Looking Back

I haven't updated this site lately.... Seems that I'm running out of topics to write about. Anywayz, I already resigned from my job, but unfortunately, I still can't leave immediately because I still have a lot of endorsements and instructions to make to my "successor" (sigh). Finally, I was able to gather enough courage to leave. I've been thinking about it for months, but I had a hard time deciding whether to pursue my resignation or not. But after some careful deliberations, I finally decided to leave.

I started at Holy Child right after I graduated from High School, it was April 16th of 2005. My first assignment was at the Out-patient Department (OPD). I can still remember how the administrator introduced me to the department head: "Lorie, this is Janisha. She will be assisting you here. She is bright. I'm sure you will not have any problems with her." (Ehemm...) I then felt my cheeks burning.... (gee, that's embarrassing)

At the OPD, I assisted the staff in taking the patients records and vital signs. I also help in processing insurance claims and got the opportunity to know a few people in the insurance industry. What got me usually pissed about that insurance thingy is that everything should have their approval first - from urinalysis to ultrasound, consultations to admissions, suturing to operations; and what makes it worse is that these approvals still take a lot of "chorvas" (chorva sounds like a gay lingo, but it's actually a Greek word meaning "a replacement for an unknown word"). I've learned so many things at the OPD. I came to know the ins and outs of hospital stuffs, and the protocols of insurances and HMO's. I also was able to meet different kinds of people, and learned how to deal with each of them. It really takes patience and fast thinking to be at the OPD. There were times when I had to really do some "chorvas" just for a certain procedure to be approved or convince a probing patient that she/he can no longer be accommodated.

After a year at the OPD, I got transferred to, this time, not only one department, but two. Imagine that? I got assigned to the Medicare and the Information sections. During Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, I report to the Medicare Section; and during the rest of the week, at the Information.

At the Medicare, I've learned to read the perplexing, unfathomable handwritings of doctors. I often got headaches reading patient's diagnosis and history. There, I help in the processing of Philhealth claims and encode patient's diagnosis. I also learned that every disease has a corresponding code (like, J18.9 for Pneumonia, N39.0 for Urinary Tract Infection). Coding diseases is the hardest work I've ever had. There are diseases that cannot be easily found in the book. There are also some that still requires me to read the patient's history, and that means going through the doctor's undecipherable scribblings (whoa, exhausting!).

The Information Section is the part of the hospital where all the gossips and controversies cannot go across. It seems that all the events inside (sometimes, even outside) the hospital are known at the Info. What makes my assignment here exciting is that I answer telephone calls and got to hear my voice boom around the hospital- you know, the paging stuffs.

Seems like I really have so much to miss. Nevertheless, I left for good. I know, I made the right decision. I may have learned a lot, but I know that I can never grow there. It's like I am confined only in the areas they assign to me. And that is not the life that I want. Now, I found the place where I know I will learn more and better things- things that I am really interested at. I know, it is still too early for me to say this, but I know, that I just made the best decision in my life, so far.