Ohio bound

After a few weeks to enjoy with family at home, I was back on the road…this time, headed for Columbus, Ohio. Just weeks earlier I was fortunate enough, as timing would have it (timing is the name of the game in this line of work), to learn about a job opening in a fetal care center. A fetal care center is a department which employs a team of people, including fetal surgeons, who see patients that have already been diagnosed from a maternal fetal medicine department with a serious enough fetal abnormality that may benefit from surgical intervention. One of many examples of this would be a fetus that has been diagnosed with spina bifida, or an open neural tube defect (also known as a myelomeningocele), in which seeing a fetal surgeon who has the experience of correcting the abnormality while the baby is in utero, may alter the outcome of that child’s life. By intervening prior to birth, the baby has a chance to heal within it’s mother’s womb and often improves the likelihood of that baby being able to have a chance at normal (or at least semi-normal) mobility, versus waiting until the child is born and doing the surgery outside the womb. I, of course, saw a job in this environment as both a huge challenge and incredibly rewarding opportunity.

I love to learn, and thrive on it, especially in my ever evolving profession, and jumped at the opportunity to submit my profile over for consideration for this job opening. Much to my pleasant surprise, I received word direct from this fetal care center that they wanted to interview me. The day the interview came, I was simultaneously excited and a tiny bit nervous to be in the middle of a zoom call with multiple doctors, the Department Administrator, and the Director of this clearly special place. Overall, I felt pretty comfortable providing open and honest dialogue about my skills and experience, yet I found myself internally trembling with excitement by the end of the interview, because it was surreal being considered for a position in this department. (Few sonographers have the opportunity to work in such a place.) I was impressed by the kindness of this team, and through that zoom call, could feel their warm and welcoming demeanor toward me and appreciation for my background and what I could bring to the table. The doctor who created this newly formed department acquired his vast knowledge and years of experience in this type of fetal care, while working at one of the most premier institutions in the United States. With a limited number of fetal care centers in the United States, he felt a strong desire to open one in this area, so as to reduce the distance patients would have to travel to obtain this type of quality medical care for their unborn child. Oftentimes in the setting of fetal care centers, people travel for miles, sometimes by plane, to get the expertise needed to help their baby. Many of these hospitals have a Ronald McDonald House situated nearby, to allow for families traveling far from home to be able to be near their baby during their hospital stay, with housing at little to no cost to them, easing some of their financial burden.

My interview went well and I ended the zoom chat with the most excitement I ever felt in a job search. Ultimately, I heard back that I was offered the job and was literally on cloud nine! After the necessary requirements, and getting FBI fingerprinted en route to my new job (a criteria in the state of Ohio and the hospital I was going to be working for), I was ready to move into my new temporary home. I had the most enjoyable place to stay: a cozy apartment over a detached garage, owned by a lovely couple who lived in the adjacent house with their family. Their property included an in-ground pool and a fire pit to sit around and socialize with them on occasion. The apartment was only about 15 minutes from work, which was an added bonus when driving so far to get to an assignment.

On day one, I received a very warm welcome from the Department Administrator who took the time out of her schedule to personally meet me at the human resources department, walk me over to the fetal care center, and even giving me a hospital tour so I would feel more comfortable with navigating this large facility. She made a point of introducing me to everyone within the department and even going so far as scheduling lunchtime meet and greets with all the staff, so I could get to know them a bit better and understand what their role is within the department. This also made it hugely beneficial at being able to quickly remember their names. I have never received an on-boarding experience quite like this one and felt included as one of their own; this welcoming atmosphere really did make you feel like you were part of one big happy family. This experience was so perfect, it could be used as an example to other facilities of how to bring on a new hire and make them feel welcomed, which ultimately allows them to thrive on the job feeling part of the team!

As if that weren’t enough, I was invited to sit in on the consultations to be able to gain better understanding of how my job as a sonographer plays into the bigger picture. Let me explain. Ordinarily I would see a patient who has an indication for an ultrasound, and based on that indication, perform the exam. The patient would then see the MFM doctor who would explain the results, and then they leave the department, sometimes needing follow up scans with us. However in a fetal care center, the patient is there ultimately to consult with the fetal surgeons and a team of doctors that need to be involved in their baby’s care. They often start their day at 7 am with an MRI, then an hour or two later with a “targeted” (or “high risk / detailed”) ultrasound exam to check their baby from head to toe, to assess for the abnormality that sent them to the department in the first place. This targeted exam is done in extreme detail, beyond any other I have ever performed. Later that morning, they would have their fetal echocardiogram performed, and then they would have a break for lunch, often returning to the fetal care center in the mid afternoon for their consultation. This allows time for the fetal surgeons to review all three diagnostic tests and put together a presentation that is displayed on monitors in the consultation room, allowing them to provide a clear understanding visually about the findings and what they can do to help the patient’s baby, if help is an option. The patient and her family will then arrive in the room and sit at a table surrounded by all those involved in her care, including the surgeons that their baby needs (fetal surgeons, neonatologists, cardiologists, urologists, etc.) and the presentation and discussion will begin. Being able to witness how what you discovered on ultrasound is presented to the patient, along with the doctors’ plan for their baby, is both an educational and enlightening experience, that helps you to be reminded of the importance of what you do and how it directly relates to saving the tiniest lives – something you can often lose sight of in your day to day job, when you don’t have the luxury of seeing this bigger picture. Being in the room when the patient receives the news about their child’s abnormality and what the treatment and long term outcome may be, is also a very emotional experience to be a part of, as you can imagine.

Needless to say, this job was an incredibly rewarding experience for me, and I felt privileged to be able to be a part of that process and am so grateful to this team for giving me the opportunity to experience that. However, it didn’t end with just that. Because we were a new department, there was a lot of downtime between ultrasounds. I had the rare opportunity, as a result, to be able to observe some of the outstanding cardiac sonographers that would come to our department to perform fetal echoes on these patients. These sonographers were not only trained in fetal echo, but primarily in adult and pediatric echo, as well. Additionally, a dedicated cardiologist would be on hand during times where these fetal echoes were being performed in the fetal care center. Being able to pick the brains of these talented cardiac sonographers (and on occasion, the cardiologist) on all things echo, ultimately learning from them, reading books on this subject and related educational material, and even scanning a few patients (ultimately performing a couple solo fetal echo exams), allowed me the opportunity to attempt the fetal echo board exam. I studied like crazy, not wanting to waste this valuable opportunity that I received. I decided to give it a shot and applied for the exam. It was hands down the hardest test I have ever taken in my field, and to my surprise, I passed! I couldn’t have done it without them. If there is one thing that I love about being a travel sonographer, it is being able to have the opportunities that I would not have in a regular job – being fortunate enough to have experiences that broaden my knowledge, and oftentimes, allowing me to reach goals I never thought would be achievable. I will never forget what this outstanding team of people did for me, in allowing me to advance in my career, and hope I have the chance to cross paths with them again one day.

My experience in this fetal care center was hands down one of the most rewarding and fulfilling jobs I have ever been blessed to have. But beyond the job itself, I found Columbus to be a city that has a lot to offer and really enjoyed my time there. Columbus does have a few things that gave me some pause, such as gang violence (although what big city is immune to that?), being in the heart of tornado country, and some scary drivers…with their frequent decision to stomp on their brakes when you are traveling at highway speed or perform other impulsive last minute decisions behind the wheel….which puts a whole new meaning to the term defensive driving. And let’s not forget how brutally cold and windy it can be there in the winter, with it’s flat terrain. But despite that, Columbus has a lot to offer in the way of entertainment, dining, sports, and music / cultural events, many of which I was able to thoroughly experience during my time there, and in my upcoming posts, will expand on that. Stay tuned!