Anyone else feel overwhelmed?

[golgi]

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So July came and went and I finished my first month as an ophtho resident. I feel so overwhelmed to the point that sometimes i hate it and want to quit. I feel like there is very little supervision and I don't know what i am lookin at more than half the time. Are there any other 1st years out there who feel this overwhelmed? How is supervision in your program? Thanks in advance.

 

[JR]

Hey Golgi,

Hang in there! My program is definately similar to yours; we used to joke last year Wills Eye Manual was our attending, we even tried giving "him" a teaching award 🙂 .

Keep in mind that all the upper level residents went through this, survived and went on to become competent ophthalmologists. Take a deep breath, use your back-up for questions, read as much as you can. If you are not sure about a decision made overnight, make arrangements for close follow up. Utilize other subspecialities on-call: last year when I had a retina questions, I'd call the retina fellow on-call directily, sometimes bypassing my back-up (I agree, not the best thing). And, again, eat well, spend time with family, try to excersise (easier said then done). Before you know it, you'll be the one people call for advice 🙂 .

I hope this helps!

 

[EYESURG]

Hey Golgi,

Hang in there! My program is definately similar to yours; we used to joke last year Wills Eye Manual was our attending, we even tried giving "him" a teaching award 🙂 .

Keep in mind that all the upper level residents went through this, survived and went on to become competent ophthalmologists. Take a deep breath, use your back-up for questions, read as much as you can. If you are not sure about a decision made overnight, make arrangements for close follow up. Utilize other subspecialities on-call: last year when I had a retina questions, I'd call the retina fellow on-call directily, sometimes bypassing my back-up (I agree, not the best thing). And, again, eat well, spend time with family, try to excersise (easier said then done). Before you know it, you'll be the one people call for advice 🙂 .

I hope this helps!

I feel the same thing too about not much supervision. Unfortunately, our seniors are not making it easier for us and they are only giving not constructive criticisms. I think it will get better when we don't cover children's hospital next month 😀 All that I can take, but seriously there are lots of reading out there. I basically have to read 150 pages/week! Are you guys skimming and/or skipping or both?

Good luck to all.

 

[ryangeraets]

Hang in there. I'm sorry that your chiefs are not being supportive, trust me....you are at your programs because you belong there whether your chiefs/upper levels are making you feel that way right now or not.

I'm a chief right now and trust me....no matter what your chiefs say, they remember what it feels like not to know a single thing and feel as though you are more likely to hurt someone than help them.

Stick with it! The learning curve is steep. Keep reading and absorbing as much as you can, and before you know it June 30 will roll around and you'll be getting ready to be an upper level. There are no chances to measure your progress until you have a new first year to help through their own first few weeks in clinic.

JUST REMEMBER HOW YOU FEEL NOW!!! This will help you be a REAL Chief Resident/Upper level, and enable you to truly facilitate the education of new residents beneath you in the future.

If you want to hear about the dumb stuff your current chiefs have likely done when they were first years, email me...I'm sure they have made the same mistakes in the past that I have.

 

[ryangeraets]

I forgot to tell you all.

I divided the BCS into managable chunks throughout the year to allow you to pretty much finish the entire series by OKAPs. If you want a copy of the schedule please email me and I'll send it to you.

 

[rubensan]

oh yes, dr. wills has become my best friend on call. in clinic, our program has a running joke about the "ultimate attending of all:" Dr. OCT. is it CME? is it not? dr. oct has all the answers 😉 ....better get going. i'm on call tonight and the er is calling with an "IOP of 40 r/o angle closure OD but no red eye, VA 20/20 OD, PERRL" my new strategy is to go to the ER directly with stuff like this and re-tono-pen with the ER resident. i've discovered that they pry the eye open, press on the globe and always get high IOPs.

thanks for the advice JR! astonishing how similar things are at "Wilmer West" 😉

Hey Golgi,

Hang in there! My program is definately similar to yours; we used to joke last year Wills Eye Manual was our attending, we even tried giving "him" a teaching award 🙂 .

Keep in mind that all the upper level residents went through this, survived and went on to become competent ophthalmologists. Take a deep breath, use your back-up for questions, read as much as you can. If you are not sure about a decision made overnight, make arrangements for close follow up. Utilize other subspecialities on-call: last year when I had a retina questions, I'd call the retina fellow on-call directily, sometimes bypassing my back-up (I agree, not the best thing). And, again, eat well, spend time with family, try to excersise (easier said then done). Before you know it, you'll be the one people call for advice 🙂 .

I hope this helps!

 

[EYESURG]

Hang in there. I'm sorry that your chiefs are not being supportive, trust me....you are at your programs because you belong there whether your chiefs/upper levels are making you feel that way right now or not.

I'm a chief right now and trust me....no matter what your chiefs say, they remember what it feels like not to know a single thing and feel as though you are more likely to hurt someone than help them.

Stick with it! The learning curve is steep. Keep reading and absorbing as much as you can, and before you know it June 30 will roll around and you'll be getting ready to be an upper level. There are no chances to measure your progress until you have a new first year to help through their own first few weeks in clinic.

JUST REMEMBER HOW YOU FEEL NOW!!! This will help you be a REAL Chief Resident/Upper level, and enable you to truly facilitate the education of new residents beneath you in the future.

If you want to hear about the dumb stuff your current chiefs have likely done when they were first years, email me...I'm sure they have made the same mistakes in the past that I have.

Thank you for the encouragement. I will definetely stick with it and try to make the best out of it.

 

[eyestar]

Nightmare calls! I would say its gotten little better since last wk, now that i can see the fundus with the 90D a little. Glad to know i am not the only one! But no time to read. Hope it gets better soon!

 

[Toadkiller Dog]

I would just like to add that I also feel completely lost. I'm sure that any day now, the chair is going to call me into his office and say, "I just don't think you're cut out for this."

I don't think I would argue with him!

Oh well. Just glad I'm not on call tonight.

 

[rubensan]

sure, it's overwhelming and we are ALL probably missing things is clinic. but all in all, isn't it SO MUCH better than last year? the other day i did a consult in the icu. medicine was rounding. put the dilating drops in. came back 2 hours later to do my exam, medicine was still rounding. came back during lunch with my senior to have him double check something. medicine was STILL rounding. 😀

I would just like to add that I also feel completely lost. I'm sure that any day now, the chair is going to call me into his office and say, "I just don't think you're cut out for this."

I don't think I would argue with him!

Oh well. Just glad I'm not on call tonight.

 

[kassie]

That's me staring blankly at you passing by during our rounds. No joke, one day we rounded until 8PM! Not a simple task for a preggo intern... Just think of what you left behind during prelim year and enjoy! I can't wait for ophtho!

iris

sure, it's overwhelming and we are ALL probably missing things is clinic. but all in all, isn't it SO MUCH better than last year? the other day i did a consult in the icu. medicine was rounding. put the dilating drops in. came back 2 hours later to do my exam, medicine was still rounding. came back during lunch with my senior to have him double check something. medicine was STILL rounding. 😀

 

[rubensan]

I can't wait for ophtho!

iris

you SHOULD look forward to ophtho. as one moderator on this forum told me last year, during your first year of ophthalmology residency "the pain of internship is still there but it's different." consult days are crazy and sometimes i feel like i don't have time to think. there is a constant pressure to read, do research, go to this conference and that but i think all in all these are good things. i finally feel that i am in an environment that motivates me to want to learn more and be a better physician and not just "get the work done" like i did last year. i guess so many people warned me that the first year of ophtho wasn't going to be "cush" that i had very low expectations and wasn't let down by the amount of work or the feeling that i didn't know anything. for all of you thinking about ophtho, applying to ophtho residency, or currently doing an internship and will start ophtho next year, as long as you know these issues going in, you will be fine...i think. we'll see. people in my program talk about the pre-OKAP, pre-ARVO February/March "lull."