The Plot Thickens

So I found out why Carol has been out all week. She told Dr. Olson that she was in a bad car accident and was taken to St. Anthony's Central. Remember that hospital it comes into play later in the story. So on Fridays the office is only open from 9-12 so Dr. Olson and I spend a lot of time talking and doing nothing basically. Well this past Friday was no different. I was sitting at my computer doing what is now my favorite thing to do when I am bored. Since I work for a surgeon and he needs to get operative reports from hospitals we have a computer program that lets us get onto the databases at all sorts of different hospitals. The cool thing about that is that I can go on these sites and look at uploaded picutres of all sorts of different surgeries. You can also look up patients and read all the imaging and lab reports. So as I am sitting there doing this Dr. Olson comes in and asks to use the computer. So I move and let him do what he needs to do. Meanwhile the new issue of People has arrived at the office...my other favorite thing about Friday. When he is finished he gets up and walks out of the room and doesn't say a word. So now that I have the computer back I go back onto St. Anthony's site and am going to look up another patient so I can see some more surgery pictures. I go to the patient list and notice something strange. Carol's name is at the top of the list which means she was the last patient to be looked up. Dr. Olson was looking to see if and when Carol had been in the hospital. So being me, which means being very curious I click on her name and what do I see.........Carol has not been to St. Anthony's since November of last year!!!! And now Dr. Olson knows this. But also being sometimes logical me I figure she might have gone to a different hospital so I use our fun computer program to look at all the other hospitals in the area knowing that Carol lives around there. I guess Dr. Dennis is logocal too because he did the same thing. So as I am doing this what do I see........Carol hasn't been to any hospital reccently. "But Rachel", you say, "What if Carol is telling the truth but she just didn't go to the hospital?" That is entirely possible but she still lied about it so clearly something fishy is still going on. "Rachel",you say again,"Does that mean Carol is finally in trouble or fired?" The answer is nope. of course not. Meanwhile the extern is still there doing Carol's job and not getting paid. You know on the one hand I hpe she keeps doing crap like this because the odds of me getting hired go up dramatically but on the other hand I would like to know how to do this job right. Monday is going to be super awkwad if Carol does show up. Can't wait to see what happens.

Doing Someone Elses Job

So it is now Wednesday and there is still no Carol. When she is here I think she is great. She really teaches me a lot, but COME ON!!!!!!! I am not here to be free labour or to be here so she can go on vacation. This is starting to piss me off. Even the Dr is finally starting to get mad. Hopefully I will get hired from this at least part time since Carol is never ever here. I know I am an extern and I am supposed to be learning to do this very job, but some sort of guidance would be nice. I am currently learning from a Dr who has never had to run an office before so he is just guessing on most everything he teaches me. ARGHHHHHHHH!!! and i'm not even getting paid.

How I learned how to run a Dr's office

What a strange few weeks this has been. I expected to go out my externship(btw an externship is different from an internship in that an externship means it is still part of a class) and learn all about my new career and what to expect. Boy was I wrong. This is just to strange not to tell.
I got to my externship site my first day all early, obviously I don't wan to be late and I want to appear excited to be there. I find the suite the office is in and go to open the door but it is locked. Seeing as how it is before the office is set to open I am not super worried. But by the time 9:15 roles around I am getting a bit worried...maybe I am in the wrong place....maybe I have the wrong day...so much is going through my head. I wait around for quite a while. Soon it is 10:00. I have had enough waiting so I call my externship advisor and explain the situation to her. She called the Dr and was told that he had no idea that his office manager was not in the office and that he would be right there. By the time he gets there it is now 10:30. I go in and check the messages for him since that is one thing I already know how to do and there is no call from his office manager explaining why she is not there. The Dr. being a Dr. has no clue how to run an office so I am left to answer phones(which barely ever ring) all day long, which means I stare out a window all day long.

Day 2: I go to open the door again and guess what still locked. I go to building management and ask them to let me in. So now I am in the office alone until the Dr gets in but unlike the day before, we have patients scheduled. I know what my office taught me but I have no idea how this Dr likes things done. Between the Dr. and myself we kind of figured things out but it was rough.

Day3: more of the same. I am answering phones and I get a call from a man asking for Carol(that's the office manager) and I politely tell him that she is not in. He says"excuse me?" I said she called in sick. He then told me that this was her husband and that he was very confused and hung up. Now allday I am worried that I may have messed things up with Carol and her husband. I have visions of being stabbed at work the next day. I have never met Carol I have no idea what she is like.

Day4: The husband calls again. Same thing. He is very confused and hangs up. But that day I did get to assist the Dr with in office surgery. It was very cool. He was removing Varicose veins from someones body. I am sure you don't want me to go into more detail than that.

Day 5: This is the shortest day of the week. I am only in the office from 9-12. Hooray for longer weekends. Still no Carol.

On Monday I am thinking ok it has been a week so Carol has to be in today, and I am still worried about what went down with her husband. But alas I go to the door and it is locked again. Once again Building management has to let me in. They hate me now btw. Later in the afternoon I am working trying to figure out what needs to be done when I get a phone call from a woman and all she says is "did Dr Olson hire you?" "No I am just an extern." "Fine. Thanks." You're welcome." and she hangs up. Weird right? That's what I thought. A few minutes later I get another call...it is Carol saying she would be in later that day. She sounds kind of pissed. It was her calling earlier also.  But as the day goes on there is no Carol and I am alive for one more day.

Tuesday yet again locked door, angry building management. Get back from lunch am messing around on my phone as the Dr is out all afternoon and I was bored. And guess who finally shows up.......CAROL!!!!! All week was great and Carol is awesome, she is really great at training me and teaching me what needs to be done. She even takes me out to lunch to thank me for helping out and doing a great job while she is gone. There is even talk of me being hired part time because Carol is tired of doing a billion jobs alone...which she does. I am very excited.

Friday roles around and....door locked angry building management. No Carol. But as it is the shortest day of the week...who cares. We don't do much besides see patients any way and I know how to do that now anyway.

Monday: Still no Carol but now I have done all the work she had set aside for me and have still not been trained on a lot. Dr is gone all afternoon and I am beyond bored again.

Today is Tuesday and Carol is still MIA. Dr is out all day and clearly I am bored and have been reading all my friends blogs so I decided to set one of my own up.

So I guess I still have not totally learned how to run a Dr's office but I am basically teaching myself. But hey the Dr. thinks I am doing a great job and if I can get paid to set up a blog and be bored...oh well works for me.