happily-ever-after is really just the beginning

[cytoborg]

This is a question for all the current residents - fast-forwarding to what happens AFTER the match. What were the biggest adjustments for you when starting residency? Any surprises (bad or good)? Any words of wisdom for soon-to-be first-years?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[LADoc00]

This is a question for all the current residents - fast-forwarding to what happens AFTER the match. What were the biggest adjustments for you when starting residency? Any surprises (bad or good)? Any words of wisdom for soon-to-be first-years?

Trust No One.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Trust No One.

That's it? That's all you gotta say?

C'mon man! The guy is in a wheelchair! Tell him more!

 

[LADoc00]

That's it? That's all you gotta say?

C'mon man! The guy is in a wheelchair! Tell him more!

Why is he in a wheelchair? I miss something.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Why is he in a wheelchair? I miss something.

Freak accident. The man is in a wheelchair! Stop stalling and tell him what he wants to hear!

 

[cytoborg]

Umm....yeah.

 

[deschutes]

Happily ever after? Just the beginning?

Gee. Maybe I should go study for Step 2.

 

[LADoc00]

Umm....yeah.

Tip1: Smoking doobies (aka 410) can help you see the patterns in lymph node biopsies. When your attending says he can see the subtle expansion of the marginal zone, you know hes been smoking too

Tip2: Dont remark that surgical path fellow's tight top is preventing you from properly identifying helicobacter pylori and thats why you order so many needless immunohistochemical stains. Just suck it up.

Tip3: Daydreaming during signout is bad. When you stare off into space for 20 min thinking about that scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High when Phoebe Cates is getting out of the pool (mmmm) and dont remember what the differentials are for the last 10 cases, you are in deep caca. Avoid this as much as possible.

Tip4: Related to tip2, if you find yourself on a rotation with a total babe and see that trouble is looming, fake a family tragedy, make it a dead aunt or something and save closer relatives like your mom when you really need to bail out and get some sympathy.

Tip5: Dont spend all your money (now that you actually earn some) at the strip clubs and be forced to beg your advisor for rent money. This is bad form.

Tip6: Related to tip5, dont get kicked out of your apartment and be forced to sleep in the residents' room.

Tip7: Dont get caught with a girl in the residents' room at night, unless you want to impress someone.

Tip8: Dont run around with the biopsy of an anal wart from an attending thinking youve just made the ultimate find.

Tip9: Never ever under any circumstances including extreme drunkness sleep with a fellow resident. This is an absolute. You will do it anyway, but you heard it from me first.

Tip10: Never sleep with an attending or provide any sexual favors. You have no idea how many times this tip is ignored.

Thats all for now. Happy hunting!
Tip5:

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Rock on LADoc! Rock on!

Remember though...the guy is in a wheelchair! Some of the tips won't apply.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Happily ever after? Just the beginning?

Gee. Maybe I should go study for Step 2.

step 2 sucks donkey balls.

i already told you what's on it.

go have fun.

 

[deschutes]

Re: Tip7 - who is "someone"? Security??

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Re: Tip7 - who is "someone"? Security??

now now...ease up on the LADoc!!

 

[LADoc00]

Re: Tip7 - who is "someone"? Security??

All the greats of surgical pathology have a sexual escapades story attached to their residency times. Legend says that a famous professor at my home program came in late at night to find a soon-to-be famous resident banging some chick on a photocopy machine while pressing the copy button with her butt on the device. The professor supposedly unfazed, asked politely if he could quickly copy an article. The resident relented and moved the girl to a nearby chair to continue his amorous extracurricular activites during the copying.

BTW, Im not joking here.

 

[deschutes]

For every one of those professor-walks-in stories, there must be thirty security-guards-watching-on-CCTV stories.

Security guards have so much fun.

 

[doc4nsix]

Just a small correction to make...your stories are funny...BUT...dude its 4:20!!!

Tip1: Smoking doobies (aka 410) can help you see the patterns in lymph node biopsies. When your attending says he can see the subtle expansion of the marginal zone, you know hes been smoking too

Tip2: Dont remark that surgical path fellow's tight top is preventing you from properly identifying helicobacter pylori and thats why you order so many needless immunohistochemical stains. Just suck it up.

Tip3: Daydreaming during signout is bad. When you stare off into space for 20 min thinking about that scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High when Phoebe Cates is getting out of the pool (mmmm) and dont remember what the differentials are for the last 10 cases, you are in deep caca. Avoid this as much as possible.

Tip4: Related to tip2, if you find yourself on a rotation with a total babe and see that trouble is looming, fake a family tragedy, make it a dead aunt or something and save closer relatives like your mom when you really need to bail out and get some sympathy.

Tip5: Dont spend all your money (now that you actually earn some) at the strip clubs and be forced to beg your advisor for rent money. This is bad form.

Tip6: Related to tip5, dont get kicked out of your apartment and be forced to sleep in the residents' room.

Tip7: Dont get caught with a girl in the residents' room at night, unless you want to impress someone.

Tip8: Dont run around with the biopsy of an anal wart from an attending thinking youve just made the ultimate find.

Tip9: Never ever under any circumstances including extreme drunkness sleep with a fellow resident. This is an absolute. You will do it anyway, but you heard it from me first.

Tip10: Never sleep with an attending or provide any sexual favors. You have no idea how many times this tip is ignored.

Thats all for now. Happy hunting!
Tip5:

 

[stormjen]

Tip10: Never sleep with an attending or provide any sexual favors. You have no idea how many times this tip is ignored.

The idea of sleeping with an attending used to completely gross me out. They have hair coming out of their nostrils, for god's sake.

But then I interviewed with a very handsome Pathology attending on the interview trail and spent the whole trip back in delicious daydreams. God forbid I end up at that program and have to spend countless hours alone in a tiny room with him. It would be really hard to resist the temptation to whip out the cleavage and the glossy pink lipstick.

Think nice thoughts. Think nice thoughts. Think dirty thoughts. Wait, no. What were we talking about? Oh yes, delicious attending. Umm hmm.

 

[Doctor B.]

This is a question for all the current residents - fast-forwarding to what happens AFTER the match. What were the biggest adjustments for you when starting residency? Any surprises (bad or good)? Any words of wisdom for soon-to-be first-years?

Back to your original question , the biggest adjustment for me was realizing I knew jack about pathology. Sure, I'd learn the 2nd year med school stuff. But real path is a whole new ballgame full of new words, weird patterns and 4 variants of every disease you learned in Robbins. It was tough the first few months; I thought about switching to something else. Then things slowly got better.

The other big adjustment was being called "doctor" all the time. Wasn't used to it.

I had a similar experience to stormjen when I was interviewing only it was a female attending . I had trouble paying attention to what she was saying and kept having irreverant daydreams.

I also interviewed with a staff who had hurt himself and was using a cane. When I asked how he had come by this mishap, he told me he was riding his bike, thinking of all the women he wished he would have slept with and he wiped out. That turned out to be my favorite interview of all.

 

[deschutes]

The other big adjustment was being called "doctor" all the time. Wasn't used to it.

Haha! I was booking a hotel for USCAP and the guy at the other end kept calling me "Doctor" sans last name. Since my last name is not for the faint of heart and since May 12 is not long in coming, I decided not to correct him

 

[stormjen]

Are you guys/gals really only now getting called doctor? Surely patients and nurses have been calling you doctor for years!? Heck, I even get called "nurse" once in a while by a patient, even after telling them I'm a med student. I just nod my head and go about my business.

 

[Pingu]

I get called nurse ALL THE TIME....even after stating I am a 4th year medical student. When I tell people I am in medical school, they say 'so you're going to be a nurse?' My happiest day will be when I can officially say 'I'm a doctor' when asked what I do.

Because there is such a frickin double standard...if a guy says he's in med school, everyone instantly assumes he's going to be a doctor....meanwhile, a girl says it and instantly people think...nurse, or ma, or anything but doctor

 

[LADoc00]

Just a small correction to make...your stories are funny...BUT...dude its 4:20!!!

My bad, your right. Im not claiming to be a burner but there are a ton in path.

 

[deschutes]

I get called nurse ALL THE TIME....even after stating I am a 4th year medical student.

Really? Patients here default to "doctor". Respiratory tech? Nursing aide? Physio? Lab? You're all doctor to me - and if you aren't one, I'll keep on doing this until I find one.

 

[yaah]

I guess the only real surprise is when you first realize that you are actually responsible for things now. It's not quite the same as clinical medicine where they call you and ask what medication you want to give the patient who may die in 4 minutes. But now your name is on all of the diagnoses, etc, and you have to make some tough decisions. Attendings also depend on residents quite a bit and a slacker resident can run into trouble because many attendings will not check all of your work. That being said, they can often tell what kind of resident they are dealing with and they will begin to trust some more than others.

Path residency is a bit different though, like I said, because a lot of it still feels like you are in med school - a lot of your time is spent learning things (in the context of patient care or not).

 

[cytoborg]

That being said, they can often tell what kind of resident they are dealing with and they will begin to trust some more than others.

I definitely picked up on this during my path rotations. Garner a bad reputation, and you're doomed, even as a first-year. Conversely, while it seems like the standard advice is "Don't worry, they don't expect you to know anything," it's obvious that the residents who come in with more knowledge/experience are the favored ones, leading to not-so-secret murmers among the faculty of, "So-and-so is really excellent." I'm scared, seeing as I have much less knowledge/experience than some and don't want to make any reputation-ruining mistakes right off the bat. If I weren't such a slacker, this might even spur me into doing some pre-residency reading. Or maybe I'm just not scared enough yet!

 

[Doctor B.]

But if you come in knowing nothing, your improvement during residency will much more dramatic and you will wow the attendings by how much more you know as a 3rd year than a first year.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

But if you come in knowing nothing, your improvement during residency will much more dramatic and you will wow the attendings by how much more you know as a 3rd year than a first year.

I hope you're right Doctor B. I hope you're right.

I didn't do a pre-sophomore or a post-sophomore fellowship.

 

[doc4nsix]

I get called nurse ALL THE TIME....even after stating I am a 4th year medical student. When I tell people I am in medical school, they say 'so you're going to be a nurse?' My happiest day will be when I can officially say 'I'm a doctor' when asked what I do.

Because there is such a frickin double standard...if a guy says he's in med school, everyone instantly assumes he's going to be a doctor....meanwhile, a girl says it and instantly people think...nurse, or ma, or anything but doctor

I feel ya on this one!! I get called nurse HOURLY!! I'm in KY and people are still catching on to women being doctors It's best when I walk in and they ask for more water, or call me sweetie, or hun, or....I just smile and know I have only have a few more months of this sh$#....

 

[yaah]

Well, in terms of being a first year, it isn't really what you know how how much knowledge you have. They might be impressed if you see an alveolar soft part sarcoma and can diagnose it and give a differential but they will be more impressed by people who are inquisitive, work hard, and complete their tasks on time and appropriately.

 

[deschutes]

There's that vertical learning curve again.

But I will try to remember those words when at the 6-month point of PGY-1 Path I am convinced that I have the mind of an amoeba.

 

[cytoborg]

Bumping for any lurking residents out there who might lend some wisdom to the newbies.