What exactly do you do?

Category: Company

Kim Stice-Cruz, MT(ASCP)SBB
Cerner Blood Bank Validation Manager

When people hear that I work from home, many people automatically think I don’t have a “real” job; however, when they find out I do indeed have a real job, they ask “Well, what exactly do you do?”

I find that I usually don’t talk to people about what I do unless they ask because when I say I am a Medical Technologist and Blood Bank Specialist, I immediately get the “oh you’re a vampire” comment. Then when I continue on to explain that I apply all the rules and regulations of blood banking to validate blood bank computer software, the glazed over look begins in their eyes. When I continue on and say that blood bank software must be completely validated prior to being put into use because it’s considered to be a medical device by the FDA because it makes decisions about patient care, I totally lose them.

My job is even an enigma to my family. My uncle thinks I have some top secret career and that I cannot disclose what I actually do (he owns a tire store so he frequently has humorous tire customer stories to share). My mom is so disappointed because she thinks that I am not using my BSMT degree and SBB just because I no longer work in the lab. My husband says he “gets” what I do; he jokingly melds the lingo from my blood center days with my software validation days — “Have you done absorption and tested them for Kell and Duffy? Is the system frozen? Did you run the requirements matrix? Is the product compatible?”

I think my 13-year old daughter actually understands what I do the most. Since I work from a home office, she sees me working when she’s home and asks questions. I’ve shown her what TestStream looks like, how I customize it to work in my client system, and I have even let her see it in action. She was quite impressed when she saw one of my test plans running. She was just amazed that I was not actively touching the keyboard, but information was getting entered as if I were doing it myself; her mind was completely blown. I had that same experience the first time I saw TestStream in action. I was so impressed that so much data could be entered and analyzed — and that it could continuously run 24-7. I was sold on its abilities and immediately wanted to learn to use it.

So… that’s what I do.