This turned out to be a bit long but I just wanted to compare my experiences to that of others working in the field. I graduated this spring with a BS in biology and am looking to apply to graduate Physician Assistant programs next year. My initial plan was to work and accrue some Direct Patient Care hours during my gap year, but since I wasn't actually a certified medical assistant or anything like that my options were pretty limited. I worked at a COVID testing facility for a few weeks before they shut down the company and am now a clinical assistant at a fancy private eye care practice. The problem is, we are seeing way more patients than the staff can physically or mentally handle, and it is starting to take its toll. A team of eight assistants is expected to process 40-60 patients a day, five days a week, in addition to other clinical tasks (restocking rooms with supplies, ordering contact lenses, sending prior authorizations for meds, sending prescriptions to pharmacies, coding medical charts, as well as miscellaneous things like cleaning mirrors and computer screens, turning equipment on and off, etc.) When you factor in that two of the assistants will scribe for the doctors on any given day (thus not working up patients) and one more will be assigned to diagnostic testing, this leaves five people to process that amount of patients from 9 am to 5 pm (provided nobody is out sick). Suffice it to say, the workday does not end at 5 PM. You are expected to get there early and leave late - I have gotten negative performance reviews (which we have monthly) for trying to leave at 5 or even 5:15. We rotate through scribing, so on those days we also have to stay late to finish up notes and code everything before it gets sent off to insurance the next day. The practice also specializes in oculoplastic surgery (we have our own OR). Because the office itself is so small, we do not have a break room, and we eat in the patient recovery area, but since there are surgeries almost every day, we often have to eat outside or close down one of the 7 exam rooms (which makes it even harder to work up this many patients on time). We are not allowed to use the microwave at work because it is directly next to the OR, so most of the time I wind up eating random cold meals or buying food. The food is the least of my problems at this place, but it certainly adds insult to injury when you can't have a hot meal after sitting down for the first time in a few hours.
My question is, is it normal for healthcare personnel to be assigned so much responsibility day in and day out? Obviously, COVID has made it really hard on hospital staff everywhere, but we are an outpatient facility and people don't *need* to have cosmetic Botox, or liposuctions, or other elective procedures scheduled when we are already at capacity. It is pretty standard for patients to be added on to an already full schedule for things that aren't really emergencies (like styes or ingrown eyelashes). I am exhausted within an inch of my life at the end of the day and I just don't see myself lasting there until I'm off to grad school - I don't even know for certain that I will get accepted in the next cycle. I desperately want to quit and pursue a phlebotomy certification or something similar, but I am afraid that due to my lack of experience I will either be unable to find another position, or will eventually come to the realization that this is just how healthcare is, and I need to accept that I will be working like a dog until I get my graduate degree and have my own assistants to help me.
I am open to honest criticism and I do admit that I am not the type of person to put my career before everything else. I went into this field out of genuine compassion and desire to help people, and I do really like the work - there is just so, so much of it that at the end of the day I have no energy to do anything but recover before the next workday, much less work on grad school applications or study for the GRE. I know my coworkers feel that way, too, but they all have their reasons not to quit, I guess. I'm afraid to talk to them about it in case they look down on my lack of work ethic, or what have you. So, am I being grossly overworked and underpaid? Are there clinics out there that value the well-being of their staff? Or should I suck it up and just accept that being a healthcare professional means giving up your personal life forever?
TL;DR I started a new job as a clinical assistant at a private outpatient practice and we are slammed with work to the point I want to quit. I don't know if it's the same everywhere since I haven't worked at too many places, or if I should try to seek out something better for myself.
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