At my last visit in November, my surgeon brought up the possibility of me doing psych evals for his pre-surgery patients, and perhaps being involved in some support group activities for post-surgery. They've had some issues with their out-of-house evaluators and really want to bring someone "in house" to help streamline the process and give more continuous care to patients.
He must be serious, because his nutritionist and now his office manager have called me about it and asked that I keep in touch concerning my availability.
I'm actually really excited about the opportunity. I think it's something that I would enjoy doing, and not only that, be good at. As a WLS patient myself, I can probably be a good resource to patients(of course, being careful to keep it professional and not about me). I would do this on a part-time consulting basis-- I have no intention of leaving my current job.
All that said, I have to wait until my state license to practice comes through. I've not really had a lot of time since I moved here to see patients since I already have a full time job teaching, but I'd already started the process of getting licensed here before this talk-- now I just have incentive :) It will probably be a good 4 months out still as it is a slow and laborious process. First you have to get approved to take the test (by a full meeting of the board), then you have to take the test and they have to meet on your results-- and oh yeah, they only meet one time every two months. I had two letter writers who took forever to get in their reference letters, so the board has had my application since September but won't look at it until their January meeting. And that's just the first step. . .
Anyway, I'm looking forward to this. And of course I have to admit-- I will really like the extra money.
Sounds like a good gig! The therapist at my clinic has a similar set up. She has a private practice outside of their office but does all their evals. And she's a band patient too.
ReplyDeleteGood luck getting your license to practice!
That would be cool! It would be great for the patients AND I bet it would help you stay on track too!
ReplyDeleteI think this would be great and that your blogging experiences probably have given you good context on what to expect. I like it when I get to work with nurses/staff in our office that have been through the actual experience too...and by the way, I always love your comments...they are always quietly supportive and nurturing. You will be great.
ReplyDeleteSweet-it is interesting this desire to contrubute and give back don't you think? I have read talked to a few bandsters who feel this way. I know I do.
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Sounds awesome, I hope it all falls into place soon for you.
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