The honeymoon is over
I've been working in the NHS now for 5 months now and living in the United Kingdom for 6. Some days it feels like it took 5 years to get through the past 5 months. Back in New York, I knew the ins and outs of Medicare and Medicaid, I knew how to get through a JCAHO survey with flying colors (and did for 3 different agencies!) and a DOH audit is no sweat. In essence, I had nearly 2 decades worth of experience that meant something. I feel like an idiot here.
I keep floundering into walls, errors, and miscommunications here. I keep applying a USA mindset to things and find out that what I thought was a logical connection is, in fact, the wrong way of doing things. I have to remind myself that I have had no Physiotherapy mentor through this process. The person who was supposed to have that role is the one who had also applied for my position...and didn't get it. To say they have been unhelpful would be more kindness than they deserve.
The bureaucracy behind things that used to be so simple back home is mind boggling here. Yes, the NHS does make CMS look simple to navigate! I wanted to order a hemi-walker for a client. The equipment stock doesn't normally carry them, the non-mentor therapist had never heard of one, and nobody knew what I was talking about. I found one through a DME company, ordered it with manager approval, it worked and the client is now an independent community ambulatory! The time frame for this process was 3 months. More forms than I care to think about and I've learned that I still may not have followed the correct protocol.
I'm tired of being misunderstood. I can't use "rhonchi" when describing breath sounds, they are "coarse".I can't use "extremity" when referring to an arm or leg. I say musculoskeletal instead of musculoskeleeeetal. There are days I feel like a global aphasia has set in.
I know I'm feeling blue when completing an OASIS sounds appealing! Fingers crossed, next week will be better.