graduate researcher

postdoctoral fellow

teaching assistant

research assistant

postdoctoral researcher

UC San Diego

The variety of managed care contracting projects provided a good introduction to health care and managed care in particular.  The atmosphere tended to be relaxed and collegial, except when deadlines approached and stress would build-up.  Better planning and coordination would have made the work process flow more smoothly and efficiently, but for the most part the team met goals and deadlines for major projects.  Individuals could perform and were encouraged to pursue assignments without too much direct supervision.  There was some down time in which I was able to read up on PPACA reforms, ACOs, and Hospital Operations which was a good personal investment as this represents the future of managed health care and will help me with my next position.  My only source of frustration stemmed from the fact that there were often times when I would finish one project and then be forced into a holding pattern to wait for feedback or the next phase.  There were also occasions when initial information was not fully or clearly disclosed forcing me to take the initiative in trying to anticipate the type of agreement that I was supposed to draft and how to allocate duties and rights between the parties.  This 'working in the dark' forced me into a trial and error method that was not necessarily the most efficient and at times was frustrating, but ultimately proved beneficial as it forced me to be as self-sufficient as possible.  Ultimately the situation or any resulting confusion was easily rectified when appropriate feedback and directives were forthcoming.  It is my belief that this phenomenon was universal to the office, as others shared this experience, and I think this communication bottle neck would have been more problematic in the private sector where competition is more intense.  For me it emphasized the vital importance of clear communication channels and ongoing feedback in order to steer projects in the right direction and ensure maximum efficiency.  It is my understanding that this is an issue of fundamental importance in management.  That said, this phenomenon was merely a latent frustration, as I feel that with adequate daily feedback on projects (as little as 5 minutes a day) I could have been twice as productive.  On the aggregate I was happy with the arrangement and the experience was overwhelmingly positive.  This position was an excellent introduction to health services contracting and introduced me to the major issues and players in this field.  This position also afforded me the opportunity to learn about clinical and pharmaceutical trials, related fields that interest me.  I was grateful for the opportunity to work and learn in this position.  It was too bad that this position was only a 3-month contract position designed primarily to launch a new primary care provider network to coordinate care for a select group of self-insured mid-size employers.

Independently coordinate the overall functions of Academic Personnel for the Anesthesiology Department. The Academic Personnel program includes 52 Permanent Faculty, 2 Emeritus, 2 Research Scientists, 5 Project Scientists, 4 Adjunct, ~20 Voluntary Faculty Appt's and MSP contracted positions.

Responsibilities
Demonstrated in-depth knowledge of and ability to interpret UC, campus and external agency policies to advise on matters involving recruitment, academic appointments, merits, promotions, and leave guidelines for all levels of academic personnel. Responsible for the coordination of all administrative activities associated with faculty recruitment including advertising faculty positions, setting up applicant files and coordinating circulation of files to search committee members. Provide staff support to search committees. Create and maintain an electronic file of all incoming applicants and provide statistical reports. Prepare Affirmative Action recruitment plans and compliance reports. Prepare reimbursements for all expenses associated with recruitment activities. Prepare academic personnel appointment and review files, enter the information in the Personnel Payroll System. Monitor the status of faculty appointments and review files, initiating actions to address outstanding 
issues or delays in processing. Monitor end-dates of appointments, funding, and hospital privileges taking appropriate action for compliance. Coordinate and provide work direction to a support position for human resources and academic personnel.

Provide confidential administrative support for the Department Chair, Faculty and Business Officer. Maintain/update/communicate daily calendar obligations for the Chair. Prepare drafts and edits confidential information and correspondence. Gather, organize and edit documents from multiple authors/sources. Act as liaison between the Department Chairs Office and other University offices and external agencies. Coordinate, collect and prepares data and documentation to assist the Chair in administrative responsibilities. Schedule meetings and events; coordinate logistical arrangements for the Chair of the Department.



UCSD pays top notch for LVNS, however they overwork you to a point of needing psychiatric medications, that's what happened to me. Management listens but your concerns falls on deaf ears. They expect you to room, answer calls, review, answer mychart messages, prior authorizations, call backs, fax, schedule,. check in patients into the lab, be ADET constantly, with a smile on your face within your 8 hour period. Oh and do your nurses visit's too, and cover your fellow LVN's. Its hard to quit when you are paid well, but everyday I debate weather I should be homeless. I dread coming to work , my Lexapro has been increased from 10mg to 30 mg daily. Management could care less if your happy, as long as all the required questionnaires are completed, the PHQ-9's, Tobacco screening, SOJI, etc are done then you're great. Un-realistic expectations. I had a manager tell me if you're so unhappy here, this may not be a fit for you then why are you still here? Why? Why? Why? I don't know, maybe because its not that simple to just up and leave and start over. I've learned to just keep my head down, make sure my tasks are done, but either way, I can never seem to get anything right. When the clinic day is done, I cry. I seriously cry 4 days out of the work week. I would describe working for UCSD at this location  like being in an abusive marriage where financial stability lies, but you die inside each day you stay. You endure the stress, the constant barrage of verbal condescending comments. You stay for the kids, you stay for the image, and just like that you waste away. Most of my days are a blur.  UCSD as a whole isn't like this, just this one particular location. I stay because they pay well, they offer retirement and what not, but at the end of the day I question my decisions. Being an LVN / MA at UCSD you are treated as a sub category, so much unnecessary drama.

Support for students, faculty, and facilitators. Worked with first and second year medical students (as well as a 2 month mini program for residents). Organized first and second year medical students (about 125 students for each year) into diverse groups of 10-12. Revise syllabus, copy, and distribute. Secure rooms at UCSD and the VA for small groups. Invited a guest speaker to come in each week to present a topic. After the main presentation we had the student groups meet with a facilitator (usually a retired physician I recruited to help). There were weeks where the topic had us invite guests from the community to talk with the small groups. This included homeless people, children, teens, psych patients, transgender, and other walks of life. This was so the med students would get to know the diverse range of people that they would be dealing with in the future. The hardest part of the job was when my direct supervisor suddenly passed away and I was having to do my job (which was a part-time position) and train my supervisor (there were not enough hours in the day). Realizing that if I didn't do it the students wouldn't get grades.There was never a dull moment at this job and as stressful as it was it was fascinating.  Work at UCSD was so rewarding that I worked there whenever I lived in San Diego.

Overall, UC San Diego Health is truly an amazing place to work. The work done every day is cutting-edge, the treatment and care provided to patients are extraordinary. The leadership in most areas is exceptional, generally very supportive, sees their subordinates as mentees, and capable of performing at high standards. In most cases, there is a clear balance between work and personal life. I have been at UC San Diego Health for nearly six years and while they are the highest paying healthcare institution, they believe in promoting from within which could be both a blessing and a curse. However, it generally works out for the good of the employee promoting. The most difficult part about working at UC San Diego Health is likely the most difficult part of most jobs, not being able to meet every need of every patient every time. Sometimes, the answer is no, and service recovery doesn't help, or sometimes, we've done all we can and there's nothing left to do. This is difficult because each of us - most of us work so very hard to please our patients and our leaders. And when we cannot, it makes for a difficult day. Conversely, the most enjoyable part of the job is knowing that the work I do is contributing to the greater good of the work being done. It's rewarding to know that I am a part of something that is so much bigger than me. Doesn't get any better than that:). 

I work Monday -Friday 8am -5 pm.  I have an office in the back which is nice because I spend most of my mornings on the phone with insurance companies following up with insurance authorization requests and benefit verifications.  I also spend most of my mornings submitting treatment authorization requests for procedures done in the office.  The phone is constantly ringing and I am the 2nd backup to answer the phones.  After lunch I spend most of my time scanning medical records and registering new patients and then I try to commit 2-3 hours to billing.  I was previously responsible for all billing and referrals and registration but our business has completly grown over the last year and my workload became too much so another referral coordinator was hired fortunately!  So now I am currently responsible for refferals for patients M-Z and all wound care billing!  I also try to assist the clinic staff with setting up clinic rooms and rooming the patients and restocking supplies in the clinic rooms when I have downtime.  Ialso cover for the front desk receptionist when she is out of the office.

The program that I worked with at UCSD was the San Diego Area Writing Project.  SDAWP is a singular component of the only national writing project in the country.  I was asked to participate in the initial SDAWP summer program.  At its conclusion, I was invited to join as one of three persons to design and co-facilitate summer writing programs for educators from all areas of expertise.  The experience proved to be an extraordinary life-changing one for me.  As a team, and as individuals, we provided a creative, informative and healing space for teachers looking to learn, to share, to design new ways for the teaching of better writing practices to their students.  At the end of each SDAWP Summer Program, teachers were extraordinarily prepared to return to their respective classrooms.  Now they felt newly energized and amply equipped with numerous new  and practical proven curriculum ideas for a successful new school year.

Although it is a public, non-profit institution, UCSD is run like any corporate entity -- Meaning the people at the top are overpaid and given bonuses regardless of how well they run their departments, while the staff workers at the bottom of the food chain get low salaries and few perks. State budget cuts are constantly used as a reason to freeze raises while increasing employee's health costs, forced pension contributions, parking costs ($75 a month with no place to park!) and union fees ($50 a month deducted regardless of whether or not you actually join the union). If you are an administrative worker or a lab technician, it is quite possible that you will make LESS money each year that you work at UCSD. If you you're working only as a hobby, than UCSD is a beautiful, stimulating environment to work, but if you need to pay rent and make a decent living, look to the private sector instead. You'll find better pay and job security at a pharmaceutical company or some other business.

While it is common knowledge, among those who take interest in workplace safety, that Higher Education, in general lacks the mechanisms and processes to adequately provide proper safety rules and training to employees, as evidenced and written about for the past several years.  At UCLA, a few years ago, the untimely death of a young worker in a lab fire "accident" made headlines.  UC's management has yet to accept responsibility for these preventable "accidents", and the responsible parties have been given an effective "wrist slap" after 5 years of litigation.  UCSD continues to pay lip service to Safety Issues, especially in the small "projects" in which the manager is not required to abide by any safety rules or best practices, and in many cases project managers refuse to even assess workplace hazards.  This continuing problem is deeply rooted and cultural and systemic, because managers are not required to utilize EH&S expertise or to obtain training on safety management and responsibilities.  This is why UC workers and students continue to die in preventable "accidents"

Information Technology has a few new managers who rule by fear and intimidation.  Nobody cares about the excessive attrition.  I heard that just about one entire department complained to HR, and since the manager wasn't breaking any laws, HR couldn't do anything.  It is a sweat shop.  Long hours, no breaks, lots of off-hours:  middle of the night and weekend work.  Pay is less than private industry for the same level of work.  People don't want to help each other.  A lot of people want to keep things like "how-to's" to themselves, and let everyone else flounder.  If you work on the new attractive technology then you are golden, but not everyone gets the plumb assignments.  You'd think they'd get a clue that people are dropping like flies, yet management doesn't even get consultants to fill in.  The workload keeps increasing, with less people to do the work.  It feels like being set up to fail.  Management are idiots.  They make us track our time in THREE different places at detailed levels.  They recently hired a new CIO who brought all his buddies from a midwestern university (where they have the Kentucky Derby) and they are all taking huge salaries, while all the people doing the work are getting squat.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Graduate researcher 15 salaries reported	$44,316 per year
Postdoctoral fellow 20 salaries reported	$69,818 per year
Teaching assistant 10 salaries reported	$3,932 per month
Research assistant 8 salaries reported	$47,000 per year
Postdoctoral researcher 11 salaries reported	$71,136 per year

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