My surgery rotation is now officially over and relief does not begin to describe my feelings. I worked an average of around 70 hours/week and had one week where I worked 105 hours, including two 30 hour shifts. Even if I loved surgery, those hours would be exhausting - but my disinterest for the field made the hours nearly unbearable. I'm not one to complain, so I'll just reiterate that I'm glad the experience is over.
I try to not feed in to stereotypes, but certain stories may do just that (though I hesitate to take any blame when I'm merely telling actual events). I want to clarify that I do not think ill of all surgeons, and I certainly appreciate what they do - I just happened to work with a group of particularly arrogant and egocentric surgeons. Here are a few more stories I collected over my months of surgery to sum up what parts of it were like:
~~~~~
[A quick review of rankings in medicine, from most seniority/authority to least]
Chief of Staff
Attending Physician
Chief Resident
Senior Resident
Junior Resident
Intern
Everyone Else
Medical Students
~~~~~
Most (if not all) fields within the hospital have conferences referred to as "M&M" which stands for "Morbidity and Mortality" and is specific to their field. The purpose of the meetings is meant to be a discussion of things that went wrong and how they can be prevented in the future. When I was on the Internal Medicine service, the conferences covered occurrences such as giving an incorrect insulin dose or missing a diagnosis - with the intention of learning from complications and mistakes. On the Surgery service, I was amused to realize that most of the M&M presentations were about mistakes that other physicians had made which the surgeons, in all of their wisdom, were able to correct.
~~~~~
When starting one of my surgery months, I attempted to make small talk with one of the chief residents to get to know him a little and make conversation. I was promptly told to stop by his saying:
"The more questions you ask me, the more I'm going to find to complain about - so you should just stop!"
~~~~~
While talking with a patient about their medical history and trying to get a list of the medications the patient was taking, I was told: "I'm on a drug for memory too, but I don't remember what it's called."
Me: "Sir, I'm not sure that medication is working."
~~~~~
The med students' value on the team was clearly established when the junior resident called our intern and said: "Meet me in the emergency department...and bring the kids if you have to."
~~~~~
A 94 year old WWII vet who clearly wasn't used to not being in charge, was not happy about the intern trying to put a Foley catheter into his penis. Suddenly, the trauma room was filled with screaming: "Hey!!! What are you doing?! GET OUT OF THERE!"
~~~~~
Chief Resident: "Wait...how old are you?"
Me: "24"
CR: "You look 12"
Me: "I know"
CR: "Do you get that all the time?"
Me: "More than you can imagine..."
CR: "I'm just going to call you 'kid' from now on."
Me (sarcastically): "Awesome."
~~~~~
An attending who was apparently too used to examining the abdomen in describing a disagreement within the team: "There is distension among the forces!" I believe he meant dissension.
~~~~~
One attending who was known for being unreasonable showed up for morning rounds two hours late one day and was absolutely furious that the nurses weren't in the patients' rooms waiting for him.
Attending (with expletives removed): "Why weren't you in the room?!"
Nurse: "Sir, we didn't know when you were coming."
Attending: "I don't care, you should have been waiting!"
Nurse (sarcastically): "My apologies...sir."
~~~~~
One trauma patient that came in was drunkenly belligerent and was cussing and screaming at all of the nurses and physicians. She eventually left AMA because we wouldn't take her C-collar off until she was sober. In the short amount of time that the patient was in the hospital, she was extremely disrespectful and rude to everyone who was attempting to take care of her. She kept insisting that she needed to leave so that she could work her shift at a steak house. One attending had a great idea: "We should all show up to the restaurant where she works and show her how it feels to be disrespected and annoyed at work! We can scream and cuss about our orders being incorrect and demand to speak with her manager!"
~~~~~
Med students are frequently quizzed and drilled by those above us. Quiz questions to med students have become known as "pimp questions". I have no idea how the term originated, but any med student knows what "Did you get pimped today?" means, and it's not remotely close to what it would mean for much of society. One morning on rounds, I was pimped on a question that I had no idea how to answer - and this is what happened:
Me: "I'm not sure what the answer is, but I'll look it up."
Attending (to the other med student on the team): "Do you know it?"
Med Student: "I'm sorry, I don't know either."
Attending (to the junior): "You?"
Junior Resident: "I have no idea."
Chief Resident: "I can't believe you all don't know that...you have to know these things! It's just ridiculous that you don't know the answer to that question."
Attending: "Why don't you tell them the answer."
Chief Resident: "Um...well...uh...I actually don't know."
Attending: "Then why the ____ were you giving them a hard time?!"
~~~~~
On Monday, I start my pediatrics rotation. I'm really excited about these next few weeks because I truly think pediatrics is what I will do with my career. And as my mom said once, "I bet you like peds because kids are the only ones who take you seriously since they don't realize how young you look!"
Saturday, October 22, 2011
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