Being a nurse and I have worked in a variety of positions. Right out of school I worked in a nursing home and then moved to the assisted living side. After about 6 months I took a job working for a medical device company. While there I would visit patients in their homes per their doctors orders. If they had an overnight oximetry performed and their oxygen dropped significantly while sleeping, I would come back and set them up on a CPAP or BiPap machine. We also got patients nebulizers and taught them how to use them. From there I went to work for a temporary agency. I did temporary work for several years. This was mainly in different physicians offices. I’ve worked in Same Day Surgery, Home Health, Peds, Pulmonology, Orthopedics, Urology, Geriatrics, Urgent Cares, an ER, and the list goes on.
In 2007 I responded to an ad in the newspaper for nurses to perform medical chart reviews. This was seasonal work, but I loved it. It’s what I’m doing now and it has changed significantly just since 2007.
When I first started auditing medical charts I had a large rolling case that I took from place to place, mainly offices and hospitals. In the case was a laptop, a scanner, and all the cords and things that went with them. Sometimes the office manager would have a separate room for me to set up and work in, which was very nice. Other times they would have to squeeze me in somewhere in the middle of their medical records department. They were notified ahead of time which charts to pull for me to review. Sometimes the charts were ready and other times they weren’t. The personalities differed quite a bit, too. Some people were extremely friendly because they wanted to get on my good side since I was reviewing their charts. Others were very rude and made it clear that they didn’t want me in their business. You really have to develop a thick skin no matter what area of nursing you work in.
So I would go through the charts one page at a time scanning and uploading what was needed and noting if it wasn’t there. As time went on and more offices transitioned to EMRs (electronic medical records) I would continue going to the offices, but I would have a flash drive that I saved the charts to and uploaded them electronically. It was always a time consuming process to get access to these systems.
But, now, this transfer of charts is done automatically between the offices and the company that I work for. So I am able to work from home, in my pjs if I like, reviewing these charts on the secure laptop & extra monitor provided by my company. Who knows how it will change in the future?
Like I said earlier, the majority of this work is seasonal. I have been on this project since October and it is expected to end in early May. So I will be free for the summer unless I decide to pick up some temporary work. Right now, I’m hoping for some hiking & travel time. 😁
What do you do for a living? Has it changed over the years? I’d love to hear about it. Thanks for reading!
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