I've been steady truckin' along. Only time can give me the exposure to more cases (the repetition needed) which is what I've been doing. I am officially off Shadow Call as of now (today, actually). I will shrug my shoulders and say I am solid with a STEMI. I shrug because it doesn't matter who it is, there will always be a chance of the case turning into a shit show. Most of the time, it is literally all based on the patients initial condition. Some of them are having a massive heart attack (like 100% blockage of main vessel) and they are oddly stable, allowing us to work easier. Sometimes, the patient is completely tanking and we have to break scrub to do manual compression. Either way, I am competent at doing whatever the next step is.
I am fairly competent at Interventional. This is universal, covering everything from a liver or spleen laceration, to a J-Tube insertion, IVC Filter placement (yadda, yadda...) because it's just a scaled down version of a heart procedure. The Interventional Radiologists are all super independent... sometimes making me question why I'm even trying to help. Honestly, the hardest part is knowing which wire/cath combo a doc will want (because they all have their own preferences) but even then, the monitor will have to fetch it for me since I'm in the sterile field.
Where I am not strong, is neuro. Not gonna lie, it's kinda freakalicious at the absolute absence of available Stroke Protocols we've had. I have gotten -zero- reps in on a Stroke. I was able to shadow a couple back when I first transferred departments (when I was in my "hearts" training), but they pretty much ceased to exist since then. The work around for this (since graduating off Shadow Call) is to take call as normal, and should it happen to be a Stroke, I will simply call my Preceptor or Manager to come in for it also.
In other Work Related news...
... much to everyone's true surprise, there was another "Market Balance" that happened in January. There were not-so-subtle whispers since back in, like.. October (I believe). Everyone rolled their eyes, saying it was just a rumor - that hospitals always pulled this shit about "a raise is right around the corner!" and then forgetting to follow through on it. However, I started getting more on board when I heard whispers from other departments that were also saying it was supposed to happen in January. I felt there had to be a grain of truth to it if they were hearing the same type of raise, plus the same time frame. As time went on, more little bits of info would somehow sneak out.
In the last Market Balance, I ended up getting a 20% raise. Which was huge. Like, significant and life-changing. But wait! The eye-opener was just how underpaid and exploited I had been up until that point. The last Market Balance was for our hospital to get all its employees on a comparable pay scale with our local market (trying to keep us from leaving them to go to the higher-paying hospital across town).
In the latest Market Balance, I managed to get a 9% raise. Honestly, the only credit I can give myself is being a victim of amazing timing. Aside from being a hard worker and earning the rights to move into this new department over the last year, I did not otherwise "earn" the raise in the true sense of the meaning. This time, now that we were competitive locally, they wanted to make us competitive on a regional level. Now, our hospital is (supposedly) comparable in pay with other similar metro areas (to keep people from picking up and moving to the next city over).
S H E N A N I G A N S ?Being one of the newest members of the department, my wheels began spinning, wondering if I was low-balled upon entry and would now be hoisted to the "competitive" range because this was no longer a "managerial" type decision. Ultimately, my suspicions were correct. Apparently, they took into account "overall" experience in the field (and/or tenure) and by the grace of God, I fell into the right crosshairs to land the 9%. I mean, it's a significant raise for me... and its an interesting situation because I realize that this is not a "normal" raise scenario (fact: I'm a firm believer in seniority & have a natural expectation for my instructor to make more than me)... but I was bumped up to making +/- $1.00 of what my Preceptor makes. Naturally, she's livid (not at me; she knows my thoughts on a fair salary scale in relation to seniority; knows this was not my doing). She's definitely a powerhouse when it comes to fighting for her salary (unlike me, who is dismally introverted).
NOW... having said all that, I realize that unless they try to come through and do one last Market Balance to make our now-regionally-competitive hospital comparable on a National level (hey, never say never) my days of huge raise increases are over. Am I okay with that? Yes, because I've been catapulted into six figure income. All because of a little hard work, a lot of luck, and some really good timing.