood gases.
I draw them - stick them in the B.G. instrument - report the results to the nurses station. No trouble, no stress.
I lost interest in medical technology about a year after I started this job. My job now is to comfort patients, do my job efficiently, and not make mistakes.
I'm sure this was an amazing amount of help.
Janice,
All these options, what a fantastic country!
Yes, it is. But sometimes all the choices make the choosing more difficult.
Chris,
Yes, I know there's an Eeewww factor in all health work. If everyone's insides stayed where they belonged, nobody would come to the hospital. Even a broken leg can be a compound break that's bleeding all over the x-ray table. I think I had just decided that certain body fluids were somehow worse than others.
No, I guess I'm not terribly picky. If my previous job had stayed the way it was the first couple years I worked there (not exciting, but not particularly stressful eiher), I probably wouldn't have left. It was the endlessness of the stress that finally got to me. I don't need a "perfect" job, just one I can do well and that pays the bills.
I've had occasion to handle medical emergencies a couple times (as a completely non-medical person), and I think I did well. When my son gashed his head on the first floor ceiling as he was bounding down the stairs and then turned to look at me with a river of blood running down the middle of his face, I stayed calm for his sake, as though it was no big deal at all (which it was--my son was BLEEDING!).
Sometimes, when I've thought about what I'll be doing (whatever that ends up being), I've remembered the best of the medical people who have helped me, as well as the worst. When I think about the patients I'll be seeing, I want to be one of the good ones. Not the labor nurse I had when I went to the hospital for the third time during labor with my son. She chewed me out and told me to come back when it REALLY hurt. I was in tears (and in pain). But then another nurse came in and told me not to worry about what the other one said and to keep coming back whenever I thought I needed to. I want to be that second one and be a replacement for the angry ones who have no business working around sick or hurting people.
For someone who's not a sage, you do just fine! Thanks for helping me "talk" it through. I still don't know what I'm going to do, but it doesn't seem like as big a problem right now.
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