Fifth Week

Not much to report from week five in Eugene, so I'll make this a short one. Work has been going fine. I've been slowly expanding the work that I've been able to do. Tonight (technically it's Tuesday, but I've only been off work for a couple hours, so it seems like Monday night still), I picked up my first delivered specimen. All that means is I went down to the lobby and grabbed a bag with a cup of urine in it.

During my last couple of shifts, I've started doing data entry. Almost all of the work I do could be considered a form of data entry, but in this case it specifically refers to receiving a requisition and specimen that's not already been entered into the system. The people who've been working in the lab much longer than I have seem to know a way to tell just by looking at a form whether or not it's a data entry. But for me it's still a bit tougher.

When I pick a bag out of my inbox and pull out the requisition form, the first thing I look for is one of our labels, which would let me scan in the code and be on my way. If it's not there, I look for an order number I can enter. If I don't find one, or it doesn't pull up an order in the system, I have to open "PINQ," or the patient inquiry menu, which allows me to look up patient names to see if there are any orders for them. If I don't see an order there, then I'll know it's a data entry.

When it comes to the data entering itself, it's like the other parts of the job so far. It seems complicated at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's not so tough.

The rest of the week was mostly spent working out the little details of the job. For example, all of the sinks in the building are motion-activated, including the paper towel dispensers. On Friday I finally found the most responsive of the sinks, so now I know to always go there to wash my hands as I leave for breaks and at the end of the day. Otherwise I have to just stand there waving my hands around like an idiot.

As promised, a short one. I'll end with another picture. This one's a better view of the Delta Ponds park, which made its first appearance in this blog's inaugural post, that's right next to my apartment complex. It's a nice place to walk around in the afternoons before work.

Fourth Week

Week four in Oregon (and a little of week five, sorry for the late posting this week) is over, and I've begun working at PeaceHealth as a lab assistant. It's not exactly the job I had in mind when I majored in English, minored in Writing, but it actually uses a lot of the same skills as the editing job I was prepared for. It just uses those skills in a different way.

Work in the specimen management lab can be rather hectic and very complicated. On my first day, the supervisor was going through some paperwork with me and explaining that the training process will be long and involved. It'll be a couple of months at least before I've been shown how to do each of the different types of work that the lab assistants do.

So far, I've been primarily working on the main task of the lab assistant, which is referred to as tubeval, which stands for Tube Validation. Essentially, this consists of receiving a requisition form along with a specimen, or specimens, from a patient. I scan in or enter the number on the form, verify that all of the information and specimen(s) match, print labels, and if necessary, pour out the specimen(s) into tubes.

It's usually a fairly straight-forward process, though a bit tricky to get the hang of. But problems can and do arise, with missing or incorrect specimens, wrong tests ordered, mismatched information, etc. And in these cases a certain amount of detective work can be necessary to figure out how to resolve the issue. These problems can be irritating, but they also add another interesting dimension to the work.

Beginning on my third day, which was Friday, I've been told to have a sheet at the desk with me to help keep track of how much work I'm able to get done during the shift. My trainer told me that I'm already keeping pace with people who've worked in the lab for nine months, so I guess that's a sign that I'm doing well. Actually, I think my experience working with the computer system at Fleet Services was pretty good preparation, since the system at PeaceHealth works in a similar way.

My shifts are from 4 pm to 12:30 am. I get two 15-minute breaks, one in each half of the shift, and a 30-minute "lunch" break at 8. The people I work with in the lab have all been nice and friendly, but it's hard for me to keep track of who everyone is, especially because most of the people working around me are either on a more standard 9-5 schedule or an overnight, graveyard schedule. That, and I'm really not very good with new names and faces. But I'm sure I'll learn them all eventually.

I didn't put any pictures in my last post, and maybe it seems like I'm giving whoever's reading these less of a chore if I add pictures. So I'll end this post with a Google Earth shot of the building I work in to give you an idea of how big it is.

The main entrance is on the north side of the building, but I usually park in the second lot and enter through the side, since it's closer to the specimen management lab.

Third Week

Week three in Eugene, and I'm now gainfully employed! The placement agency set me up with a company called PeaceHealth Medical Group. It's a Catholic non-profit organization with hospitals and labs in Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. I'll be working as a lab assistant in their annex building across from the hospital in Springfield. It's just 10 minutes from my apartment.

I interviewed with their evening and night supervisors, a woman and man, respectively. I arrived early, so I sat down in the lobby for a few minutes. The building is about 10 years old, and was originally a Sony disc packing plant. PeaceHealth has had it for a few years now, I think, and they just tore out the Sony equipment and replaced it with medical laboratories.

When the time came for the interview, I dialed the phone in the lobby, per my instructions, and was led back to the offices. The first thing they did was sit me down at a computer to take a typing/data entry test. After the three-minute practice round, the night supervisor saw my results and said something about my score being the highest he'd ever seen. The actual test was five minutes, and my kph score was a little higher than before, so I was feeling good.

Next, they took me to an HR conference room and went through a quick sheet of some pretty standard interview questions. The only one I slipped up on was when they asked me about a time when I've thought outside the box. I didn't really know how to answer. I guess I tend to think inside the box.

But they seemed happy enough with my answers. They're both pretty laid back; they were making jokes with me and each other. After that round of questions, they took me on a quick tour of the facility. It's quite a large building. They led me down a few hallways lined with sizable lab rooms. They took me to the one I'll be working in and showed me where I'll be receiving specimens, logging them, and sorting out where they need to go.

After that I was expecting to see more of the building or answer more questions, but instead they just led me back out to the lobby and told me they'd confer with the placement agency, who'd let me know what they decide.

The next day, I got the good news! I came back into the placement agency and went through about four hours of paperwork. It was tedious and very repetitive, since I was essentially going through the hiring process at two different companies at the same time. Because I'll be working at PeaceHealth, but still working for the placement agency during the evaluation period. There were also some packets and tests covering some medical information.

But everything's finally in order. All I need to do now is get a physical and I'll be all set. At first I thought I was going to be starting training and orientation tonight (Monday), but it turns out I won't be put into the computer system in time for that, so I start Wednesday. My shift is 4 pm to 12:30 am. It's a little later than would be ideal, but it's really not a bad schedule for me, as I tend to be more of a night-owl than morning person. Plus, I think there'll be a shift differential for every hour after 5 pm.

That's the biggest, and pretty much only, news for the week. So I'll end the post here.

Second Week

Week two here in Eugene, and the top priority has been the job hunt. I've been looking through all of the job databases and noting every "Now Hiring" sign. I've been sending out applications and resumes for any and every type of position.

The most promising lead so far has been with an employment placement agency. Their website was a bit tricky to figure out, and I called a few times to leave messages without getting much of anywhere. But on Thursday I found that there was an option to apply to the agency itself instead of applying to specific positions they had listed. Within an hour of completing the application, I received a call and scheduled an interview for the following morning.

Now I had to decide what to wear to the interview. I do own a suit, but I wasn't sure if that would send the right message. I ended up thinking that the suit might be overdoing it, so I arrived at the agency in the next best thing I have: black pants, white dress shirt, and a tie. Seeing the other applicant in the lobby, a guy about my age, wearing jeans and a t-shirt with sunglasses resting on top of his head, I was glad I didn't go with the suit.

I signed in, completed a short evaluation, and was soon upstairs in their offices. I was nervous, but I think I did a decent job. Presumably because of my job experience, I was being interviewed by the agency's industrial recruiter. But when I mentioned I might like to try something more in an office setting, she asked the administrative recruiter in the next office to talk over my options with me.

The administrative recruiter was frank with me; she told me my lack of office work experience would work against me. But, she said, there were some lab positions that I might have a chance at landing. She asked me a few more questions and seemed to like my answers. She brought me back downstairs to the lobby and had me fill out a three-page checklist indicating my experience in a wide range of medical/laboratory procedures, which I mostly had to just go through, checking the "no experience" box.

When I was done with that, I was sent home to take a few more evaluations. I'd been told that the data entry tests were key for this position, so I was extremely careful on those. When I was done, I called back to the agency, and the administrative recruiter told me that she'd already seen my data entry scores and had set up another interview for me with the head of the franchise of the agency on Monday morning. So, hopefully all goes well, and I'll be placed in a job soon.

I haven't done much this week besides the job search, so there's not much else to report. I tried another new restaurant, Cafe Yumm! I suppose it more or less lived up to it's name.

I'll end this post with a couple pictures of the apartment, as I promised last week.

 Living room

Master bathroom 

Second bedroom (Library)

I'll try to keep adding more pictures in posts throughout the coming weeks.