Why I Moved to Baltimore
Whew, this has been a loooong time coming, and I’m sorry for only giving you pieces of information along the way!
I’m the type of person that believes in keeping something private until you know it’s permanent. So, until I got my feet wet in this job, and I knew it was going to stick, I didn’t want to jinx myself. Ya know the feeling?
I took a job as an Associate Trauma Sales Representative for Stryker Orthopedics. After 8 months, 29 applications, 17 phone interviews, 6 in-person interviews, and 1 final offer….it finally happened. After all that time, daily networking, and weekly rejection, it didn’t feel real to have an offer, let alone an opportunity this amazing!
What I Do Every Day
People seem to be confused about what trauma reps do. I’ll admit, I was confused at first too. So, every day, I get to the hospital around 6:45AM, check in to see what traumas came in overnight/what is scheduled for the day. Baltimore is unique because they have R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center. It is the nation’s only free-standing hospital dedicated solely to trauma….and boy, does this city need it.
Throughout the day, my job is to attend cases, help the scrub tech set up the instruments, plan cases with physicians, run trays between hospitals, and STUDY. Most of our cases are Open Reduction Internal Fixation (ORIF/plates) and Intramedullary Nails (IMN), but we have over 200 instruments and a full line of biologics.
This associateship is a year-long program where I am on-call 24/7/365 and the goal is for me to see and learn as much as possible. During this year, I’ll take 2 trauma courses where I’m tested on anatomy, our products, and surgical techniques. I have to get a 90 or above (or else…) AND our test scores every week are emailed to all of the managers! Talk about high stakes.
After passing the 2 courses, an in-person skills eval in New York, and gaining full trust from my team after a year of working as an associate, I am eligible to be considered for a full rep position. That will happen next December, but for right now, I just focus on the daily. What can I do to learn the most today? How can I be a better associate today?
I LOVE this job. Learning from the best trauma team in the nation, and serving brilliant, resolute physicians is a dream. Working every day without any weekends off and barely any time to do anything besides shower and sleep has been…an adjustment, lol.
Is Mike Going to Move to Baltimore?
TBD on that.
As for now, we are just trying to figure out the visit sched. I am on call 24/7/365, and I don’t accrue PTO, so I can’t come home for holidays, or random visits. And that is fine because Mike gets to decide when he comes and goes, lol.
I hope you enjoyed reading this little update! I would love to share more about this move and my new job if you are interested. Let me know in a message or the comments if you want to hear more!
Thanks for reading.
xx, Chelsea
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