Health Care Articles
Medical Technologist
By KEN MOSIER
For What2Be
Who am I?
Name: Carrie Livesay
Title: Medical Technologist, Pathology Lab
Affiliation: Kettering Medical Center
Education: Associate degree, Kettering College of Medical Arts
Bachelor’s degree, University of Cincinnati
Quote: “I spend a lot of time at the microscope — which is my favorite thing to do,” she said.
What’s2Like:
►Something new every day
►Decent pay
►Teamwork and camaraderie.
►Many job opportunities
What’s Not 2 Like:
►Long periods of standing or sitting
►Possibility of shift work.
►Some holiday and weekend work
It was almost a foregone conclusion that Carrie Livesay would be working in a scientific field. “I have always loved science,” she said. “Actually I had a high school teacher that introduced me to the laboratory — biology and anatomy and physiology. I just became very, very interested and I stayed interested,” Livesay said. “My parents were really good about fueling that, too — I had my own little microscope and things like that when I was a kid.”
Upon graduation from Springboro High School, Livesay enrolled at the Kettering College of Medical Arts and graduated with an associate degree that made her a Medical Laboratory Technician.
Working in that field and raising a family, she finally had time to go back to school and, in 2008, she finished her bachelor’s degree in Clinical Laboratory Science at the University of Cincinnati. The advanced education gave her the new designation as a Medical Technologist.
She hopes to further her education even more.“You can get a master’s degree in such things as laboratory administration or in such things as molecular technology — that’s what I’m interested in. You can go even farther and get a PhD in microbiology or hematology or anything of that nature,” she explained.
In the Pathology Laboratory at Kettering Medical Center, she looks at blood cells most of the day which begins at 6 a.m. and ends, usually, at 2:30 p.m. “We get a lot of work early in the morning because that is when the phlebotomists have drawn all the patients’ (blood) up on the floor for the day.
“We actually look at what is called the peripheral blood smear — you see the percentage of cell types that they have. There are normal stages — or what you are supposed to have — so we are looking for anything abnormal, “ she continued. “We do a lot of that.”
She said most days, the activity slacks off as the day goes on…but not always. “You never know. Sometimes you can get really busy throughout the day and, at other times, it might taper off a little bit in the afternoon.
“I spend a lot of time at a microscope — which is my favorite thing to do, so that works out,” she said with a smile.
Livesay also gets a chance to share her love of science. “I teach at Wright State, too,” she said. “I teach both the basic hematology and the advanced hematology courses.” She credits KMC with allowing her to be flexible in her scheduling so she can teach.
For those who might be interested in doing such work in a laboratory, Livesay says she believes MTs are in a great demand. “I think the median age of the medical technologists is in the 50s so we will have a lot of people retiring and not too many coming in and fill those shoes,” she said. “I think that is just not local but I think it is pretty much nationwide.”
Projections in the Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov) bear that out. The Occupational Outlook Handbook rates employment prospects for medical technologists and medical laboratory technicians as excellent and anticipates a growth of 14 percent over the next 10 years.
MTs can find employment in other venues as well. “I actually worked for an oncology office for a while,” she said “That was a good learning opportunity.” She listed community blood centers, physician offices and clinics as well as independent laboratories as places that employ medical technologists and medical laboratory technicians.
Livesay urges students to study all the math and sciences available. “We do some calculations so good science and math backgrounds (are necessary),” she said.
“I have no regrets (on choosing this career),” she said. “I learn something new every day and, if you are a person who likes to know how things work, this is a good field for you.
“This is a very rewarding career. I have put a lot into it but have gotten a lot out of it in return. I get a good sense of satisfaction at the end of the day.”
Radiologic Sciences & Imaging
By KEN MOSIER
For What2Be
Who am I?
Name: Larry Beneke
Title: Program Director, Radiologic Sciences & Imaging
Affiliation: Kettering College of Medical Arts
Education: Bachelor’s Degree, Biology, Heidelberg College, Ohio
Associate Degree, Radiology, Fullerton Community College, California
Master’s Degree, Education, University of Dayton
Quote: “If someone has a liking for this kind of technology, medical imaging with data interpretation is really cool,” he said.
What’s2Like:
►Cutting edge technology.
►Helping patients.
►Decent pay.
►Wide variety of career paths.
►Good job opportunities (in many areas).
What’s Not 2 Like:
►Shift work is a possibility.
►Long periods of standing.
►As are all hospital workers, exposed to diseases.
►Trauma situations can be gut-wrenching.
If you’re the type who loves cutting-edge technology, likes caring for patients and are good in the math and science fields, Larry Beneke thinks you should consider a career in medical imaging.
“There are lots of career paths,” said the Professor and Program Director of Radiologic Sciences and Imaging at Kettering College of Medical Arts. “If they don’t like radiology (generally x-rays), they can do computed tomography (CT Scan) or (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) or mammography, management, education, research, dosimetry (figuring out how much radiation people are getting) — just lots of different career paths for medical imaging people.”
Beneke is a radiologic technologist and is a certified computed tomography technologist as well. He started out with a degree in biology from Heidelberg College in Tiffin, Ohio. Then he joined the Navy where he was made a medical corpsman. He served time doing a lot of radiological imaging in Rota, Spain, where he was stationed on board a submarine tender. Then he was transferred to the Fleet Marine Force in California (the Navy supplies medics for the Marine Corps) where he began a family and eventually was discharged.
“My desire was to be a physical therapist after I got out. I was living in California and the wait list at Long Beach Community College was so long and I had a family so I said, ‘I am going to do something else.’” Beneke enrolled in Fullerton Community College and got an associate degree in radiology. “My biology degree helped me with understanding human structure and pathology and all that. And then the hospital corps experiences certainly helped me with patient care so I had a huge leg up on the other radiographers that were in my training program,” he added.
Afterwards he took his master’s degree in educational administration from the University of Dayton.
Although it is currently possible to get certified as a medical imaging technician without a degree, Beneke said he expects that to change in the near future. “There is a two-year educational experience — either as a hospital-based program or a college-based program,” he explained. “College-based programs are pre-eminent now and the bulk of x-ray programs are based on an associate level in college. (In) hospital-based, there would be a diploma or a certificate of completion but they would have the same parameters of the radiologic sciences education as the college-based person — they just wouldn’t have the general education or other didactic courses.
“That is changing a little bit because even the hospital-based courses are being required to have some college if not a degree,” he added.
Medical imaging technicians and technologists are responsible for producing the medical images ordered by physicians. The images they produce would then go to a radiologist — an MD or DO — for interpretation. They also work directly with a doctor when making images of procedures such as a fluoroscope where a patient drinks barium or any time that a patient is injected with a contrast material.
“We are not nurses but we certainly have patient-care skills,” Beneke said. “Our patient care is in small bites. X-Ray technologists may see a given patient for five or 10 minutes and then they may never see them again, where a nurse takes care of patients for a longer period of time.”
A medical imaging technician is entry level. “There are primary medical imaging technologies: radiologic technology; nuclear medicine technology; radiation therapy; and also sonography,” Beneke explained. “Those are the primary fields that an entry level person could get into.
“From that primary level, there is advanced training in computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, mammography, angiography — the heart cath kinds of examination — and some others like PET (Positron Emission Tomography) that is more like nuclear medicine. But you have to have an entry-level, primary modality certificate before you can get to the advanced roles.”
More and more the requirement is for certified techs in whatever test is being done. “In the past, people had just gotten on-the-job training in one of those areas. Now because of the regulations and insurance reimbursement, more and more requirements are being placed to become certified in the advanced modalities.
“That’s not 100 percent yet but the industry is going that way,” he concluded.
Beneke said hospitals are by far the biggest employers of medical imaging technologists but techs can also be found in physicians’ offices, in imaging clinics and in mobile imaging services.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics Handbook (www.bls.gov) projects that the need for medical imaging techs is expected to grow faster than normal and that those with certification in more than one area are more employable. Beneke agrees in principle but says that the job market in the local area is somewhat stagnant right now because of the number of techs being turned out in Southwestern Ohio. “There are jobs out there and our graduates eventually find work. Five or 10 years ago, we couldn’t turn them out quickly enough.
“If students are willing to move out of the Dayton/Miami Valley area, their chances are good. If they have a second certificate, it certainly improves their chances of getting a job,” he said.
Occupational Therapy
By KEN MOSIER
For What2Be
Who am I?
Name: Kara Waitzman
Title: Occupational Therapist
Affiliation: Miami Valley Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Education: Bachelor’s degree, Eastern Kentucky University
Multiple advanced certifications and ratings
Quote: “I decided I really liked it (in neonatal intensive care) so I worked my full-time job on Rehab and then came over here in the evenings and started sitting and learning,” she said.
What’s2Like:
►Every day is different
►Decent pay
►Success stories — seeing a baby born at 24 weeks leave the hospital looking good.
►Helping infants and families through a difficult time.
►As an OT, helping patients regain basic living skills that may have been lost.
What’s Not2Like:
►Can be emotionally draining at times.
►Seeing a baby (or patient) leave the hospital when you know in your heart the family doesn’t have the resources to continue care.
►Many OTs have to work weekends or shift work.
►Sometimes not enough hours in the day.
In her junior year and while a cheerleader at Bethel High School, Kara Waitzman broke her back. The injury was compounded the next year when she was involved in an automobile accident and broke her jaw and her back for the second time.
“Back then they didn’t do surgery (for a broken back) so I lay (flat) for 54 days in the hospital,” she recalled. “Some therapists came in on my 53rd day and said, ‘tomorrow you are going to get up. They are going to let you out of bed so you need to do these exercises.’”
That was her introduction to therapy. “I didn’t like what she did but I liked the idea of what she did — she was a physical therapist,” Waitzman continued. “So I kind of looked into it and realized that occupational therapy was much more holistic and whole-body. I always knew I wanted to work with people.”
Waitzman enrolled at Eastern Kentucky University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy.
She began work in the rehabilitation unit at Miami Valley Hospital immediately after graduation. She was assigned as a backup therapist to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
“They called it ‘ghost therapy’ because (therapists) came in so infrequently. I really liked it over here and I would work my full-time job in Rehab and then come over here in the evenings, sitting and learning.”
Eventually she convinced the hospital that she should be a full-time person in the NICU. She now is at the recently-opened, 60-bed NICU in the Berry Women’s Health Pavilion at MVH and works with mostly premature babies. “As an Occupational Therapist, I evaluate and treat the babies. Things I might evaluate might be their overall development — in other words, how they respond to noise, light, touch, smell, taste — those kinds of things. I do an overall assessment of those things and provide treatment that will help their body and their brain adapt to the environment and help their brain grow and develop normally,” she explained. She added that even full-term babies who are in the NICU can benefit from her services. “Lots and lots of brain development is happening in those first few months.”
Waitzman said there is another level to her field. “A Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant — those are two-year degrees,” she said. “ The biggest difference is that an Occupational Therapist can evaluate or assess patients and come up with a treatment plan. COTAs carry out that plan.” She added that, because it is constant evaluation and assessment, COTAs could not work in an NICU.
To become an Occupational Therapist, a master’s degree is necessary under current standards. When Waitzman graduated from EKU, a bachelor’s degree was all that was required. She says she has no current plans to pursue a master’s and opts to get as many certifications as she can that are related to her neonatal specialty. She listed some of the certifications — some of which take a year or more to get — which include Neonatal Infant Development Care Assessment Program, Certified Infant Massage Instructor, Neuro-Development Training, certification in the Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence. “And I am certified as an Infant Development Instructor. So while I did not pursue a collegiate degree past my bachelor’s, I just keep continuing to specialize more and more into neonatal care.”
She estimated that OTs with her list of certifications number less than five in the country. She also received certification in 2009 in Advanced Competencies Neonatal Nurse — designed for master’s-prepared nurses. “There are only maybe 20 in the country that have passed that certification,” she said.
With her credentials, she speaks often at conferences across the country. Besides working at MVH, she works for a national consulting firm and runs her own business. When at MVH, she spends a great deal of time educating nurses, physicians, therapists and parents in proper care of the infant. She also handles a case load that can sometimes reach as high as 30 infants.
She designs an individual program for each infant and treatment can take many forms. She listed swaddle baths, manipulation of muscles and nerves and “lots of massage” as being among the techniques that she uses. She says every baby and, consequently, every day is different — a factor that she loves about her job.
“As an Occupational Therapist, you can help people in so many different walks of life and with so many activities,” Waitzman said.”Whether that activity is dressing or driving or eating or whatever. You learn how to break an activity down into a hundred pieces so you can learn what a person can or can’t do. If they can’t do pieces three through 26, then you break it down to work on those skills.
“I have a great job — I love my job.”
Nuclear Medicine Technologist
By KEN MOSIER
For What2Be
Who am I?
Name: Chris Capparelli
Title: Nuclear Medicine Technologist, Chief of Nuclear Medicine
Affiliation: Upper Valley Medical Center
Education: Bachelor’s degree, University of Findlay.
Quote: “It’s a very rewarding field and you get to help a lot of people and the technology is wonderful,” he said.
What’s2Like:
►Challenging work
►Cutting-edge technology
►Helping people
►No two days are alike
What’s Not 2 Like:
►Being on-call at times.
►Shift or weekend work a possibility in larger hospitals
►Can be emotionally draining when dealing with, for example, a child with cancer.
►Job competition is currently stiff.
For some the words ‘nuclear’ or ‘radioactivity’ conjure up images of total destruction via super bombs, et cetera. Therefore, being told to appear at the nuclear medicine department brings on a case of apprehension in some patients.
“Yes, you get that a lot. It’s the fear of the unknown,” said Chris Capparelli, Chief of Nuclear Medicine at the Upper Valley Medical Center in Miami County. “People who don’t know what’s going to happen when they walk in the door so a lot of them are very, very nervous.
“But once you explain the procedure and tell them it’s not going to be harmful to them, their apprehension usually goes away very quickly,” he explained.
Radioactivity is a part of nuclear medicine but amounts involved are minute.
“Nuclear medicine is a branch of radiology,” Capparelli explained. “We do a lot of functions studies. We use a very small amount of radiation — which is not harmful to the patient. Either (we) inject it or they swallow a pill or they breathe it in. We have specialty cameras that can pick up that radiation that we give them and we can help the doctors diagnose certain diseases.”
The type of material for the patient varies according to what is to be studied. “There are two parts to each drug used,” the Vandalia-Butler HS graduate explained. “There is the non-radioactive part and the radioactive part. What the radiation is mixed with depends on where it is to go in the body. You may mix it with one part that goes to the heart while you might mix the same (radioactive material) with something that goes to the gall bladder on another patient. It all depends on what you mix it with.
“We can do function tests on the heart, liver, spleen, gall bladder and thyroid. There are tests that we can do to find internal bleeding. We can find blood clots in the lungs or tell you how fast or slowly you digest your foods and things like that,” he continued.
Since exposure to radiation is cumulative, workers in a nuclear medicine department must wear dosimeters to measure the amount of radiation they have received. “Not only the body but the hands as well,” Capparelli said showing the ring-type dosimeter they wear in addition to the one on their belts. When preparing materials, nuclear medicine technologists use a lead-lined shield over the materials.
The day starts early. “The first thing we do in the morning, we have to do a lot of testing on our equipment so we spend about a half-hour a day doing quality control on the equipment to make sure it is working properly before we use it on a patient,” he said.
“Then you tend to see your first patient right around 6:45 or 7 a.m. Those are typically heart patients so you tend to get those done early. We start our IVs and then go from there.” He noted that nuclear med techs do start their own IVs.
“Typically we are busy all morning and then it starts to slack off a little in the afternoon.” He estimated that the department sees 15 to 20 patients a day at Upper Valley. Tests last from one hour to three or four hours each.
Capparelli has a bachelor’s degree in nuclear medicine from the University of Findlay. He said it is possible to work in nuclear medicine with a one-year certificate or with an associate degree. However, the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Handbook (www.bls.gov) notes that those who receive certificates, etc., usually already have a certificate or degree as a radiologic technician.
Competition for jobs is currently stiff. “When I was in school, my class (2001) graduated seven people. Now (schools graduate) 40 to 60 every eight months,” he explained. “As of a year or two ago, the demand has decreased dramatically. I think less people are retiring now because of economic issues so there are not as many people leaving as are coming in. Generally it peaks every five years — (demand) goes up and down.”
He said that Findlay’s four-year program consists of three years of prerequisites and then four months of classes devoted solely to nuclear medicine. The aspiring technologist then spends eight months getting clinical experience in the field.
“It’s a very rewarding field and you get to help a lot of people,” he said. “The technology is wonderful — you get to use a lot of computers and the software is always updating. So, if you are into computers and medicine, this is definitely a career you should probably look into. It is very fascinating,” he said.
Capparelli suggests taking as many science and math courses as possible and do a job shadow. For Upper Valley, he suggested contacting the Volunteer Office to set up shadowing.
Paramedic, Flight Nurse
By KEN MOSIER
For What2Be
Who am I?
Name: Angi ‘Goose’ Gooslin
Title: RN/EMT-P, Flight Nurse
Affiliation: Miami Valley Hospital CareFlight
Education: Bachelor’s degree, Morehead State University
Paramedic certification, Clark State Community College
Multiple certifications
Quote: “(Flight Nurse) is the best job I have had yet and I have loved every area I have been in so far. I loved critical care and coronary care and it has made me the nurse I am today. I have loved it,” she said.
What’s2Like:
►Challenging work
►Autonomy in the field — no one to call.
►Helping patients who are in maybe the worst times of their lives.
►Extra pay — a one-step increase
►Flight Nurses are generally highly respected.
What’s Not 2 Like:
►Shift work
►Fly in all temperatures
►Patient outcomes can sometimes be tragic
►Flight Nurse selection requires successful completion of a rigorous test/interviews.
When she was studying for her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree at Morehead State University, Angi Gooslin was sure that she would have to go somewhere other than the local area to find exciting work.
“I guess when you grow up here, you don’t really think of the things you have (in the area) that are unique or special or different,” the Tippecanoe High School grad said. “So I never looked at this hospital as (in my mind) they couldn’t possibly have anything I would want to do here — I would have to go somewhere else to do something really exciting.”
That changed between her junior and senior years.
“Miami Valley (Hospital) had an extern program where they would take nursing students in a bachelor’s program and you would work in the hospital for a summer,” she said. “When I was here, I was exposed to CareFlight and I thought, ‘Oh! This is what I want to do!’”
After graduation, Gooslin set herself a goal of becoming a Flight Nurse. “I said that, ‘in 10 years, I should be pretty well-educated to take care of anybody and I will apply in 10 years’ and that is what I did.”
Gooslin said that the application process was tough — unlike when she first became a nurse. “I came in during a nursing shortage — (hospitals) were paying student loans back and they were paying hiring bonuses — all you had to do was be a nurse and you could get a job,” she recalled.
“This was one of the most intense application processes I have ever been through,” she said. “I thought I was pretty qualified.” Gooslin worked in critical care and emergency departments for the 10 years previous earning the Critical Care Nurse certification.
She applied three times before being selected.
“It was a three-day process they run you through. They make you go through a big peer interview with the director and some of the staff nurses and medics and the managers. You meet with the Medical Director and he runs you through a scenario on a patient simulator to assess your baseline knowledge of critical care and emergency response and things like that and how you are going to take it. Then you take a test that never know the results of — on general knowledge and it covers pediatrics, adults, obstetrics, cardiac, trauma — you name it.” Applicants then spend a month waiting to see if selected.
After selection, she was sent to Clark State Community College to take a one-semester course that also gave her the title of Emergency Medical Technician-Paramedic — a requirement for Flight Nurses.
CareFlight has a helicopter based at Miami Valley Hospital as well as one based in Urbana and another in Warren County. When the aircraft are grounded by weather — fog, ice or storms, for example — there are three Mobile Intensive Care Units that are used to provide service. “It’s the highest level of ground transport,” she said. “When you see an ambulance it might have two Basic-EMTs in it. The MICU carries a Flight Nurse and a Critical Care Paramedic.
“Transport time is a little longer and it is bumpy but you have the same care coming back (as in the helicopter).” She said that the MICU carries the same equipment and supplies as the helicopters. Both helicopter and MICU can handle two patients. Paramedics do not fly and the aircraft carries two Flight Nurses in addition to the pilot.
Gooslin, who, naturally, has been tagged with the nickname of ‘Goose,’ said that the nurses also act as co-pilots on the helicopters. “One of us sits up front and we are trained by (the pilots) on what we can touch and what we can’t and how to get in and get out so we don’t kick things. We know how to read some of the gauges and stuff like that,” she related. “We are another set of eyes for the left-hand side of the aircraft.”
Pilots have no medical training and their sole job is safe conveyance of the team and patient. “Our pilots are just experts in reading the weather and they are trained in that. They accept or decline each mission (based on weather).
“The pilot never knows what we are going for,” she continued. “They are not supposed to be told so their decisions are never influenced (by the call). They have to take that emotional piece out of it.”
Gooslin became a nurse educator a year ago and spends a great deal of time in her office between calls working on that. But when the call comes in, the communications center selects which unit is the best for the call and drops radio tones. “We wear radios here in the hospital and they will drop tones — there are aircraft tones and mobile unit tones — and we are trained like Pavlov’s dogs to respond to that. You go from zero to 60 right now.” If the crew is in the CareFlight unit on the seventh floor of MVH, she says that can be lifting off within five minutes after the alert. The unit can have as many as five to seven calls in an area from Cincinnati to St. Marys and from Richmond, Ind., to Columbus.
She said the difference between a Flight Nurse and a floor nurse is evident when they arrive on a scene. “It’s the autonomy,” she said. “We’ve been trained to do patient assessments, anticipate problems, treat them, evaluate problems and re-assess them.
“When you come in here, there is that expectation. You don’t have someone to call so you have to be confident in your abilities to assess accurately, treat and re-evaluate,” she said.
CareFlight has an elevator next to the flight deck which enables them to deliver the patient to the ER or surgery or whichever unit is needed. “Then we actually follow all of them here until they go home,” she said, adding that the flight personnel can often fill in gaps of the memory of the victim and their families.
Sometimes CareFlight will go on a mission that ends tragically. “We do the best that we can and sometimes it turns out the best and sometimes it doesn’t — those I will never forget,” she said. “You have to be prepared for the child that gets run over in a driveway. You remember what you see. So you wipe your tears and go on to the next mission because maybe the next person just got hit by a train. You can’t be crying over the one that you couldn’t help — you have to give 100 percent to the next one.” Although the crew is trained in stress management, they are allowed to call a ‘timeout’ if they are not emotionally ready.
Sometimes patients come back and thank them. Gooslin recalled a severe motorcycle accident in Troy and, five years later, the girl showed up at the 25th anniversary of CareFlight to thank her again.
Although weather is a factor in flying, temperature is not. “You have to be flexible. That means you have to go out when it is 110 degrees in a black suit from head to toe with a 2-1/2 pound helmet on your head. It messes your hair up and your makeup sweats off. Or you are at zero (degrees) and when the blades turn, the IV tubing will freeze. If you are not a flexible person and can’t handle change too well, this is not the job for you.”
A Day in the Life: RN (BSN, BC)
Name: Kay Campbell
Place of work: Kettering Medical Center
Job Title: RN (BSN, BC)
Hours worked: 7am - 7pm, 36 hrs p/week
How many yrs/months in profession: 10 years
Where you received your education: Sinclair Community College and Indiana Wesleyan University
What degree did you earn: Associate to BS in Nursing
How many yrs/months for your education: 5 years
A Typical Day: I arrive to work and receive my assignment. I get report from night shift concerning my patient status and needs. I then review medications for the day, review labs and start assessing and providing care to my patients. It is necessary in my profession to be flexible due to patient needs and changing needs of the unit.
What was your inspiration: I had cared for my father for 6 years during an illness and my mother encouraged me to be a nurse considering my recent experience.
Best Advice you ever received: Be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem. When you encounter a problem, you must help to find a solution and institute a plan.
What would you tell someone interested in going into health care: Don’t enter nursing based on money. Do it because you care about people and want to make a change.
A Day in the Life: Physical Therapist
Name: Sarah Conover
Place of work: UVMC
Job Title: Physical Therapist
Hours worked: 20 hrs a week
How many yrs/months in profession: 22 1/2 years
Where you received your education: University of Evansville & University of Indianapolis
What degree did you earn: BS in PT and MHS
How many yrs/months for your education: 4 years + 2
A Typical Day: Desk work & getting the day’s schedule set, see patients & write notes throughout the day, taking a break for lunch. Finishing up with paperwork at the end of the day and phone calls.
What was your inspiration: Interest in how the human body works & wanting to impact the quality of life for individuals.
Best Advice you ever received: Listen to your patients.
What would you tell someone interested in going into health care: In addition to having an interest in people, it’s critical to be a strong student in math and sciences.
One interesting anecdote about your career (optional): Every day I learn something new.
A Day in the Life: HIS Analyst
Name: Renee Schmitz
Place of work: UVMC
Job Title: HIS Analyst
Hours worked: 7:30 am – 4:00 pm
How many yrs/months in profession: 16 years
Where you received your education: Sinclair Community College
How many yrs/months for your education: 3 years
What was your inspiration: I wanted to do something with healthcare, but knew that nursing was not for me.
Best Advice you ever received: As far as coding goes, to always do it as specific as I can. Garbage in the record is garbage out of the record.
What would you tell someone interested in going into health care: You should like to read. Coding is like short stories/mysteries.
The Road to Residency
By Jason Faber
The scrubs I’m wearing are hanging damp and heavy. My limp hand is starting to go numb from the squeeze my wife is placing upon it.
The obstetrician, her forehead drenched in sweat, yells for more light and to for my wife to push harder. The monitor starts to show the baby’s heart rate falling more frequently into gullies and canyons, dropping off.
My wife’s blood pressure suddenly surges, her eyes roll back into her head, and she starts seizing. My mind races with the possibilities.
“Oh God,” I think, “it’s eclampsia.”
Her neck stiffens, and I fear aneurysmal rupture. The obstetrician calls for the nurses to start rolling her into the operating room. As we move down the hall, my hand is now squeezing hers, which hangs limp, lifeless.
Tears stream down my face, and a nurse stops me as they take my wife into the OR.
“We’ll do everything we can,” she said. “Please stay here.”
My mind reels. My hopes surge for the best outcome, but the physician in my mind whispers to me, “They’re gone.”
I sit up, and my head falls into my hands as I reorient after the nightmare. My eyes move to the baby monitor on the bedside table. The red lights jump with each of my son’s cries. He’s been teething for three days now, each ivory challenge presenting itself at night. At least, that’s what I hope it is, and not something sinister.
My wife moans, “Can you get him tonight?”
I get up from the bed, my back aching. “This is what happens when you turn 30,” I mutter.
I climb toward the nursery. Standing there in the crib, my son has tears streaming down his face. He sees me towering over him and outstretches his arms. I pick him up, and he buries his face into my neck, breathes deep and stops crying. I rub his back gently as we rock.
Earlier, my wife had asked me about giving him some ibuprofen. I refused, fearful of an allergic reaction, something I have had the unpleasant experience of seeing firsthand. Now, sitting there with him at 3 a.m., I think I might have been too hasty.
Over a year ago, I remember a visit to the obstetrician at 30-something weeks. I sat there while he asked my wife all the regular questions about swelling, nausea and weight gain. Afterward, he turned to me and spoke the only four words he said to me that day: “Don’t treat your wife.”
I appreciated his advice but never thought much of it.
Our pregnancy and delivery went as smoothly as any other. When we got home from the hospital, however, the worry began and never left. Every cough or sneeze became a rare, incurable condition in my mind.
At six months, my son developed mucus and blood in the stool. I feared the worst. After a visit to the pediatrician, we cut out dairy from his and (much to her chagrin) my wife’s diet, and his symptoms resolved. Just a milk allergy. Since starting a family, I have seen how this knowledge of all that can go wrong, all the terrifying diagnoses sneak into your mind with each symptom. These “zebras” are driven into our minds to make us into vigilant diagnosticians, but this enlightenment becomes a curse. The fear of horrible diseases befalling those you love is always in the back of your mind.
My son is sleeping now. I stand, move quietly to his crib, and lay him down amongst the soft liner with images of farm animals. The sound of rain outside lulls him asleep. I rub his back for a few moments and realize how vulnerable life can be. Then I tiptoe down the stairs and crawl into bed.
But my ears stay turned towards the monitor with the perpetual vigilance of a parent, made worse by the knowledge of a physician.
Jason Faber, M.D., is a resident in the internal medicine program at Kettering Medical Center. He graduated from the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine in 2008 and holds an honors Bachelor of Arts degree from Xavier University.
Notes from a med student
By Jacqueline Collins
It’s 4:30 a.m. and already I’ve been up for half an hour, taken a shower and had my breakfast. Most people are still fast asleep, but as I have begun to learn these past few weeks, sleep is a luxury that those of us in medicine are rarely afforded.
Never having been one to roll out of bed before noon if I could avoid it, I’ve been surprised by my ability to awaken before sunrise and be functional. But then, I’ve also been waiting two years for this chance, to actually use what I have worked so hard to learn. Time seems to be moving very quickly all of a sudden. Boards are over, and I am in the middle of the first of my third-year clerkships. My days are full of new challenges, but in a lot of ways, they represent a refreshing change from the tedium of the past.
As it happens, I have chosen to begin my journey with the beginning of life. I will admit that I had more than a few misgivings about starting my obstetrics and gynecology rotation. I’ve always been a bit on the squeamish side, and the birthing process is known for being rather messy.
Luckily for me, the first birth I assisted in was as amazing an experience as one could hope to have in my situation. About two weeks ago, under the guidance of a midwife whose calm, efficient and confident demeanor I can only hope to achieve someday, I helped deliver a beautiful baby boy to a truly wonderful couple.
As first-time parents, this couple was thoroughly engaged in every step of the process and graciously allowed me to be a part of their life-changing experience. As expected, there were a few moments of panic, when I wondered if I was ready for all of this, if I would just be in the way, if I would be able to overcome my weak stomach.
The thing is, I didn’t really get a chance to indulge in those moments of self-doubt. Unlike a multiple-choice test, with ample time to ruminate and second-guess, I now had a woman looking at me for reassurance, depending on me to take care of her and the baby she was about to bring into the world. A powerful feeling exists in the delivery room, when a wanted child is preparing to make its entrance. The love and excitement on the father’s face as he looks at his wife, the words of wisdom from a mother about to become a grandmother, but more than anything, the sheer awesomeness of the woman in labor, her fierce determination.
I have to tell you that for me, there has been no greater experience than making that connection with my first mom-to-be, coaching her and encouraging her to find those last reserves of energy. I know that I will never forget this couple, the baby I helped to be born or the midwife who was such a wonderful teacher and who let me take such an active role.
The past few weeks have made it clear to me how much I still have to learn, but I look forward to the challenge and a year filled with many new experiences.
Jacqueline Collins is a second-year student at the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. She studied Middle Eastern and South Asian History at the University of Chicago, where she earned a B.A. with honors in 2005.
