Good bye scut - Hello PGY-2!

[USCDiver]

Blah Blah Blah! I'm a big PGY-2 now! I don't have to be a scut monkey anymore! I don't have to see patients or hunt down labs or find radiology reports or arrange for transport back to the nursing home. Blah Blah Blah

This is what I imagine Niner's post from the phantom thread was going to be. Man, let's face it. A huge chunk of being an EM resident is scut work. I personally long for the day when we can collectively start the "Good bye scut - Hello Attendingship!" thread.

Good on ya mate! Hope your year was as cool as mine down here. It was fun to see all those young impressionable and scared ****less new interns roll into town a couple of weeks ago. They'll be seeing their share soon enough I hope. Otherwise there's going to be some long long waits in our department.

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[RichL025]

This is what I imagine Niner's post from the phantom thread was going to be. Man, let's face it. A huge chunk of being an EM resident is scut work.

Could you guys expound on that a bit? How are you defining "scut"?

My ED rotation is coming up, and EM is on my short list of things I want to do when I grow up (I'm only 37 now <g>). What kind of "scut" does a resident deal with on a regular basis?

 

[margaritaboy]

Could you guys expound on that a bit? How are you defining "scut"?

My ED rotation is coming up, and EM is on my short list of things I want to do when I grow up (I'm only 37 now <g>). What kind of "scut" does a resident deal with on a regular basis?

Hope I'm not answering a question meant for someone else...but...

I've found the scut work level in the ED to be minimal to zero. Everything I do there has directly to do with patient care and is something I feel I should learn.

On the other hand, certain off-service rotations can have a higher scut-factor, depending on the service and who you are working with. In those circumstances, it can be a lot harder to see how what you are doing is shaping you into a better EM physician.

 

[NinerNiner999]

That is exactly the scut I'm talking about - the off-service months. Hunting films, pounding boxes, dictations, etc. I never mind the "scut" in the ED - especially since I'm not being "asked" to do it...

Didn't mean to throw up a phantom post there Diver- I had originally congratulated all of us who moved up the ranks, just started, and just graduated. I'm not sure what happened to the post, though. Cheers to you down in ECU, two more years to go...

 

[USCDiver]

I define 'scut' as all those things you want to ask the medical student to do, but don't because it isn't particularly educational. On off-service rotations I include following up on labs, xrays, etc...calling consultants...discharge planning...placement...home health...basically anything beyond the initial H&P, daily progress notes and rounding is fair game. After that diagnosis and treatment plan are made, I often quickly lose interest.

All those things that are scut on Medicine are of course present in the ED, but it's different because you are still trying to differentiate the patient's problems. I don't necessarily relish having to traipse down to the radiology department because it's been 2 hours and that appy CT hasn't been read yet, but that's part of diagnosing that patient. Monitoring a daily INR for therapeutic coumadin is not.

my $0.02

 

[Jeff698]

After that diagnosis and treatment plan are made, I often quickly lose interest.

Well, that pretty well sums up why I'm an EM intern and not a medicine one.

Take care,
Jeff