Vince Bautista

Right after living and working in rural Korea for one and a half years, I worked an office assistant position. The differences between the working conditions varied immensely. In Korea, I taught at a slower pace with young children and constantly faced a language barrier. At Stanford Health Care, I work at a fast pace to match the urgency of nurses, doctors, and other healthcare providers while juggling the requests of patients, management, and other coworkers. The transition period from singing ABC’s to calling in Code Blue has been a rough, yet worth while learning experience.

I have acquired many skills through living and working abroad in Korea. Cultural competency is a skill every health professional should be familiar with. The ability to work with people of different age, gender, sexuality, racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds is a skill that requires continual practice. Living and working abroad helped increase my competency working with people of different ages and cultures. Specifically at school, I learned to work with younger students and older teachers. Everywhere else, I learned to deal with the constant language barrier and cultural differences of Western and Korean cultures.

In addition to re-acculturating me to a Western-style workplace, Stanford Health Care (SHC) provides vast amounts of varied educational tools and experiences. SHC utilizes the EPIC electronic medical record software. This software is widely used in medical facilities across America. After continually displaying my willingness to learn and my mastery over basic EPIC functions, I was designated Master Scheduler Access within my first two months of employment with SHC. In addition to learning about health information systems, I gained knowledge and experience with HIPAA laws and Joint Commission standards. I’ve learned about HIPAA and the Joint Commission in classes, but this has been my first time experiencing quality regulation in person.

These three years after college has been a stepping stone of knowledge on my journey. With my love for lifelong learning and these past experiences, I will move forward to my next step in career progression and postgraduate education.