My Grown-Up Job

So I know you've all been dying to hear all about what I do for my new job. Well, I'll tell you in this blog post and even put in some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

My job title is the Orthonavigator. It sounds cooler than it is. But anyway, what I do is take most of the new patient calls for the orthopedic surgeons and hand specialists, do a brief triage evaluation, as we call it, and place them with the appropriate doctors. It may seen like a glorified secretary job from the outside, but it really does take skill. See, not all surgeons see the same things. And not all injuries need to be seen as immediately as others. I actually have a list of which doctors see what injuries and what they won't see. Some doctors won't take patients who are not referred by a primary care physician, some won't take certain insurances. So I really do have an important job.

My day starts at 8 most days (7 on Mondays) and ends at 5 (Fridays at 4). When I get to work in the morning, I usually have some faxes that have come through from the emergency department that need to be scheduled with one of my doctors right away. I see all sorts of injuries on all sorts of people, and let me just say this right now: People, stop punching hard things and breaking your hand. It's really dumb.

Anywho, after organizing and calling my ED patients, I look at the orders that have come through on my computer system from the urgent cares since I've been sleeping. Sometimes I don't have any, sometimes [like Tuesday] I'll have 9. Holiday weekends are messy things around here.

So the rest of the day I am taking phone calls from doctor's offices, the call center, or the patients themselves and try to get everybody in to see the right doctor for their problem. Sometimes I have to diffuse situations that have come up between a doctor and a patient, or deal with a patient who is transferring from a different system of doctors. No day is ever the same around here, and I like that.

Once things get all ironed out here, I'll be helping out in rehab a little bit and doing some overflow massages. It'll be nice to set back into that side of the game. And there's a possibility that I'll be able to go out as an athletic trainer a couple of times a week once school starts back up again. I am WAY excited for that. I've missed it.

So that's what I do. It's nice to work for a medical facility. And not just because I get to wear scrubs to work. The benefits are pretty nice, too.

If you can't tell, I really like my grown-up job. And I really REALLY like my grown-up paycheck. =)

This is my office. Yeah, that's right. Office. With a door.

The view from my windows. Please ignore the reflection of my hand.

My totally sweet headset. Yep, I told you. I'm legit.