Who has totally changed jobs/careers?

[Remali]

Well, I am seriously thinking of getting away from medical records/data entry. I have an Associate degree in Health Information, but I have not had any luck in the past year and a half finding a job. Long story short, I lost a very good job at a local hospital in 2007, I had to take Family Medical Leave when my dad was on home health hospice, after he passed away then I got really sick (I was just worn out, and I have a few health issues too, I have colitis)...and they fired me. It has been a tough road since then, I have a feeling my former boss is saying negative things about me, preventing me from getting jobs in other local hospitals (she was really mad about my taking the Family Leave, even tho my dad was dying I got a lot of grief about it, but that is another story in itself...). So, I am thinking of getting into something else.....and because of my colitis I need something that isn't terribly stressful and fast-paced (like, no customer service work, I can handle pretty much anything else).

Who else has done a total job/career change? Right now I have not decided on what it is I really want to do, so I am just keeping my options open, but I did have an interviewer ask me why I was applying for a certain job when my background was in something else.....I told her I wanted to get into other areas and broaden my work experience. Of course right now with the economy being so bad, a career change may not be a good idea, altho I feel as if my former boss may be holding me back by being negative. I do not put her down as a reference, but being a smaller city I think a lot of the medical records managers know each other and they of course talk. Before I took the Family Medical Leave everything was very good at my former job, but when I went back to work after my dad's funeral no one talked to me and my boss tried her best to make me quit. So now I feel as if I have had enough of medical records, and maybe it is time to move on.

[starkitten]

I did - I was a dental assistant and got sick and tired of working for dentists (they are a little bit 'anal' - big understatement ;) ) I took a job in an office just because I had to work and went to school full time at night to get my computer programming cert. Now I have a job doing programming with the same company I started to get out of dental assisting :)

[Remali]

Oh wow that is great starkitten, programming is a great job! I know exactly what you mean about dentists....in fact, before I went to school for Health Information I did a little dental assisting after I took a dental assistant program at the technical college.....I found that about three-fourths of dentists were so incredibly nasty, some would actually have fits and throw the dental trays across the room! One gal in my class had to be moved to another dentist for her clinicals because the dentist she had been doing her clinicals at was so nasty and mean. Unreal what they let doctors get away with.....and that is another reason I am thinking of getting away from medical records/medical office jobs.

[starkitten]

Yep the throwing is real - I had many sharp dental instruments chucked at me ;)

I wish you luck in deciding and going forward with what you want to do - it will be a challenge, but so rewarding :)

[Remali]

Some of the doctors at the hospital were like that too....it was really frustrating....because all of the other employees were held to a certain level of conduct, yet it was OK for the doctors to be rude and insulting and some were downright nasty. That is another reason I am not sure I want to continue with medical...it's funny, I was so naieve (sp?).....when I was going to school I thought "oh boy I will now get to work with professionals" and I thought I would be treated with more respect (I used to work in a computer manufacturing place prior to school), but was I sadly mistaken...I saw more unprofessionalism at the hospital than I ever saw at any factory or printed circuit board facility. At the hospital I worked at one of the top cardiologists there was caught making whoopie (well, you know what I mean..) in a stairwell with one of his nurses.....she lost her job, and yep, you guessed it...he did not (this was also a Catholic hospital!), needless to say that was kind of the last straw for me.

[lisakaye]

I haven't totally changed job field yet but I would really like too. I do the same thing as you Remali only I have stayed on the billing and coding side of the street and have found that managers and bosses are very nasty and not the least bit understanding when it comes to family issues. I would suggest keeping the job you have through the holidays and then looking afterwards. The economy is very bad here where I am. Good luck on your search. It never hurts to put out your resume and search the web every now and again though. That is how I found my new job. I wasn't reaaly looking but I saw it and went for it.

[Cat]

My degree is Environmental Chemistry and I worked as a Lab Rat for a while. Then I became a 1st line supervisor over manufacturing and now I am over safety.

[lisakaye]

I had a Dr. throw a crystal paperweight at me for using too much EKG paper. Needless to say I left and filed charges against him for that one..

[vicklynn]

The medical field can be down right wrong. I worked in Medical Records for just over a yr. The people, nurses mostly, and some of the billing, coding people were just down right rude. My supervisor didnt like me, but that was her issue, I did my job and did it well. The people hated that I didnt gossip with them, and stab people in the back. I was there to do my job. Why is it that people dont like that kind of attitude any more??
I quit, and right now, I dont work. I will hope to never have to need a job where I would have to go back into the medical field again. Id rather work at Burger King...LOl
I hope, that if you find you have to leave, that you find the right job for you.

[TheBadLands]

I went from training horses full time, to vet tech, to a teacher for the disabled now.

I love my job. I feel more at home here than anything I have ever done. But I always loved children.

I still train horses part time.

[TBgirl]

Hey Remali I am going through the same thing right now. I am 27 and have been working as an office assistant for years now. I hate the office politics and the drama that goes along with working with a bunch of females (hate to say it but it's true). Right now I am the Assitant to the Director at an Adult Day Health Care Program through the hospital. I really want to do something else. I was thinking of going for nursing because the pay is good and they are in high demand...and then I told myself I am crazy because I can't handle other people's bodies (I get so grossed out easily and I'm scared of germs). I don't want a job where I have to sit in front of a comp all day long...yet I don't want to run myself into the ground waitressing or doing anything like that. Gosh it's so hard to know what to do and where to even start. Do you have any careers that interest you? I was also thinking of radiology but the schools around here require you to go full time. There is no way I could not work full time. My only options for additional training are night or online classes. :(

[Remali]

It really is frustrating, I really have no idea of what else I would want to do. I really did like abstracting (it went along with coding, and I was actually an abstractor in medical records at that hospital I used to work at). But the coders where I worked were snotty and rude and just horrible how they talked behind people's backs, and my boss was as bad as they were. Good for you lisakaye, for filing charges against that doctor, I wish more people would do that, I know I sure would....and I actually did tell a doctor where he could go once (a doctor that I was seeing as a patient actually tho).

Well, unfortunately I am no longer working at that medical records job that I just started last month, it was such a nice job and the people at that place were actually quite nice.....but I ended up getting really ill.....my doctor wasn't sure if it was the stomach flu, or a bad reaction to the flu shot (I got ill within hours of the shot and it came on real fast)...but I got really sick for a few days, I had a fever and was throwing up, and everything else that goes with it....and seeing as my job was thru a temp agency, the temp agency told me not to go back to the job....I'm not sure if they were mad because I got sick and missed, or if they were mad because I was at work and I was sick (I actually got sick at work and tried working while I was sick, but then had to call in the next day, I think they were mad I was there sick, but what are you gonna do when you walk in the door to work feeling OK and then get ill at work.....). So it is back to the drawing board for me. But, that stomach flu, or whatever it was, that I had triggered a really bad colitis flare-up, and I was sick for a couple of weeks after that. So now I am being careful about where I work and what it is that I do...... So, that has gotten me thinking about what I really want to do for work and a job.

Gosh vicklynn.....that job you had in medical records sounds so much like the one I had at the hospital when I worked in medical records there.....the other coders and abstractors didn't seem to like it that I didn't gossip with them, they all had to take breaks together and if they even walked down the hall without one another, the person who got left behind would actually get really mad....they all had to do things together like little kids! It was ridiculous. They would laugh and make fun of other people....and I just stayed out of it...I sensed that they didn't like it that I didn't want to join their stupid little "click". I agree with ya....I would rather work at Burger King than go back to that too! In fact, I have applied for housekeeping jobs at a couple local motels, because I would rather do that than work in a place like the hospital again!

[FoxFireEMT]

OOOO OOOO pick me pick me!! LOL.

I did. I was an assistance Manager for a Credit Union when I decided to take my EMT class. I was just going to take it because my friend begged me to take it with her. :) It didn't take me long to realized the loved the "HIGH" I got when people counted on me to help them, and the thrill of speeding around town in this big truck & pride I had when someone looked at me & thanked me! Hmmm from a pencil pusher to a blood sloggin, people helping trauma junkie! Yep... big change.

[mare]

I went from full-time ranch hand to occupational therapist. Started college at age 36.

The only connection I had to therapy was growing up on racetracks (STB and TB) I did alot of the same stuff as I now do with humans. Well, and I did treat injured ranch horses and cattle. Don't know if this counts. I did do some time as a payroll clerk once and another time I tuned pianos at a factory when all the travel on the track got to be a bit much.

Have fun exploring your opportunities.

[Remali]

Both of your jobs sound so rewarding and exciting! I think an EMT would be so great (altho I know because of my IBS I wouldn't be able to do that), and I would LOVE to do occupational therapy but at age 52 and already having two student loans to pay off, I can't go back to school unfortunately. They are both great jobs!!!

[mare]

Could you be a rehab aide? All the fun and none of the paperwork.

[Remali]

Hmmmm...rehab aide? What do they do? You mean like in a nursing home? Sort of like a CNA?
If it is like a CNA, I herniated a couple disks in my back many years ago, and even tho my back healed good and I've been OK since then, I still can't bend or lift things a whole lot without having trouble with my back....so if it involved lifting or bending very much, I'm afraid that I wouldn't be able to do that. Good idea tho!

[FoxFireEMT]

Both of your jobs sound so rewarding and exciting! I think an EMT would be so great (altho I know because of my IBS I wouldn't be able to do that), and I would LOVE to do occupational therapy but at age 52 and already having two student loans to pay off, I can't go back to school unfortunately. They are both great jobs!!!


OOO yes you can. I have IBS.... Gets a little scetchy sometimes... :huh: But I manage fine!

[FoxFireEMT]

But the biggest problem with the job is seperating yourself form the reality of it all & not letting it take a toll on your mentally... some people just can't do it.

[Remali]

Well, I wish I could...mine has gotten pretty severe tho....my doc wants me to get tests to rule out colitis....
it is to the point where I can't go places at times and when I get a flare up I am so sick I cannot go anywhere at all.... colitis runs in my family and my nephew actually had his entire colon removed it got so bad for him....and I am sort of at a point where mine has become uncontrollable and too painful now....so I need a job where I can take off immediately if I have to, and disappear for a while.....so I'd be too unreliable as an EMT.

[FoxFireEMT]

I'm sorry to hear all this. I hope everything turns out okay with it. Mine was bad until I had some endometriosis removed last year. It helped some, but not 100%. I do a lot of disappearing myself, but thankfully I am usually okay.

[mare]

A rehab aide gets on the job training to provide direct treatment. It has to be with the occupational, physical or speech therapist treating others nearby, but the aide is doing things with people him/herself. Like if someone is working on fine motor skills and just needs lots of time and opportunities to develop the movement. Or maybe they have an exercise program they are doing to help strength and balance, the aide will set them up for each one and get them through it. Rehab aides do work in nursing homes, but also outpatient clinics, hospitals and schools or rehab homes. just a thought.

[Remali]

Oh sure, now I know what you mean mare! Actually I looked into that, I think it is a one or two year program to be an aide tho, and I just cannot afford to go back to school again (already have gone twice). So, well, I will figure something else out, but that sounds like a great job and something I really would've loved to do.

Thanks Foxfire.....I think things will settle down for me soon, I hope, this has just been an especially bad flare-up and I hope that is all it is, just a bad flare-up that will pass.

[HoustonFarrier]

When I got laid off from a very well paying software engineering job in 2004, I decided to 'take a break" from programming, and was a full time farrier for a few years. I really enjoyed it, but, when the saved $$ ran out, I had to get back to programming full time to pay the bills. I still do farrier work....and honestly, it's really full time as well, just mostly on weekends !

Steve

[offgridgirl]

paying software engineering job in 2004, I decided to 'take a break" from programming
Now that's a BIG change!!

I did the office manager/accounting thing for 15years and couldn't find any work in this area......soo I picked-up a gardening work for the summer..... It pays well and means you work hard for 8-6 months and then get the winter off...... You are outside so have to deal with the weather..good and bad.... just requires a few tools.....

[FoxFireEMT]

Oh sure, now I know what you mean mare! Actually I looked into that, I think it is a one or two year program to be an aide tho, and I just cannot afford to go back to school again (already have gone twice). So, well, I will figure something else out, but that sounds like a great job and something I really would've loved to do.

Thanks Foxfire.....I think things will settle down for me soon, I hope, this has just been an especially bad flare-up and I hope that is all it is, just a bad flare-up that will pass.


Some state colleges offer free training to "older" members of the community for "certificate" jobs such as Techs, programers & other stuff. I AM by no means calling you old b/c I have no idea how "old" you are but just maybe something you can look into. I think DE community colleges offer classes like that to those who are over 40. The older & younger members of the DE community can go to college for next to nothig if not free! DE is a good state for young kids & Seniors!

Again best of luck Rem!

[HoustonFarrier]

...training to "older" members of the community for "certificate" jobs such as Techs, programers & other stuff....
I'd qualify for that :):p LM-OLD-AO

Steve

[Remali]

Hey, I would LOVE the free training....and I DO qualify.....lol....I am 52. Hmmmm.....might be worth checking into, glad you mentioned that!

[Remali]

Well! I got a phone call today, and I got a part time housekeeper job, and it is just 3 or 4 miles down the road from me.....whew! It's a start at least! :)

[Hobo]

Well I went from being a veterinary technician to being a caseworker for food stamps then to being a wildland firefighter to now being a GIS specalist