I've always enjoyed a healthy balance in my life between stability and change. I do relish the comfort of the familiar, but I always love the excitement of the new. My work life has been pretty static over the past 15 years. I started working at the Children's Hospital after I graduated and have never left. Although there have been many changes, I have spent the past 15 years working with both in-patients and out-patients at the hospital. I've found comfort in the stability of my job, my co-workers, and my profession. Although I have contemplated job changes over the years, the flexible schedule, job security, salary, and love for the work I do always counteract any of the negative changes occurring at any given time.
Change can be good. And although I am not changing jobs, I am making a major change in the job that I currently have. Starting this week I am changing my work schedule and I am changing my work focus. Starting this week I am exclusively seeing in-patients in the hospital. For the past 15 years, I have enjoyed a balance of seeing out-patients coming to the clinic and in-patients in the hospital. However, most of my continuing education, most of my program development, and most of my focus has been on improving services in the out-patient setting. That is all changing.
The change was a little bittersweet as I had to say good-bye to the families that I work with in the out-patient setting, some of whom I've worked with for years. But I am also excited. Excited because I am also saying good-bye to the mountains of paperwork and insurance queries and scheduling difficulties and room shortages that have become a part of the out-patient world. Excited because, instead of a split focus, I will have a single focus. Excited because this is a new focus for me and I am looking forward to professional growth that will come with this. Excited about building new programs and developing new relationships and establishing new processes that will hopefully enhance in-patient therapy. Excited that I can keep my flexible schedule and my job security and my co-workers while getting re-energized about approaching my job in a new way. Stability and change. This balance works for me, and I'm looking forward to this new chapter.
