06/19/2017: Chapter One of Residency
Just kidding.
Efficiency is Key: When I was a medical student, I remember looking at the interns and wondering just why they were so inefficient. None of the things they were doing was truly difficult, but they always looked like they were scrambling to get all of their work done. I never really understood why it took so much time to finish up paperwork and get some labs ordered.
06/19/2017 marked the official start of my intern year as a preliminary neurology student at UC Irvine. Orientation swept by so quickly, and by the end of June, I found myself thrust upon the busy ward life within the hospital. Some things I have learned thus far in my month of flailing pathetically in internship:
Efficiency is Key: When I was a medical student, I remember looking at the interns and wondering just why they were so inefficient. None of the things they were doing was truly difficult, but they always looked like they were scrambling to get all of their work done. I never really understood why it took so much time to finish up paperwork and get some labs ordered.
Boy was I so naive!
As medical students, we had luxury of time to really understand and think about our patients. We didn't have the incessant but sometimes necessary pages by medical staff. We didn't have endless orders to place and check up on.
As interns, we spend much of the day making intellectual medicine into reality, whether that is placing every single mundane details in or talking to various house staff to discuss next steps for cases. I've learned it's almost impossible to sit down and complete everything needed for a patient in one go. Every so often, I need switch off to address a concern for another patient. Multitasking really has gone into another level here, but it's with repeated interruptions from all fronts. If your mind isn't frazzled by the end of the day by this, I don't know how you function normally.
As medical students, we had luxury of time to really understand and think about our patients. We didn't have the incessant but sometimes necessary pages by medical staff. We didn't have endless orders to place and check up on.
As interns, we spend much of the day making intellectual medicine into reality, whether that is placing every single mundane details in or talking to various house staff to discuss next steps for cases. I've learned it's almost impossible to sit down and complete everything needed for a patient in one go. Every so often, I need switch off to address a concern for another patient. Multitasking really has gone into another level here, but it's with repeated interruptions from all fronts. If your mind isn't frazzled by the end of the day by this, I don't know how you function normally.
Computer Time Beats Patient Time: Disappointingly, what I have found out during my short month as a fresh intern is that the reality of modern medicine involves more computer time than patient interface time. Of course I've seen this play out as a medical student with the interns popping into the patients' room maybe twice a day. I guess I always assumed that the interns I saw just weren't that interested in chatting with their patients. Unfortunately, even if I did have time, The total time I can spend with patients in a day is approximately two to three hours total, which is incredibly sad to me! I never imagined I would spend so much time in front of a computer caring for a patient! But I am. I'm looking at laboratory results, ordering pertinent examinations to be drawn, reading up consultation notes, calling appropriate specialties for interdisciplinary planing, and so on. It seems impossible that this takes up the majority of my day, but it really does.
There's definitely more things to add to this short list, but this is what I'll conclude thus far. More to come with my silly doodles during these crazy times.
But yes, my crazy tuft always sticks out, especially when I get more tired or more frazzled.
There's definitely more things to add to this short list, but this is what I'll conclude thus far. More to come with my silly doodles during these crazy times.
But yes, my crazy tuft always sticks out, especially when I get more tired or more frazzled.
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