Fun Things to do in Columbus, Ohio

Turns out Columbus, Ohio is much bigger than I thought. Most people I told that I was going to work there, asked me “what’s there”?  There is actually no shortage in fun things to do! Here are the top 8 places I recommend visiting.

1.       Franklin Park Conservatory

This was a nice surprise because they have Chihuly artwork on display. The botanical gardens were beautiful as well.

2.       Columbus Zoo

Reminds me of the San Diego zoo. It is expansive and has all kinds of animals including camels, polar bears, and lions.

3.       German Village

A historic district with lots of German pubs, restaurants, and café’s.

4.       Short North District

This area has a lot of restaurants, bars, and entertainment. This is where the nightlife is.

5.       Columbus Museum of Art

Has several popular pieces including ones by Monet and Picasso.

6.       Scioto Mile/Battelle Riverfront Park/Genoa Park

Downtown Columbus has multiple parks surrounding the river. There are trails for running, biking, and byrding (scooter). There are rest areas as well, and space for events.

7.       Apple Orchard

You can find an apple orchard less than 30 min from Columbus. The best time to visit is during fall. They are beautiful and the apples are delicious!

8.       Getaway to Cincinnati and Cleveland

Cincinnati is about an hour drive from Columbus, whereas Cleveland is about 2 hours away. I like that Columbus is central in Ohio, as it is a quick drive to two major metropolitan cities. 

I also attended the Irish Festival in Dublin, Ohio and the Renaissance festival 2 hours south of Columbus. The weather was perfect during late summer and fall, so it made these outdoor festivities even more pleasant.

Working in Ohio

I am working with the geriatric clinics I often work for. The Columbus, Ohio clinic I am at is only 1.5 years old. I usually avoid the newer clinics because they are often disorganized – as I learned working in Lakeland, Florida in the past.

My first day, I was a bit overwhelmed because I saw they had filled up my schedule for the following day with all 20-minute follow ups, so I already had a full jam packed schedule. Since I don’t know any of the patients, I am supposed to have 30-40 minutes with them for their first visit with me. I was also told that I didn’t have a medical assistant.

Fortunately, the center manager quickly fixed my schedule. This ended up being a blessing because even though I didn’t have my own medical assistant, by having longer visits, the other medical assistants had time to help me out in between caring for their PCPs patients.

Since then, I have had a great experience! The clinic vibe is more laid back than from where I just came from (Virginia Beach). There is no micromanagement – I think because they are newer they have that luxury.

Instead of seeing 20 complex geriatric patients per day like I was in Virginia Beach, I am only seeing about 10-12 patients per day. On my first day I asked the center manager to put a couple of blocks on my schedule for admin time, and he did so without contesting – (as they had in Virginia Beach).

The patients are very friendly, appreciative, and straightforward. I am one month in and haven’t met even one rude patient. This is in comparison to Virginia Beach where my patient panel mostly consisted of psych patients, in which some called every single day with a “new” problem. In fact, the patients here have been so complimentary. They’ve told me they appreciate my patience; how I break things down to a level they can understand; and even compliment my accent (Miami accent) haha.

We are provided with lunch 2-3 x a week which is an added bonus. Staff are very social and get together almost every week after work to hang out. The other PCPs are really nice and friendly.

I feel so appreciative to work in a non-stressful setting. It’s a complete 360 from working in Virginia Beach. I have time to enjoy my lunch and read a good book; finish work on time and go for a nice bike ride.

A new nurse practitioner started at the same time as me. It ended up working out because I have the time to help train her since the other PCPs here are pretty new themselves. She has told me multiple times that she would have probably quit had I not been there for support. Even though sometimes I wonder if the clinic really needs me, I think at least I am facilitating the success of their permanent PCP.

They do need me because the clinic acquired a retiring physician’s practice. So they need help getting all of those new patients seen and established. Plus I am covering some of the PCP vacations.

It’s funny because one of the medical assistants asked me how come I am always calm and asked me if anything ever stresses me out. I said “I’ve seen it all”. And told her that this clinic is actually a gem and sometimes I think they (the Ohio staff) make things a bigger problem than they really are.

That’s the wonderful part of doing locums. If you dislike your job, you have the benefit of knowing it will end soon. And you can quickly start a job that you enjoy. I am soaking every minute of being in Ohio!

Physician on FIRE

I have been a fan of the blog www.PhysicianonFire.com for many years now. This blog is owned by an anesthesiologist that reached financial independence after a decade of working. He talks about how he achieved this and how he decided to finally pull the plug and retire early.

I was recently interviewed for one of his new series called “Fire Starter” – since I am a newbie and only discovered the financial independence movement less than 2 years ago.

Feel free to check out the article here:

https://www.physicianonfire.com/fire-starter-001/

Ohio Housing

For my Columbus, Ohio assignment, I knew I wanted to live downtown. There is a nearby park around the Columbus River that has a lot of biking and walking trails. Luckily, I was able to find an apartment on Airbnb that was affordable and 5 min walking to the above park.

I let my travel representative from the agency know, and she worked out a deal with the owner to rent out the apartment outside of Airbnb.

The apartment turned out to be really nice and spacious. Unfortunately, it was a bit dirty – the shower and fridge etc. I ended up cleaning it myself. I could have told my agency and had someone come clean it but I definitely needed the shower that day so figured I might as well clean it myself.

The biggest challenge of this housing has been the garage parking. I have to park my car in a cage that moves in the garage electronically due to limited spacing. So before parking, I have to put in a fob to bring my parking spot, get out of my car, open the gate, park, and then close the gate.

 My spot is in a corner so it is very difficult to back out of. I have to plan extra time when leaving my place just to account for having to make several 3 point turns when getting out of the garage.

I initially had a Toyota Camry as my rental but it ended up being too long for my parking spot. I learned the hard way by hitting a pole in the garage twice. I changed my car to a Nissan Sentra. It’s not the funnest to drive but it is much smaller and so far I haven’t hit any poles.

Anyways, the weather has been nice so I like being able to walk to restaurants from my apartment, and being able to get to the park easily for bike rides.

Here are some pictures of my place:

Bedroom
View from my balcony

Next Stop – Columbus, Ohio

This year so far, I’ve worked in San Diego, CA and Virginia Beach, VA. These are two places I’ve worked in before. I knew for my next assignment I wanted to go somewhere new. The geriatric clinics I often work for had a need in Columbus, Ohio. I’ve never been to Ohio and thought it would be a nice idea to go there for the end of summer and fall.

I accepted an assignment with them in March, for a start date in August. I thought I would have plenty of time to get an OH license. Turns out, things happened more slowly because of covid. The Board of Nursing worked from home and it was almost impossible to get in touch with them. I tried both calling and emailing them without a response.

Luckily, I remembered I had a reader that was licensed in OH and I was curious about his experience. I reached out to him to see how long it took him to obtain his OH license. Since OH is not a compact license state, I needed both the RN and NP licenses. OH doesn’t allow you to apply for both licenses upon endorsement simultaneously. So, I needed to wait for the RN license to get approved before applying for the NP one.

After waiting 2 months for the RN approval – still nothing. That’s when I reached out to my reader and he told me that there are Facebook groups that have Board of Nursing contact information in each state to help facilitate license applications.

He gave me the contact information for the Ohio Board of Nursing President. I sent her an email saying I was still waiting on my RN license approval, in which everything was submitted 8 weeks ago. That same night (it was even a Saturday), I finally received notice that my RN license was approved!

I was thrilled that this tip worked. When it was getting close to August, I still hadn’t received my NP license. I decided to use the same email to inquire about my application. The following day, my NP application was approved!

Thanks to my reader’s tip, I was able to get my OH licenses just in time for my start date. I will be sure to look up Board of Nursing contact information on Facebook groups for future state license applications. 

Dominican Republic Trip

I usually travel abroad several times a year. However, since covid, I haven’t travelled internationally. Once I got my covid vaccine and saw that covid rates were dropping, I decided it was time to plan my first trip abroad.

I chose the Dominican Republic because it’s only a few hours flight from Miami, and I was ready for a nice relaxing type of vacation.  

There’s an all-inclusive Hyatt resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic that I wanted to try out. It’s practically brand new and fortunately I had enough Hyatt points to cover the costs. The nightly rate is $550 for two people or 20k Hyatt points. Using points is such a good deal since it covers all of the foods, drinks, and amenities.

The resort ended up being amazing! The weather in the DR was surprisingly less humid and more breezy than in Miami. The ocean water was clear blue and cool. The service from the resort was impeccable. The people are extremely friendly and welcoming. Having the drinks and food included made our stay straightforward. Not to mention everything was delicious!

I also liked that the hotel wasn’t crowded. In many of the restaurants we were one of a few groups there.

When returning to the USA, you need a covid test prior to departure. The hotel made this easy by providing it free of charge on site. The results were ready within 1 hour.

Fortunately, no one on my trip tested positive for covid, so we were able to travel back home as scheduled. If you are looking for a relaxing an easy getaway, I highly recommended the Dominican Republic. I am still dreaming of the beach there!

How Traveling Abroad Makes Me a Better Practitioner

Traveling internationally has made me more open minded and tolerant of other cultures. I recently realized how this has contributed to my role as a primary care provider. I love having patients from various ethnic backgrounds.  

In my most recent assignment I had patients from India, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Lebanon, Greece, Italy, Brazil, Philippines, Japan, etc.

Before I went into the room to meet the Lebanese patient, my medical assistant warned me that the patient was rather cold. I recognized a French last name so I asked her where she was from. When she said Lebanon, I let her know that my family has some Lebanese heritage as well. We bonded over our favorite Lebanese dishes and I noticed her relax and begin to open up. At the end of the visit, my medical assistant asked me what I did to get the patient to make a complete 360. I just told her I found a commonality between us.

The Hispanic patients are pretty easy because I speak Spanish so they are comfortable with someone understanding their native language. I am also from Miami so I have some form of knowledge of the majority of Latino cultures and behaviors. If I see these types of patient as a walk-in, they often request to change to me as their PCP. They told me that by me understanding their culture they feel more at ease coming to the doctor’s office.

I have traveled previously to Brazil, Greece, Italy, and Japan, so once I mentioned that to the patients from these countries, they were thrilled. We talked about their experience living there and why they chose to move to the USA. I think this brief dialogue made them feel calm and more connected.

Although I have never been to India or the Philippines, these patients have expressed being very relaxed when seeing me. They said it is because I approach them with an accepting mindset and explain things to them in a way they can understand. Whether it’s by speaking slowly or breaking down terms to a level that they can process. I think in having immigrant parents, I am aware of cultural barriers in healthcare.

I love traveling internationally, and I know it has made me a better person. It’s nice to see that it has also contributed to my skills as a primary care practitioner. 

Overtime Controvery

During my recent assignment in Virginia Beach, I found myself getting busier and busier. My patient panel exceeded my typical panel size, and I was seeing 20 complex geriatric patients per day. This exceeded the 16 patients max per day I was supposed to be seeing according to my contract. Due to my previous experience with the company, I know what my limits are.

With this company, I often work up to 45 hours a week – 5 hours being overtime. However, in Virginia Beach, due to the reasons stated above, I was working 50-55 hours per week (10-15 hours of overtime which is ridiculous). I tried telling both leadership and my recruiter that I was working too much, taking too much work home, and feeling overwhelmed. This wasn’t the work-home life balance I have come to appreciate being a locum tenens nurse practitioner.

No one seemed to care so I decided to just suck it up for my remaining few weeks. I figured the extra income I was making in overtime would cover the 3 weeks of unpaid time off I was planning on taking after the assignment ended.

Then one day I was notified by my recruiter that the site was contesting some of the over time I had recorded. I had billed them for 54 hours but they suggested I had only worked 52 hours. Fortunately, the agency told me that even if the site contested part of the overtime, they would still pay me for the full hours worked (or that I billed for). Although I was pleased with that surprise benefit, I was disappointed with the work site.

It’s definitely about the principal of the matter. I had already made it clear to them that I didn’t even WANT to work overtime but they did nothing to ease up my load. And I am confidently very efficient as a provider so I knew there wasn’t anything I could do to finish my work more quickly.

Seeing 20 complex all-risk geriatric patients per day leaves me with little to no time after completing my notes – to complete refill requests, review phone messages and call patients back, review lab results and consult notes, and review patients in the hospital and call hospitalists to inquire about patient status.

Not to mention I have worked with this company on and off over the past 5 years and NEVER have had an issue with my hours billed or being paid overtime. I am sure there is a way they can see what time I log off from my work laptop, which is way after the clinic is closed. I think they are oblivious to the fact that their full-time salary providers work close to 60 hours per week.

To be honest, I think it is their way to get back at me for not wanting to extend my assignment. It was only after I declined the extension that they started to decline some of my overtime. Had they not taken advantage of me and overworked me I would have been more than glad to continue helping. Let’s just say I won’t be returning to this market unless there is a change in leadership.