A flight, uniforms, and skill

Nothing as interesting as my last posting re: getting my visa and ranting about the HPC. But I do now have a flight booked for February 19th. Nonrefundable, which I guess is about as concrete as I can get at this point, given that I still don't have my license to practice in the UK. However, I do know that my application hit the desk of the manager today, if not yesterday, and my agent tells me it should only be 3 weeks now before the license comes through. I'm crossing all my fingers and toes, since I've given notice at work, and told Whipps Cross I can start any time from Feb 21 on.

Since I am now given to forward thinking, I want to comment on how much I will miss my scrubs. My friend Midge recently did a rather nice blog on the pluses (and believe me from where I'm standing it's all pluses, we're not dressing to impress here) of scrubs. I love all the different colors I own, some have pockets on the sleeves where I can easily find my pen, highlighter, etc...they dry very quickly (thank goodness I was wearing them that day in NYC getting my visa because it was raining cats and dogs) which makes showering with patients no big deal. Wait, that came out wrong. Supervising patients as they shower...ok, there's no way that I can put this that non-OTs won't snicker at, so let's just say scrubs are great for those of us who do shower ADLs. They're lightweight, they travel well, they double as PJs, and they only get better as they age with washings. Ok, enough of that, back to...I will miss my scrubs. And that's because I have to wear a uniform in the UK. I never went to Catholic schools and I must say I'm not looking forward to it, but all OTs in the UK have the same uniform. My agent tells me they include a pair of trousers a loverly shade of green (now I understand my Oxford classmates' comments about "OT green") as well as a white tunic top with a green stripe down the side. Evidently at some NHS hospitals they've switched to white polo shirts with green stripes...how trendy of them. (Does sarcasm read through blogs?) I hope I get at least 5 pairs of these uniform things, because I'm not used to having to wash midweek. Aggg, which reminds me, I'll be back to the land of laundromats.

Why am I not just staying in the US at a very generous salary and buying my first condo/house?! I don't want to traipse outside to do my laundry!!

Actually one of my "other" dads did ask something very similar, and we discovered together that I do have a career furthering goal in mind. In the UK, they don't hire basic grade (essentially new grads, which I still am, even with 8 months experience behind me now) unless there is someone to supervise and mentor them. OTs coming to the US from the UK are highly sought because they are generally highly skilled due to this dedication to their on-the-job training. Don't tell any of my patients, but given how newly started I am on my OT career, I often wonder whether they are not getting the best care they could possibly get, especially with specialties such as stroke patients (which I'm learning as best I can from books, my notes from classes, trying to consult other OTs). I hope some day I will be able to call myself a "highly skilled OT." And I think spending a year or two in the UK is a good step in that direction.

However, at the moment, it is time to return to work, my lunch half hour having come to an end. Check out Midge's more eloquent discussion of scrubs on her blog from my links at left. TTFN.