The Job Interview: Any Questions?

I've just had four hours of my life sucked out of my unwilling body in EMR (Electronic Medical Record) training . . . only the third system I've had to familiarize myself with in two years. At least they seem to be getting more user-friendly.

I've made it a policy, while negotiating or working assignments never to blog on my day-to-day "real time"/"real patient" experiences. I sign my name here - it just is too hard to do what some of the anonymous doctor-bloggers do.

Better to save it all for the book - where I can change names to protect the guilty.

On the other hand, in addition to exposing the administrators of Randolph Hospital in Asheboro, North Carolina for the arrogant, way-overpaid, medically-ignorant, Pediatrician-disrespecting, sexist, lying, criminal cretins that they are (the reason this blog exists), I have pushed the "real time" envelope just a little bit in the past . . . once by identifying a specific situation, and another time by talking about an assignment I had just left.

[The specific situation is public record. If one wants to talk about the "moral obligations" of doctors, this situation was shamefully handled by the NC Medical Board - and I have a very strong opinion about that.]

Today, I am going to talk about real time. For right now, I am at a professional crossroads. I am considering/negotiating three wildly-different opportunities for longer-term employment beginning after the first of next year.

One involves staying where I am (in far Eastern NC) and helping pilot a unique, "think-outside-the-box" Pediatric program for a rural community in dire need. This opportunity would allow me to continue what I have been doing for over a decade, i.e. having a job somewhere else and maintaining a home in Asheboro - with blocks of time "on" and "off". I very much like the facility & staff where I am working (they have been very good to me), and I love the people of Eastern North Carolina. It's a chance to branch out and learn new things as well. So choice number one definitely has its appeal.

The second opportunity involves uprooting everything I have struggled so hard to keep/maintain in Asheboro and moving . . . leaving my family & friends behind . . . and essentially starting all over in a private practice setting - again in Eastern North Carolina. While the location and job are very appealing - making a transition of this kind in our current economy is not. But the notion of a totally fresh start also has a very strong appeal.

The third opportunity involves working for a group practice/hospital much closer to home than I've ever dreamed possible since the career-altering hatchet-job I got in Asheboro. I could do a daily commute - and actually sleep in my own bed a huge portion of the time. Taking call would still involve some hotel time - but nothing like I've been doing for the last ten years. The group is wonderful and well-respected - and the hospital is affiliated with my alma-mater. So it's wildly appealing.

There is actually a fourth possibility - and that is, slowing down just a bit (now that all debts save the mortgage are paid down) and doing more shorter-term Locums assignments for "fun" as opposed to pay the bills. It would be about doing Locums work for the reason I originally did Locums work - i.e. to travel around the country and to see/do different things. For instance, I have yet to work on an Indian reservation.

All of the opportunities have their pluses and minuses. And I am currently suffering from a bit of sensory over-load. A decision needs to be made within the next two to three weeks. I am re-visiting one of the locations this weekend - and will be spending time with family in Virgina the week after that - in order to flesh it all out and make a choice.

I want to talk about the third opportunity. I actually interviewed for this job yesterday. While overall, the day went well and I liked the doctors/practice/opportunity very much - there is a portion of the interview process that stuck out like a sore thumb - and raised a definite red flag.

Since I started blogging - back in 2005, I've always been a just little concerned about the effect blogging (under my own name) might have on my ability to get jobs/assignments. While on assignments, I practice a kind of "only-tell-if-they-ask" policy with regards to my blogging activities - in other words, if people recognize my name (and it's happened) or if they hear that I'm from Asheboro and want my opinion of the town/hospital/medical "community", I give it (wouldn't you love to be a fly on that wall?). But I don't solicit attention. I certainly don't discuss it with patients (unless they know me - I have actually met some of my former patients from Asheboro while working on the road - and that ALWAYS generates a lively conversation).

Long story short, apart from a very few occasions where a local lead suddenly went dead, I have not had any problem finding work as a Locums. I've been offered permanent opportunities nearly everywhere I've worked - but was always hanging on to the notion of someday being completely vindicated and returning to Asheboro.

My friends joke that I have "commitment issues".

Except in the ED setting, my pay as a Locum Tenens Pediatrician has never been anything close to what I might have made in private practice. Most of my true compensation was found in the lifestyle of an independent contractor - the freedom to pick and choose and walk away - to have some control over my own destiny in a profession that increasingly is taking that control away from physicians. But over the last year or so, I've noticed that Pediatricians are in demand - especially in rural areas - and are being compensated accordingly.

You see, contrary to the idiot-musings of arrogant-cliquish-moronic-king-of-the-jerks-Randolph Hospital VP, Steven Eblin, good Pediatricians are NOT "a dime a dozen".

[WHY does this loser still have job?]

Anyway, the first part of any interview involving a hospital almost always involves a tour of the facility in question - as well as a brief sit-down with the very-important-suits who run the place. In this particular case, it was pretty much step one. I was ushered into a board room where five or six administrators sat waiting for me.

It had a very "Daniel in the lions den" feeling.

There were some brief pleasantries after I sat down, but almost immediately, one of the executives (a lady VP if memory serves) started in on what happened in Asheboro . . . asking for an explanation. The way she looked at me and asked her questions (which included furtive glances at her fellows . . . as if the effort was preplanned and coordinated) was intense and un-nerving.

This sort of thing has pretty much NEVER happened before on an interview. Don't get me wrong, I've been asked about Asheboro . . . and when asked, I've been forthright with people about my past . . . but usually people are much more subtle (not to mention, sympathetic) than this woman was. And it's not usually the first thing on the table.

I had the strong sense I had been "Googled" . . . or that phone calls had been made between "colleagues" at another hospital not-so-far up the road.

I gave a brief, cursory answer . . . along the lines of: I came home on a public service gig - I worked my butt off for three years - doing 24/7 critical-care back-up for people who turned out not to appreciate it AT ALL (not to mention taking every child abuse case that crossed my doorstep) and for my trouble was thrown out the back door with the garbage when I was called in to clean up another doctor's mess. I was fired after saving a newborn baby's life. I sued. I "won". I am still very angry about what happened to me - and what was not done/has not been done by the state on my behalf - and I've found "other venues" in which to address it - but it's not an issue I discuss at work.

I did not elaborate further on the "venues" . . . either by mentioning blogging or that I am considering legal action against the state (something I had hoped to get filed by the end of the month - but may now be postponed for a little while).

The day progressed. I went on to meet the doctors and visited the (private - i.e. not hospital-owned) practice. From what I was told before I left, I expect I will receive an offer. Where Asheboro is concerned, the doctors recognize I got burned - and that a good Pediatrician with a CV extensive as mine who is willing to work hard (apparently many Peds coming out of training these days are not willing to do that) should not be dismissed or sneezed at.

I have a "hobby" that involves taking a former employer to task . . . so what?

But that initial encounter with the hospital brass nagged at me all day . . . and all the way back down East last night.

The "bad vibes" I got from the lady VP are definitely going to play into my decision.

I thought I'd prepare a better/more "in your face" answer . . . in case this ever happens again (or in case the lady VP "Googles" me again) . . . and it's along the "moral obligation" argument I've been having with a very naive newbie somewhere else . . . except in this instance, I'm framing it in terms of the moral obligations of those who employ, privilege and license doctors.

Picture me smiling sweetly as I respond to the VP sitting across the boardroom table:

I'm real glad you asked. Here's the thing about Asheboro. Your counterparts at Randolph threatened, then retaliated against a physician in public service for doing her duty and her job. You see, it's not in ANY job description I'm aware of for a doctor to roll back over and go to sleep when a nurse calls and says a newborn baby is dying - and then begs for help. It's also not in the job description to overlook/ignore the massive screw-up of someone else. In order to do "Quality Assurance" you have to identify incidents in which quality care was not delivered.

You see, in my book, patients come first. I hope they come first in your book too.

Bottom line: Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin were wrong. I was right. I sued, I won.

But I did not really win - because a funny thing happened on the way to "justice". These "non-profit" executives lied-under-Oath in the discovery repsonses of their own despicable "SLAPP" suit . . . in order to save the hospital some money during settlement negotiations and kill any real chance I had to come back home & re-establish my practice . . . which is why I filed the lawsuit in the first place. For me the lawsuit was about vindication - about coming home.

So I hope you, both as a businesswoman and law-abiding citizen, can understand why I might be upset about perjury, contempt and fraud.

Once again, Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin were wrong. But this time, what they did crossed the line from the morally reprehensible into the criminal realm. No one who could has held them accountable. And I am very angry - justifiably so - about that. You see, it's my opinion that Mr. Morrison and Mr. Eblin need to be shown two doors - one at the hospital that slams permanently behind them on the way out . . . and one that slams shut on them went they enter their jail cell. I will continue to work to see that happen.

As you probably well know, because of all their monopolistic machinations, the speciality of Pediatrics in Asheboro (the service I came home to shore up) went down the toilet. The hospital-owned Pediatric practice is a revolving door - and they cannot seem to recruit anyone new (in large part because of Asheboro's well-deserved reputation for treating Pediatricians like dirt). The private Peds that remain are fragmented and disenfranchised - and Family Practice rules the roost. It's my opinion that other small town/rural hospitals could learn much from Randolph's monster physician-management mistakes.

Indeed, you yourself could learn much from Bob Morrison and Steve Eblin - about how NOT to treat good doctors - about how employing bully tactics - and lying over and over again - is NEVER a good policy . . . and never the best way to achieve your "vision".

When it comes to Pediatrics, the community where I grew up . . . the community I still call home . . . has been taken for a very expensive ride. I am angry about that too - especially the way the local press has buried that aspect of the story (in classic "good-ole-boy" fashion - it's beyond irresponsible) - and I am going to continue to do whatever I can - using whatever venue that is available to me - to inform the citizens & parents of Asheboro as to what has really been going on right under their noses.

I'm also angry with a system of medical & legal oversight that simply does not work - from the boardroom to the courtroom to the back-rooms of our houses of government. And I am determined to do something about it. Because threatening doctors for doing their job - and retaliating against doctors for adhering to their sworn duties - treating doctors like dirt and lying to them when they drag your butt to court (and beat you at your own dirty game with the truth) - is simply not acceptable.

It cannot stand.

Any questions?

I dunno. Maybe it's too much;)

Author's note: If anyone is inclined to do so, please say a prayer for me. I really need some help with the decisions I must make within the next few weeks.

10/23 Update: In discussing this "embarrassment of riches" with a friend/colleague - as well as the unnerving aspect of the interview - she asked (I'm paraphrasing), "You know, I want to know WHEN doctors gave up the right to have opinions and private lives . . . and WHAT about being an employee or being privileged by a hospital takes away your right to just be who you are? WHY do some hospitals/their administrators assume they OWN your life as soon as you're signed and/or attached to a community - ergo they can treat you like dirt?"

I don't have an answer for that.