Being an ANGEL

I love my job!  There are two factors that keep me from moving to Florida.  The first is I could not leave my Grandchildren.  Granted, today, I only have one.  But I am very optimistic and hope for many more in the next five years.  Two, I actually love my job.  I plan on staying with it and retiring from what I do today. 

I work at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock, AR.  I work in the ANGELS program - The Antenatal and Neonatal Guidelines, Education and Learning Systems.  The department I work in is the Call Center.  We take and make calls all day.  First let me tell you a little about the benefits of my job and then I will attempt to explain what I actually do.

Probably the best benefit in my opinion is their retirement plan.  The University matches up to 10% of my contribution each year.  So naturally, I put the whole 10% in to the plan.  That is 20% of my salary going into my TIAA-CREF account every year.  And it adds up FAST!   The next best benefit is we get some 10 or 11 holidays a year - WOW!  Unheard of these days.  Then there is the vacation and sick time that adds up quickly. 

The next benefit is unquantifiable.  I work with a wonderful group of nurses.  Sure, there is at least one stinker in the bunch , but that is true anywhere you go.  I have a special place in my heart for the weekend crew that I work with; they are the tops.  We get along so well, we climb over top of each other to help one another out.  We are a true team. 

The Call Center is split into 2 main organizations - the Physicians Call Center (PCC) and ANGELS Call Center.  When I work PCC, I take calls from physicians wanting to transfer a patient or consult with a physician.  If it is a transfer, you have to figure out which department to contact, who can admit the patient, and connect the two doctors.  We record all this information in a computer program designed to capture this type of info.  Yeah, me typing!!  Next a survey is filled out and sent to the transfer team that facilitates the actual transfer.  Sounds simple, NOT!  The surgeon you are needing to connect with is in surgery and won't call you back.  GI can't admit so internal medicine is called upon to admit a patient and they feel like they are getting dumped on.  And then there are the special programs like the Aortic Pathway, which is a true emergency and needs to be handled efficiently and as quick as can be.  Problem is you can't get proficient at it if you haven't even done one! No one's fault, just the way it happens.  Sometimes a PCC call will stay active for days with multiple nurses handling something kind of complicated.  It can get rather intense at times. 

ANGELS is primarily taking calls from pregnant and non-pregnant women who have problems or questions.  We triage the women based on a set of standard guidelines built into the computer program we document everything in.  An example would be a pregnant woman calls thinking she is in labor, having contractions every 12 minutes apart.  It is her first baby and she is full term.  We would tell her it is not time to come in yet,  and give her instructions on what to look for and when to come in/ call back later.  We also do call backs, checking on how women who have been in the hospital are doing once they go home.  In ANGELS we also facilitate OB transfers, and physician consults.  Quite frankly, we get our far share of strange calls on a daily basis.  I won't speak of any to protect the innocent and the ignorant.

Another program we do is called ARSAVES.  It is a stroke intervention program where we hook up our neurologist with the outlying smaller hospital that does not have a neurologist on staff.  Our neurologist goes through many questions with the patient and does a physical assessment over the Tandberg, a telemedicine connection much like Skype.  He looks at the head CT scan and along with his assessment, determines if the patient has had a stroke.  If he has, then a powerful drug is given to break up the blood clot in the head.  We then facilitate getting the patient to UAMS or another spoke hospital.  It's all pretty exciting really. 

We also participate in some dozen or so smaller pieces of the pie, like taking call for various OB/GYN offices throughout the state, and taking part in a special project in using the Tandberg in the women's prison for their pregnant inmates.  When things are busy, you have to be very good at multitasking.  You may be in the middle of a PCC call with a physician paged out, then get an OB transport call placed on your desk, then the ARSAVES phone rings.   Keeping your wits about you is a must, constantly prioritizing, and staying in touch with all parties is a must.  I love it!!  Wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.