1.) I registered for a pager. I won't get it until June, but to me having a pager is one of the symbols of the medical profession. Signing up for a pager gave me the strange realization that before long I will truly be a part of a patient care team. There will be people paging me to do various tasks and there will be times where I am needed...actually needed...for the care of a patient. That idea is simultaneously exciting and terrifying. Getting a pager also marks the beginning of the medical field's ability to reach me whenever anyone wants to. I'm already not looking forward to those middle-of-the-night pages and on-call nights!
2.) I scheduled for Med 3. I don't know my official schedule yet, since all we've done so far is state preferences - but it still made it very real that in a few short months I will be doing patient care full time. Thinking about my schedule for next year is exciting, although there are several rotations that I am anticipating I will not enjoy.
The six rotations (eight weeks each) we have to do next year are:
- Pediatrics
- Internal Medicine
- Surgery
- Psychology/Neurology (4 weeks of each)
- Family Medicine/Elective (4 weeks of each)
- OB/Gyn
IM, Surgery and OB/Gyn are said to be the hardest rotations, and I am most dreading Surgery and OB/Gyn because I have no interest in pursuing those fields and the rotations are difficult. For all 6 rotations, current Med 3s have told us that the average day is 6am-6pm in the hospitals and that we are expected to study once we get home in the evenings for the final exam we have at the end of the rotation. Next year will surely be a busy one, but I am looking forward to the patient interaction and all of the opportunities to learn more about medicine.
