Happy October! We are back with our Employee Spotlight series. Today, we are changing things up with a double feature featuring two incredible ladies from our Travel Nursing Compliance Team.
Please let us introduce Ruthie and Maribel!
Up first for our Compliance Specialists, we have Maribel! Maribel began her healthcare journey working in the human resources department at a local hospital with the goal to identify a niche she could excel at. She always knew she wanted a career in the healthcare industry as it classifies as an essential business. “Regardless of location or current economic environments, healthcare will always have job opportunities,” Maribel explained.
While at the hospital, she gained experience in the credentialing process and overall compliance for the clinical staff. “Once I gained this experience, I knew what I wanted to pursue,” said Maribel. From this point, Maribel began working at a healthcare agency as part of their compliance team, until she heard KPG Healthcare was hiring. From there, the rest is history or better yet, “herstory.”
As a compliance specialist, Maribel is communicating between multiple nurses and facilities to gather then submit required documents while simultaneously ordering health services, chasing down results and running background checks – to name a few. Maribel says she approaches “each day with the same goal and that is to get each nurse cleared by the facility to start their assignment.”
With such a fast-paced role, Maribel faces daily challenges like the lack of communication and urgency from some facilities when trying to submit nurse documents relating to assignment contracts. However, “to overcome this challenge, I try to be assertive with facilities to get clear responses in a timely manner,” Maribel said, “I try to learn from the past challenges by keeping notes on each facility.”
During the pandemic, Maribel’s routine has had to shift to adapt to working from home all of a sudden. Creating new habits and boundaries to separate herself from her work and personal life has helped even though her “office” is now in her living room. However, the beginning of the pandemic was particularly stressful to manage with weeks of nonstop work desperately trying to fill urgent hospital needs. While at the same time processing the new life which was thrust upon us.
What got her through these obstacles was reminding herself that she had to do her part so healthcare workers can treat patients across the country. “Suddenly, not taking a real lunch break or being tired just didn’t compare to the nurses we’re sending out to work the frontlines,” Maribel added.
There can be many moving parts that are in play for a single nurse to be cleared to start an assignment. This a very detailed oriented role with each nurse being different with a variety of specialties with specific documents or requirements. This role is not for the faint of heart.
On her downtime, Maribel has taken the opportunity to revisit some of her and her boyfriend’s love for old movies with the occasional karaoke night. She’s discovered a new love for old action movies and “all I have to say is… Charles Bronson.”
Keep up the fantastic work Maribel! We thank you for your hard work and for continuing to play an integral role in the growth of KPG Healthcare The Compliance Team is a force to be reckoned with but always make sure to find time for yourself!!
Maribel’s Top 3 Pre-pandemic Things She Misses:
- Hugging her parents
- Spending time with family
- Spending time with friends
Everyone, please say “hi” to Ruthie! Ruthie’s KPG Healthcare journey began when she ran into an old friend/coworker who was working here at the time and mentioned to Ruthie we were hiring. Now, Ruthie is coming up on her fifth anniversary with us as a compliance specialist and will hit her mark in November.
Working in healthcare has always been her chosen career field as it is a more reliable industry during both good and bad economic situations. As a compliance specialist, Ruthie’s day can be a bit hectic and describes some days “like I’m putting out fires. Not one day is the same and you never know what you’re going to get.”
Like every member of the compliance team, Ruthie juggles multiple tasks at once while staying in constant communication between facilities, nurses and recruiters. From gathering nurse documents to maneuvering facility changes at the drop of a dime, Ruthie tackles each task diligently.
However, Ruthie also faces challenges as a compliance specialist. “One thing that can make my job hard is quick starts,” Ruthie said, “because it means closer deadlines.” Quick starts are contract assignments from facilities that are looking for nurses to start as soon as possible. “You have to get it done no matter how busy you are, so working long hours into the night or weekends to get it done in time is how I overcome these challenges,” Ruthie explained.
Although quick starts can be Ruthie’s biggest challenge as a compliance specialist, she enjoys her role at KPG Healthcare. She finds the most rewarding aspect of her role is the feeling of making a positive difference for communities by filling hospitals with nurses. “If I can help make the compliance process a little easier for [nurses], then they’ll want to continue working with us,” Ruthie explained.
When the pandemic hit in March and the majority of the American workforce was forced to work at home, some people may have struggled. For Ruthie, her transition into working from home full-time was an easy one as she had already begun working from home two days a week. From time-to-time she will come into the office to get that sense of being back to pre-pandemic status, “during these times we are all seeking a little normalcy,” Ruthie said.
“We’re not just compliance, we are problem solvers.”
At the end of the workweek, you can typically find Ruthie unwinding by putting on one of her favorite shows or professional sports (Dodgers, Lakers, or 49ers). You can also catch her watching YouTube videos on Disney Cruises, Disneyland or Disney World as it “helps to escape being trapped at home during the pandemic.”
Ruthie, thank you for being an integral part of KPG Healthcare for (almost) five years! Truly is a milestone accomplishment and we are so excited to see what the future has in store for you. Keep up the great work and we look forward to your continued growth. Go Team Compliance!!
Ruthie’s Top 3 Pre-pandemic Things She Misses:
- Disneyland
- San Francisco
- Going out to eat without the fear of catching COVID-19.