MSIII: Day 5

Our last day of General Orientation for MS3! We were given lots of advice from residents and from current MS4s. Overall rules for Surgery Clerkship (which is where I begin my year) are:

1.) Work hard. All day. Every day.

2.) Sleep when you can.

3.) Eat when you must.

4.) Don't fart when you're in the OR for a bowel surgery.

Another little pearl of advice: "When you feel like you don't want to bother someone with a question or ask for help, remember: There are only 2 people that pay a whole lot of money to be in the hospital - patients, and you."

Upon concluding the Orientation, we were given our pagers. 

"Welcome to the Team"

...and my first night on call will be in less than 2 weeks!

MSIII: Day 4

General orientation week is nearly over! We went over how to be a nice person for about 5 hours today. Fun stuff. Glad I found out that a person tends to get snappy when they're sleep deprived, I never would have figured that out on my own! ;)

We went thru some radiology films, which was fun. I'm remembering more than I thought I could, which is a bit of a relief. I was starting to think that everything I studied and committed to memory for Step 1 was wiped away in the 2.5 weeks of holiday I took before MS3!

I did my Basic Life Support certification tonight. An interesting medical story I learned from the preceptor:: When he and a colleague were setting up for a large group CPR training session, a young mother pulled out a gun and shot her 6 month old baby in front of everyone. The baby died soon thereafter. He said that that image has haunted him constantly throughout his life. He proceeded to say that we, as student-doctors and eventual doctors, will see everything...and the babies' and infants' and children's tragedies will stun you and stick with you forever. I am scared.to.death to confront such situations. I'm so soft, I'm afraid that I'll a.)cry hysterically and be completely worthless, b.) I'll have the images seered permanently in my memory, and c.) I'll be totally inconsolable for weeks. At least I know that I have an understanding and loving better-half that will always be there to help me through the worst of my days. I don't know how I would ever get through this without him by my side...!

MSIII: Day 3

Finally we had a bit of hands-on time today! We went to the Nursing School's Simulation labs and learned how to give a gentle yet effective pelvic exam, how to keep a sterile environment whilst gowning for surgery, how to place an IV, and how to suture a laceration. Even though I am pretty sure that I'm not interested in surgery (poor lifestyle) or OB-GYN (sometimes its just downright nasty), I really enjoyed today's practice. I definitely feel confident that I can provide these procedures for my future patients, albeit with some professional guidance.

...I have the desire to stitch and sew tonight, after the suture session today! As mundane as it might sound, I look forward to my first real-life stitch. I know that my first rotation will be extremely time and labor-intensive, but I am just so excited to learn so many new things and to be a part of so many new experiences that surgery will undoubtedly showcase. It will be a huge workload, but I am so excited at this point that I don't even care if my whole life consists of medicine for the next 52 weeks! I think this feeling will subside, once I am forced to spend days without so much as a glimpse of my fiance, but for now I could not be more excited about my third year of medical school! Many doctors have said that the time in their lives when they have learned the most new and useful information was in their third year of medical school; that is enough to thoroughly excite any 3rd year student!!

Pearl of the Day: "Don't tell your patient to 'spread your legs'. I know we have a problem with this, but we need to think before we speak!...There is a real power in our choice of words." - 3rd Year OB-GYN Resident