In the groove

It's been a while, a long while since I last wrote anything. I wasn't really feeling it and felt I had said most everything I wanted to say. Days blend into days and months ooze on by. My new job is going well. There are always changes - providers leave for greener pastures, staffing cuts are inflicted and efficiencies are scrutinized. I am seeing 20-30 patients a day and really feel like I know what I am doing. That's not to say I know everything. But I ask questions when I need to and trust my instincts. I can assess back or shoulder injury quickly and correctly and can sew a finger tip and nail back on like that. I can run through an exhaustive and complete physical in under 10 minutes. I still make mistakes but I make sure they are small ones and that they only occur once. I learn from other's knowledge and mistakes and try to make their experience mine to the extent possible. I continue to learn from my patients and take pride when they ask for over the physicians I work with. I am humbled when I overhear my supervising physician tell a patient or employer that I am just as capable and skilled as she is in handling their injury or concern. I am fatigued, annoyed and reinforced when support staff bypass other provider, including senior physicians, to ask a question. I get pissed when I hold others to my own standards - I have given them and myself some room within these standards and this has made my day go much smoother. I am really happy to read the comments on this blog knowing that someone, somewhere has taken away something positive from all of this. In terms of being a PA, I am in the groove and I feel good about that.