White Coat Black Market

Just a surgery resident venting via gifs

[whitecoatblackmarket]

When you’re a resident getting yelled at by another team or patient about a decision your attending made, that you have to go explain

Or better yet, getting yelled at for a plan that you expressed reservations about 🥲

[whitecoatblackmarket]

When you don’t have even a moment to sit down or rest for an entire 26 hour shift 🥲

[whitecoatblackmarket]

Having to manage the emotions of male attendings as a senior resident 😑

I understand you are tired and are having some big feelings today in the OR…but stop taking it out on me or everyone around us.

I stg when I’m a chief resident I’m just going to outright start gentle parenting every attending who gets unnecessarily testy with me 😂

[whitecoatblackmarket]

Me, a surgery senior resident, when someone outside of medicine tries to tell me what to do

The evolution from nerdy premed girl to senior surgery resident is fascinating.

[dxmedstudent]

Medblrs, who's still around?

I'm aware that it's been some years since my previous medblr list and previous medblr roll call posts. Over the years we've built a thriving and supportive medblr community, which we've been really lucky to have. I'm using medblr in the widest sense, here - nurses, PAs, pharmacists abd all sorts of other professions are welcome.

Years have passed. Many of us have continued to live offline lives or post less frequently because work, kids, other interests and just life got in the way. Some have changed specialties. I know that there have been years I've been fairly quiet because life was busy! But even if you post infrequently, youre still a valued part of the community. Please feel free to reblog and add yourself to the list.

Some left the sphere of medicine, that's cool too - if you ever identified as a medblr, there's still a place for you here.

New medblr friends have joined - why not introduce yourselves? It would be great to make some new connections in this sphere.

I'm also curious about non medblrs who lurk here for fun.

I'll start first. I'm @dxmedstudent (she/her, late 30s), I also go by Tink (that predates my blog here and is somewhat unrelated). I started my blog here over 10 years ago when I was a UK med student writing med student comics which can still be found over at @dxmedicalstudent .

I spent some years in hospital medicine before becoming a GP this past summer. I haven't changed my name or icons in that time so if you think you remember me, you're probably right.

Lovely to meet you all, and to say hi to old friends.

[dogemd]

10 years strong on this blog (like 15 years on tumblr overall 🤯). I’m currently a hospitalist in the US. Family Med trained, did a global health fellowship, left said fellowship, and am back living in Residency city because I accidentally fell in love with another doctor who is in cardiology fellowship here (different hospital system but our paths crossed and it’s kind of awesome). Started this blog my first year of med school and have been through some shit (as have we all) in the last 10 years. I post way less medicine these days, but boy do I have some stories.

[ley-med]

I am adding myself to the list because let's be real I spend way too much time on this site, posting both med and non med things... And also because I absolutely adore the medblr (and vetblr) community and the stories, love how diverse our ranks are!

Anyway, hi, I'm Ley (she/they but really don't care), been here since my early med student years. Right now I am an anesthesiology-intensive care resident in Central Europe, who found their calling in trauma (and ortho) care, with just a little more than a year left in residency training. I sometimes go very long without posting and reblogging anything medical mentioned, but I am prone to venting my stories here. And prone to rambling about medicine. And my work. And prone to whining about residency, here and there.

[pharmdup]

Clinical pharmacist here, psychiatric pharmacy and pharmacotherapy. Definitely working in my first specialty, can’t say much because I’m afraid of doxxing myself. Love you guys!

[nerdgirlnarrates]

I guess I should pick a nickname for myself…maybe NG? That works. Blog is titled such because when I started this as a wee premed almost ten years ago, I envisioned more of a webcomic about my experience with school/medicine. That did not happen lol. Instead this is a sort of badly kept diary. Currently a first year internal medicine resident in the US and loving it 😊

[rhokotela]

Hey medblr! Long timer here.

I trained in South Africa and grew up in HIV/TB territory; now I’m in internal medicine residency in the states heading toward ID fellowship so I can circle back to my roots in the TB hospitals back home.

[thehippocraticgrowth]

*waves*

I'm Mo! ER doc in the midwest, absolutely love my job and always down to make new friends :) My main can be found at @solongandthanksforallthefish42.

[pagingdrkaraii]

Karaii here from Mexico, currently a third year medical resident in psychiatry :3 I made this blog when I was a medical student, so it's been a long and bumpy journey but I'm definitely still around!

[heardatmedschool]

Hi! It’s Lavanda, from Chile.

I’m a 1st year Pediatrics resident.

I started this either my 2nd or 3rd year of med school (I don’t remember, but I started collecting quotes in my 1st year).

Although I won’t be posting my regular content for the time being, I will still be lurking 👀.

Btw, my non-med blog is @nyanmeowmiau

[whitecoatblackmarket]

3rd year surgery resident here! Started this thing in my fourth year of med school - occasionally I pick it back up to vent, but usually just to make myself laugh. Even better when I get a couple people to read it who get it and chuckle :)

[whitecoatblackmarket]

When an attending outside of your specialty gets snippy with you for no good reason

[whitecoatblackmarket]

Asking your seniors about what a rotation at the big bad level 1 trauma center is like, desperately looking for reassurance

And then your seniors telling you it was terrifying and traumatic….

*types into google* “how to skip a rotation in residency* and “how to join witness protection and start a new life”

[whitecoatblackmarket]

When you overhear a patient say “Nurses are the ones who really care about patients, you barely even get to see your doctor!”

Ouch that kind of hurts 🥺 I love and appreciate our RN’s so much - they certainly are empathetic and wonderful - a vast majority of the work they do for patients is something patients can see, and is at bedside. The reality is that I cannot be at bedside for long periods of time because I have a lot of patients and I need to be seeing all of them multiple times per day, putting in orders, documenting their care plan in progress notes, and operating in the OR. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve stayed late to personally follow up on a patient’s results or stayed even later to personally talk to them as soon as we had new info, I make an effort to go above and beyond when I have chances to improve patient care and make their hospital stay less stressful. I’m constantly having conversations with my team, researching treatment recommendations and possible risks to each step, fighting with insurance companies and agonizing over patient care choices, but none of this is something my patients can see. I work really really long hours - a 5am-8 or 9pm day is not unusual, and I don’t hesitate to stay longer if I can be of more comfort to my patients. Just because we cannot be at beside does not mean we don’t care, and wow does it kind of sting when patients or even other healthcare workers allude to nurses being the only ones who truly care and advocate for their patients. We are all on the same team, and just because you don’t see all our hard work doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.

[whitecoatblackmarket]

When you were minding your business and having a calm and pleasant morning in the hospital but then there’s a code blue at 0700

Not me forgetting my hair tie on the morning I almost had to place a fem line while the patient had no pulse 🥹😅

[whitecoatblackmarket]

“Hey doc, it’s probably nothing, but that endoscopy patient from earlier today is complaining of some pretty bad upper back pain….”

*CXR with pneumomediastinum*

Me, going immidiately to speak with the nurse directly: strict NPO right now 🫠

[whitecoatblackmarket]

Me showing off my lucky necklace to coworkers at the hospital when I have a good shift

I was never superstitious until I started working in healthcare and now I am THE MOST superstitious 🫣

[whitecoatblackmarket]

Me, a surgery resident, when anesthesia is extubating the patient

I hate it 🤢

[whitecoatblackmarket]

When you make some nice plans for the evening and right before you walk out of the hospital there is an unexpected issue and you definitely cannot leave

The hospital can sense your hopefulness 😂

[whitecoatblackmarket]

When another specialty’s resident or attending is rude to you and your senior resident or attending asks for you to give them the phone

Hahaha you’re in trouble now 😂😈

[whitecoatblackmarket]

When the new interns are here so I try to be happy and encouraging but I’m starting second year and have no idea what I’m doing

Everything is great but also my life is a dumpster fire and my brain is empty please help

[whitecoatblackmarket]

When the nurse comments “oh you’re working again tonight!” When you come see the patient they paged about

I spend more time at the hospital than at home….unclear if my cat even remembers what I look like at this point 😂🥲

[whitecoatblackmarket]

When you have an absolutely shit week and then your patient says something to you that makes everything worth it

Today a patient told me “you just have a way of explaining things, just like my oncologist” and asked me, if I had some time, if I could personally call his daughter and explain what was happening in his care. I’m just an intern! But he said this after he had talked to the entire team earlier so I feel pretty special 🥺 It’s been such a long couple of weeks, and maybe it’s the sleep deprivation, but I almost cried right in front of him 😂 but actually this job can be really thankless and honestly I don’t even care that it technically added another to do for me tomorrow, I just feel happy I could personally contribute to his care and really proud that the communication and teaching skills that I’ve cultivated for so long are making a difference for my patients 🥺