New Perspectives

After going live and working on the floor for a number of weeks my view on my work environment and internship has changed dramatically. Initially I was very afraid that I would not be able to keep up with my duties and not be very good at my job. I believed that my lack of medical knowledge would prevent me from helping any of the providers and nurses with their technical issues. However, as time went on I learned that I was actually quite good at my job. My coworkers and customers consistently compliment me on how helpful as well as how polite, friendly, and approachable I am. I have learned that to be successful at my job it is not necessarily important to know exactly what the providers are talking about, but instead to have a general understanding of where a clinician should look to possibly find what they are looking for.

Another aspect of my job that I view differently is the attitude of the people I work with. During the first couple weeks a lot of people were very frustrated with the system and I felt that even in the future they would still be complaining. However, in the past couple weeks people have not only learned to accept the system, but to embrace it as well. Many nurses and providers who cursed the system during the first two weeks now voice that MiChart has made certain aspects of their job easier, such as finding past information on a patient or documenting critical events that occurred while the patient is in the hospital. The past few weeks have made me realize that as long as people keep an open mind and remain patient periods of change may not be as rough as we think they will be.