Yesterday many of my friends embarked on the same epic journey... so congratulations to all my friends who matched yesterday into the programs of their choice (for more information on the match, check it out on my medical school blog)!
While sitting in my car post call, I waited anxiously half a country away to hear where my friends would be going. But it wasn't just exciting to hear that my friend were going to their top choice, it was exciting to see who the new interns in my program would be come July 1. Yes, new interns are on their way!!!! It's hard to imagine that my intern year is 3 months from being done, but it's true. And now there's a light at the end of the tunnel, the replacements have been identified, and will be coming in to take over.
However, with that means I'm stepping up to my PGY-2 (post graduate year -2), and that comes with a whole lot of changes. Firstly, the infinitely wise ACGME hour restrictions (hence my sarcasm, please see below), will allow me, for the first time since I was a medical student, to take in-house 24 hour call. It also means that I'll be running the CCA ("critical care assessment"), which is the trauma ER at our program.
My biggest fear (and one that I'm pretty sure is going to come true) is me being the desk doc in the CCA on July 1... when the amount of traumas are at the highest. Its a daunting task for any second year resident to be in the CCA during the beginning of the year. But now throw into the mix that it'll be the first time I'm taking real call. Needless to say, kind of freaking out about the whole thing.
Anyways... Residency has been going well since I last updated you all.
In January I was on Transplant Surgery. I really like the rotation and had a wonderful time! I got to operate a fair bit, and even got to do a vascular anastomosis (i.e. sew an artery to a vein for dialysis access). The transplant staff was awesome and I learned a lot! Honestly, I'm kind of excited to rotate through the service again as a third year (in, you know, 3-4 years).
In February I spent some time of the cardiovascular surgery service. The month wasn't too bad, and I had enough time to get a puppy!
Currently I'm back in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit, which I really like, again. The more I thought about it, the happier I am that I came to a program that is so intensive care heavy, I think it makes me think a lot more about why I do what I do... It's been an excellent month so far.
And may I now introduce you to Adson:
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| At PetSmart the day she came home |
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| She loves hiding in bushes and tall grasses |
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| Playing with toys at the apartment |
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| At "The Barking Lot" downtown |
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| Nothing like the pathetic "It's raining mommy" looks |
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| Love her SO much! |
Hour Restrictions Rant: I really don't understand how the ACGME thinks it's completely fine for PGY-2s to take 24h call, but not the interns. And I don't say that because I think the 16h rule is valid, but because I think it's incredibly stupid. Walking into my PGY-2 year, I'm incredibly behind where my second year colleagues were when they started their year. Not only that, but now, in addition to taking 24h call for the first time, the expectations of where I should be are incredibly higher. Oh, and because of the hour restrictions I've seen a whole lot less operative time that the interns in years past.
And then there's the whole "you can't take more than 6 night floats in a row"... How having us switch from days to nights constantly, instead of allowing us to take all our nights in a row is supposed to be better and make us less tired makes absolutely ZERO sense to me.
I just want to yell at the ACGME, "what the hell? have you all completely lost your minds?"
and, soap box done... for now.
