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Short Weeks Make For Long Work Days

Things are in full swing here at PruittHealth. Going into my fifth week of work, I was extremely excited to travel to a couple of new facilities. However, my work week was cut short due to a bout of strep throat. Apparently, hospitals and nursing homes don’t want an intern around with a contagious illness, imagine that. Before my work week was concluded however, I traveled back to Charlotte to shadow another transition nurse. Unfortunately, I did not get as much face to face time with patients this week as I would have liked, but it is still very interesting to read all about the patients illnesses and therapy based needs. I have learned a ton about short term therapy options, as well as how Medicare and Medicaid come into play when choosing a correct therapy location.

So far, I was surprised in the fact that these transition nurses that I have been working with don’t act like typical nurses. They aren’t dressed in scrubs like you might imagine a typical RN, but they do dress business casual. Most of them wear ties or pantsuits, because they don’t have to treat patients. They simply meet patients, persuade them to use Pruitt’s therapy facilities, and then go on to the next patient. These nurses act more like sales professionals rather than healthcare workers. This has led me to learn that not all healthcare professionals are your stereotypical nurses and doctors. There is a lot of behind the scenes work that may not be evident in most peoples perceptions of hospitals and nursing homes.