Five Weeks In

I'm in my last week of Family Medicine and I'm ready to be done.  I've enjoyed my time working with the residents and attendings.  I end up doing a fair amount of menial work, like rounding up patients, looking up labs, or wasting an hour on hold with the ultrasound department wit ha phone that has no speaker, so I have to hold it to my ear the entire time, but at least I'm appreciated.

I have not enjoyed working with the front office staff.  It's always fun to wake up in the morning and go to the hospital, so you can be belittled by people who do not have the mental capacity to handle what you do.  My having no recourse is one of the main reasons they do it; I can't complain to an attending or resident that the front staff is "being mean to me", so I suck it up.  I guess because they can't talk back to the attendings, they stick to taking it out on the med students.  That's cool, in a couple of years, they'll be stuck doing what they do, and I'll be moving on and up.

One of my major assets is being able to work with the technology in the hospital.  Like my brother said, you can be smart as hell, but attendings love the med student who can fix their computer.  I've seen it first-hand.  I've fallen in favor of at least two attendings for fixing their computer.  I've also seen a resident who gave me a hard time, switch it up quickly after I fixed his printer.  Being a nerd has its perks.

Although it's been a good experience.  I have not learned too much medicine, but I have learned how to function in a hospital and also, more important, how to deal with difficult people.  Mainly, the disingenuous kind who smile to all the doctors, but will shit on you not because they have to, but because they can.  Life lessons learned at no cost.

I'll looking forward to being back in California to enjoy time with the wife and family.  My little niece keeps getting bigger in every picture or video I see.  I didn't know six weeks could change a kid so quickly.

As one rotation comes to an end, I'm also learning that I'll need to find a specialty.  Family medicine requires one to know a lot about a lot of things.  I would prefer to know the details of just one organ or body system.  More power to the family doc, but I don't think it's in the cards for me.

My First Month

I've done about four weeks of clinicals and I'm finally starting to figure out the system.  Mainly, I look for unique and interesting scenerios to get out of the hospital early.  I'm usually successful, so long as I'm not caught to work up a last minute patient. 

Other than that, I've been learning a lot.

Check the Door Lock

Today I had an eventful bathroom experience.  I used the outside combination door lock to get into the staff restroom, only to forget to turn the inside lock.  And then it happened; a fellow student walked in on me.  I had no time to react and I think I uttered something along the lines of "Oh, dear goodness" before she quickly shut the door and apologized.  To add insult to injury, I left the bathroom in such a panic that I'm pretty sure I forgot to flush on the way out.  To avoid super awkwardness, I was going to make a joke of it when I saw her, but she was in the break room with a lot of people, so I avoided drawing more attention then needed.  And in the end, we ended up passing each other in halls and exchanging awkward glances.

It's going to be a long two weeks.

Also, it's good to have some computer skills.  I've made it in good with the attendings and residents by fixing their non-functional printers.  I should also thank HP too, I guess. 

What Did I Do?

I understand nurses have a job to do and most likely, I probably get in the way, but do nurses really have to be so snappy all the time?  Honestly, the attitude gets old.  None of the residents or attendings disrespect them, yet they feel the need to dump on medical students for asking questions or a favor.  For example, we're going to ask you to let us into the supply closet.  We don't have a key.  If we did, we'd do it ourselves.  But we don't, so when we ask nicely, please don't give us a look each time a swear it's a huge dilemma to let us borrow the IR key.  If we ask a question, don't give us all the attitude, just explain to us the situation like an adult.  We don't know all the hospital policy, so please take 30 seconds out of your precious time and let us know.

Luckily, my time in the hospital is starting to wind down.  Next week, we get to start working in the clinic, which means shorter hours although possibly a busier workload.  At this point, I'll take the extra hour of sleep in the morning.  I don't quite understand how they expect us to function properly after 15-hour days (from waking up to arriving home) and actually get some studying done when we get back.  All I'm thinking about is dinner, a little StarCraft or Hulu Plus, and getting ready for bed.  Third year is a time suck.

Third Year

Finally get back into the swing of things.  I've been sitting on the sidelines since December, so it feels good to back in it.  The only knock would be the hours.  Gone are my midday naps.  My sleeping in until mid-afternoon and getting home with enough time to go to the gym, enjoy dinner, and waste time watching professional level StarCraft II games online. 

I'll update more in the coming days...