Burning both ends of the candle...

You soon realize moving from a smaller city to a bigger city - not only does the # of people go up, but so is the cost of your expenses. As my lifestyle allowed for it, I decided to take a second job in my field in the adjoining cancer centre. I enjoyed the people I worked with and seeing a different avenue being a HIM (health information management) Professional. And I just got used to putting in an extra 15-20 hours per week on top of my 77.5 hrs from my coding position. It didn't seem like an additional stress on top of coding.

April 2010 - I took upon the challenge of taking a Coding Coordinator position. As we have merged all health regions into one - I had to resign my position at the cancer centre as I am already full time. This is a position that I had applied twice before - and I am fast realizing that the position I applied for in Spring 2008 and Fall 2009 are not what is being expected of us now - the responsibilities are being changed. Changed becaused in 2008-2009 we didn't have to deal with topics like a 21-day Coding Turnaround Time (TAT); Increased focus on Data Quality of submitted coded data; VLAD (Variable -Living Adjusting Device) reviews; Cross-training staff in both the urban and rural settings; being asked to be a representative for the Calgary Zone in Provincial working groups and that is on top of any daily "office issues" that needs to be dealt with.

The past few months, feeling stressed is an accurate word to use in my vocabulary - stress of adjusting to a new role and all the bumps I have encountered. Feeling the stress coming from the very top of different initatives that are occurring at a provincial level that relate to Data Collection. Sept/Oct found me training outside of Calgary (High River and Strathmore) to other HIMs in the Inpatient coding discipline - which takes much out of you - but I do enjoy it as I learn just as much as they do and it does ensure you are up to date in your coding knowledge as well. The other learning portion is on seeing the differences (and similarities) when comparing rural vs. urban coding. This will be beneficial for me as I am a HIM representative for the Calgary Zone in a Provinical working group on Data Collection - therefore I need to know about both rural and urban coding.

Unfortunately, in the recent month, the focus has been on a 21-day Coding turnaround time to ensure timely data to be used by various stakeholders - this has translated into long hours - there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to do everything on your "To Do List" each day. This lead me to burning both ends of the candle which means I usually get a nasty head/chest cold - which I currently have. Here I have ONE job that has equalled in times the hours I used to put in when I had TWO jobs! Interesting eh?

What I know - I do enjoy the different challenges and opportunities this current position as Coding Coordinator has given me. I find I am becoming a more confident person and realizing that my thought when I graduated from college of where I ultimately would like to work in my field (Data Quality - working with the coded data) is becoming more of a reality. That is pretty cool to see that come to light - 18 years later.

I know it is only November - but something I will need to work on in 2011 - finding an "off" button and find that balance again so I do not burn both ends of the candlestick.