#pgy 1

[wayfaringmd]

Intern Year in Review

Today is Switch Day. AKA The Day Wayfaring Is No Longer An Intern. 

It is a glorious day. 

So today I look back on my intern year for the big recap. 

By the numbers: 

5 million - hand sanitizer squirts

1000, give or take - mommy calls

~782 - questions about my hair or age deflected

452 - UpToDate articles "read"

~300 - noon conference lectures attended

~100 - unnecessary Peds admissions

~75 - middle of the night awakenings after dreaming about patient care

~50 - rectal exams performed

30 - babies delivered

15 - deaths pronounced

13 - positive end-of-rotation evaluations

12.5 - pounds gained

8 - cumulative days worth of sleep lost

7 - duty hours violations

6 - holidays worked (July 4, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Easter)

4 - residency lab values records set (highest HIV viral load, most "full house" wet preps, total iron, iron sat)

3 - patients died (none while under my care)

1 - marriage proposal

1-  amoxicillin prescription taken for strep,

1- bout of acute gastroenteritis (thanks peds)

0 - patients successfully weaned off of Lortab

[wayfaringmd]

If I hadn't gone to medical school I would have followed my dreams... like painting and sleeping in every day.

N, the only one who supports me in intern support group. 

[wayfaringmd]

Point/Counterpoint

Medical school, and to a greater extent, residency, is an emotional rollercoaster. Encouragements and criticisms are thrown at you constantly, sometimes within minutes of each other, and you never totally know where you stand. After several months of working long hours, these things can really start to get to you

For example:

"I love having call days with you because you're so even keeled. You go with the flow even when we're busy and you're easy to get along with" - an attending

"You're mean when you're on nights." -fellow intern, no explanation given

 "I think your knowledge base is solid and you're ahead of most of your peers" - several attendings

"You tested below average for your class on your in-service exam. Here's some extra BS work for you to do in your 'free time' so you can be smart like them" - email from a different attending, paraphrased.

"Your documentation is excellent. It's always done on time and it's thorough." - attending A

"Here's a dictation you didn't do from 2 weeks ago. There's no excuse for it being this late. Get it done". -attending B, giving me a dictation on a patient that I had never seen before

patient A thanks you profusely for treating their kid with the sniffles who probably shouldn't have been admitted in the first place

patient B calls you a b**** for not letting their child, who is hypoxic and needs IV antibiotics, go home

My personal remedy for handling the stress of these ups and downs? Sleep. Sleep and mindless entertainment and focusing on the positive things. Also sleep. 

[wayfaringmd]

I feel like our conversations always end with "hang in there".

me to the best good friend.

BTW, sometimes residency sucks. 

[wayfaringmd]

In which my attending and I have bubble guts together

5:12 pm

The end of the day, sharing a workstation with an attending, both of us typing away at our clinic notes in silence.

When all of a sudden...

Not for just one of us, mind you. Both of us. At the same time. 

We both tried to ignore it for a while. We shifted position in our chairs. The attending sighed and grunted repeatedly. We both tried, not very successfully, to avoid looking at or talking to each other. 

I typed harder and faster. 

But again, 

We pressed on, steadily working like busy little bees. Finally, it got to that point. You know, that point. The point where something in your gut tells you

 So I did. I stopped, mid sentence, shut my computer down, and said "I think I'm going to finish my work at home." Before I could finish my sentence, the attending jumped in: "yupokseeyalaterbyehaveagreatday!"

I feel fairly certain he let one slip just after I made it out of earshot.  

[wayfaringmd]

It's 5:46 AM on Christmas, and I'm going to work.

[wayfaringmd]

Happy Gobble Gobble

Attending: So what are you doing tomorrow for Thanksgiving?

Me: I'm on call tomorrow. I went to my church's Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday night.

Attending: Yeah, but what about real Thanksgiving dinner?

Me: I will be eating cafeteria food...here...if it's open...because I'll be on call.

Attending: What about after you get off?

Me: It'll be close to 8pm. I'm going to go home, take a shower, and go to bed so I can be here at 6am the next day.  

Attending: No, you can't be alone on Thanksgiving. That's not right.

Me: I won't be alone. I'll be here...in a hospital full of patients. See? People everywhere. 

[wayfaringmd]

How to know you've been brainwashed by residency:

you leave the hospital after only 8 hours of work (as opposed to 12 or 13) and feel like you're skipping school.