First Professional Development Institute Class Graduates
Participants Finding Higher Level Positions at Duke
The difference between Jackie Montague's former job in radiology and her current position in urgent care is, literally, night and day. Montague processed x-rays at Duke North during the 11 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. shift. Last month she accepted a new job working daytime hours as a clinical interviewer at Duke Urgent Care on Hillandale Road.
In February, the eight-year Duke employee was accepted into the inaugural class of Duke's Professional Development Institute. Today, Montague is among the 24 Duke employees graduating from the 10-month office staff development program. Some of the participants have already moved to higher-level positions, either through internal promotion within their department or in different departments.
To have made it all the way through the rigorous, comprehensive program while working full-time shows that class participants were something special from the start. And being the initial class, students had to take it on faith that all of their sacrifices would be worth it in the end, Montague said.
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The difference between Jackie Montague's former job in radiology and her current
position in urgent care is, literally, night and day. |
"Sometimes I felt there would be no end to it, especially at first," Montague said. "You wonder, will I get placed? Because we were the first class, there was no one to show us that it would work out. But I stuck with it. At the end, it came together. It has paid off for me."
Program manager Sally Allison is as proud of the development of each participant as she is with the new jobs there are finding.
"The development of many participants has gone beyond the acquisition of new skills and abilities," Allison said. "Several have talked about their increased self-confidence. That's the type of success these individuals have earned through hard work and dedication. The fact that everyone is completing the class shows a real commitment on behalf of each participate, their managers, and Duke as an organization."
Participants of PDI's inaugural class were hand-picked after an application, recommendation and interview process. Through classes that met in three-hour blocks three times a week, students worked with several software programs, improved their writing ability, learned financial and record-keeping systems used at Duke, and acquired specialized skills such as medical coding and transcription and office publications design. Early on, the students each were paired with a mentor; later they worked with a recruiter on resume polishing and interviewing skills before applying for higher-level positions.
The prospect of learning new software programs drew Liz McDougald, a 14-year Duke employee, to the PDI class. Over the years, she had become adept at multitasking as a clerk in the pharmacy department at Lincoln Community Health Center. Though she had taken on additional responsibilities, her job level had remained the same.
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The prospect of learning new software programs drew Liz McDougald, a 14-year Duke employee, to the PDI
class. |
"I was looking for a new challenge," McDougald said.
Time was the first challenge she encountered. With two daughters still at home, she had to juggle child-care arrangements. She had to give up some of her weekend activities to make time to study. An internship in budgeting, planning and research in the provost's office made her schedule all the more hectic.
"There were times when I felt like quitting," she said. "But I told myself I wasn't going to give up on this."
As McDougald laid out all her new skills and abilities before her recruiter as graduation neared, she decided to be open to opportunities in other areas. She ended up accepting a position in the office of News and Communication as a staff assistant, which represented a significant promotion in her job level.
"What I'm doing now is totally different from what I used to do," McDougald said. "I would encourage others to apply to this program. The skills you learn are things you will always have. There's no limit to what you can do with your new skills."
Promoting such career development is a key aspect of PDI's success, and it requires support from all areas of Duke, said Linda Hendrick, assistant vice president for Human Resources.
"The Institute has benefited from strong support from senior leadership," Hendricks said. "It is an initiative that promotes professional development and career advancement, which have been identified through the Women's Initiative and the Health System's Work Culture Surveys as key areas to enhance Duke's work environment. Participants have shown their commitment by completing the 10 months of training, and now we need the support of managers across Duke who have job openings to provide opportunities for graduates of the program."
Looking back on her experience, McDouglad recognizes the advantage in having the opportunity to establish relationships with people in various departments and at different levels to build a career network.
"Meeting people and having those connections for later on down the road is important," she said.
For Montague in urgent care, the payoff is personal as well as professional.
"When a patient comes in to the center in pain and leaves with a smile, they had to have come through me first," she said. "I like being a part of the process of them getting well or being happier or feeling less pain."
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