My first day as a clinician started today with getting up at 6am (after only a few hours of sleep), spilling coffee on my white coat, being given the wrong directions to the room to which I was supposed to report, and thus showing up a few minutes late to the correct room. Later in the day I was given 20 minutes to eat lunch, drive to another hospital, and find the next place to which I needed to report. The day ended with attempting to take a history from a patient who wanted nothing to do with me unless I could find her some tomato soup.
It's going to be a fantastic year.
No really, it's going to be a fantastic year.
As much as all of these little bumps today could have thrown me off, I can honestly say I enjoyed today. Despite little sleep and feeling entirely incompetent the entire day (I don't even know how to turn my pager on - seriously, who still uses a pager?!), it marks the beginning of an incredible journey that I am eager to begin (and eager to finish).
My patient today, despite mainly being concerned with tomato soup, was my first real patient in the hospital. And despite the patient's intense depression and lack of desire to do anything but lie in bed, I was able to get her to smile. As cheesy and cliche as it sounds, that was enough for me. A few weeks or months into this year, I may not be so easily encouraged - but I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts. I need patients like her to remind me why I'm investing so much in this education.
I'm actually looking forward to seeing her tomorrow and trying to get another smile out of her. I'll be doing well if all it takes is tomato soup to make my patients' days.
A side note on my rotations: As part of privacy laws, I have to be extremely careful in talking about any patients and their health issues. Because of this, I'm not going to specify which of the many hospitals in the Columbus area I will be assigned to each month. I also will often change certain details (dates, age, gender, etc) to make it impossible to identify the actual patient to which I am referring. If I ever refer to a patient by name, it will never be their real name. I may make up a name to help with story telling without revealing the patient's identity. I also, to protect myself, will change the names of any staff/other medical personnel I talk about. Not because it's illegal to mention them by name, but because it's stupid.
I hope to use this blog to tell some interesting and entertaining stories about some of the situations into which I will be thrown this year. If I'm going to be stressed or humiliated, I figure you might as well be entertained.
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2 comments:
I'm am so looking forward to following this next part of your journey on your blog. By the way, you have become quite the writer, entertaining and interesting to read. Perhaps I will enjoy it more than most having spent so many years in hospitals. How exciting to get out of just the books and into the patient end of medicine. Carry On!
I'm so proud of you friend. :) You're absolutely right...as stressful as it can be working in the health profession, it is always wonderful to know when you've lightened someone's day, made them a little more comfortable or shown the light of Jesus to them. Shine on dearest! :-)
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