Snap back to reality...

So two days after officially finishing my rotations (WHAT??!?!) I started work. It's hardly an ideal job, but the timing is indeed ideal. And it's a lot more than I'd make serving drinks or rolling burritos at Chipotle--because oddly enough nobody else is going to hire a doctor that just finished his rotations but is promising (hopefully!) to leave the job in June to start his residency. So basically I answer phones from people callings in about insurance, gather their medical history, and send them on their merry way and thank them for choosing Big Frickin' Insurance Company.

Training has been...interesting. Almost the entire week we've been doing mock calls with each other to ensure we've learned the script and I have to say I'm a bit over it. I can't think of anymore weird conditions to keep it interesting. We have also been observing live calls, which is fine.

I have to say the most frustrating part of training has been some of my coworkers--I know, what a great time to be irritated with your colleagues from the start! We have to do exercises to improve our medical knowledge. A friend and I are in the same training class and we just look at each other and ask ourselves why, when we've finished medical school do we need to do a worksheet to remind us what lisinopril does. The person who scored "the highest" on the worksheet also took 35 minutes and google to answer the questions. Somehow I doubt live phone calls with allow that. But what I find the most frustrating is the lack of medical knowledge from seemingly "medical" people. Like why a nurse doesn't know that a dislocated shoulder and shoulder dystocia are the exact same thing in a newborn. Grumble grumble grumble. Or why some people seem incapable of listening. Or why one particular individual feels the need to voice his/her opinion about every single thing. Or asking about, "well what about this [insert obnoxiously far flung idea about a caller asking about something ridiculous like life on Mars].  Here's the thing: I expect medically miseducated, uneducated, and ill-informed people calling in. That's why I was hired...because I am medically educated (whoa...that sounds weird!). What I have found frustrating is the people that I'm supposed to work with, many of them don't have a frickin' clue.