Career Path to Top

Meredith Jones, my supervisor and the manager of the Surgery Clinic, had an interesting ride to the top. She started as an entry-level nursing assistant, and worked her way through college prerequisites. After a couple years like this, she decided to "buckle down" and go to nursing school, which she completed in two years at a junior college in San Jose. She switched from department to department in Kaiser; going from general medical to surgical to orthopedics to telemotry (reading monitors.) After a long stint in the pediatric department, she decided she wanted to get into management. She didn't get the opening for the Pediatric manager, but she continued to interview for other departments, even for ones she wasn't interested in - she would ask the interviewer for pointers and let them know she wanted to hone her skills. Eventually Kaiser asked her if she was interested in becoming the surgery manager, where she's at presently. Ms. Jones' story exemplifies Kaiser's commitment to exposing talent from within.

To be a surgeon in the surgery department (which one could argue is also the "top,") one needs to do the traditional education-intensive doctor's route. After completing an undergraduate degree, one needs to be accepted into and pass four more years of medical school, and then become a resident to further hone one's skills. Board certification is also mandatory for surgeons.

Source for surgeon statistics:
Bureau of Labor Statistics staff. December 18, 2007. Physicians and Surgeons. http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos074.htm