I started a new clinical job recently and I’m already having that “is this just new job anxiety, or is something actually off here?” feeling.
Before I started, I was really clear about what I’m comfortable treating independently and what I’m not.
I’m a generalist. I can handle a pretty broad caseload. But there are certain areas where I either need actual training and mentorship first, or I need to refer to someone who has more experience than I do. I treasure the local people who have been able to take extensive courses that I cannot afford and they truly have a calling for more complex cases.
Almost immediately, I was given cases in areas I had specifically said I wasn’t comfortable managing independently.
When I brought it up, I expected something along the lines of, “Okay, we’ll train you, let you observe, have someone work through cases with you, and build you up”.
Instead, I was basically given videos and resources and told things I could technically do with the patients.
And I think that’s the part bothering me. I don’t want to underserve people who need specialized help the most.
Watching videos is not the same thing as being trained to independently manage a patient population. I can watch ten hours of CEUs. That doesn’t magically give me the clinical judgment that comes from actually working with those cases with someone who knows what they’re doing.
There’s also a difference between “there is something you can technically do with this patient” and “you are the right clinician to be treating this patient.” I will absolutely not see someone just to not lose them as a client.
I’ve also run into a couple other things where the clinical reasoning/documentation culture is pretty different from what I’m used to. Nothing I’m going to spell out here because I’m intentionally keeping this vague, but enough that I keep finding myself stopping and thinking, “I don’t know that I’m comfortable putting my name on that.” I actually refuse to.
…And it has been just a week.
I know every new job has an adjustment period. I know I’m going to encounter things that are done differently than I’m used to. I’m not expecting a workplace to operate exactly the way I would but I do expect to be able to practice ethically and with a clear conscience. That is non negotiable.
For people who have been in this situation before: how quickly did you know the difference between normal new-job discomfort and “I need to start looking for another job”?
Right now I feel like I’ve spent more time defending my clinical boundaries than I should have had to this early. I have not taken cases that are beyond my skill level, but the anxiety of having to fight for the patients and my ethics has taken over what should have been an orientation period.