intern yr
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Me...on both counts.
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I'm am looking forward it to for the following reasons:
1) i've had so much damn time off the last few months I'm actually bored at times
2) the quicker it starts the quicker it's over with and I'm reasonably certain I will make it out alive 🙂
1) i've had so much damn time off the last few months I'm actually bored at times
2) the quicker it starts the quicker it's over with and I'm reasonably certain I will make it out alive 🙂
I too have been off for the last few months and am ready to get started. But am also terrified too! It's amazing how much you forget in a short amount of time. I have been depositing into my "sleep bank" daily for future withdrawals during internship year. 
docmartin said:I too have been off for the last few months and am ready to get started. But am also terrified too! It's amazing how much you forget in a short amount of time. I have been depositing into my "sleep bank" daily for future withdrawals during internship year.
yeah, with the last couple of months off and it being over a year and a half since my medicine clerkship, it's amazing how much i feel i have forgotten... i'm actually trying to force myself to read something like Internal Medicine: On Call to brush up but it's really not happening for me... Put me in the "i'm ****ting my pants" camp... Good luck everyone.
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Personally, I would not sit around during my few last days off and dream about intern year. I did this last year...daydreamed about starting, seeing patients, actually doing something productive and now I just wish I had spent those last few days not thinking or looking forward to intern year at all.
By all stretches of the imagination it is the hardest year you will ever go through. It's one thing to think/talk about not having any sleep, its quite another to have 5 patients crashing in an ICU, 10 "stable" ICU patients and you with a resident (and that's it) in charge of it all with the ER continuing to page to come get the patients they've intubated for drunkenness/airway protection. Or, have the 3 different surgical teams take the patient to the OR at 1AM, place about 12 drains in his head and neck and 2 chest tubes for Ludwig's angina and drop him off without post op orders in your MICU because no residents staff the SICU on your first night on call of your intern year. Your resident is nowhere to be found. Or the 36 year old patient with pancreatitis who needs you to be at his bedside non-stop through the night (17 L of fluid, intubation, central line, art line and I lost count of the electrolytes he got);until 6AM when the surgeon comes in and says, not in front of mom, " I guess he'll go the OR before he dies then" It's not just about the sleep. It's about the level your brain is required to function without all of that sleep, and people are counting on you. Families are counting on you and its a heap of responsibility, on top of the exhaustion, that you have never even been close to feeling or having before. And if you were like me, none of my patients died in medical school, at least not right in front of me, and that's a whole different ball game.
That was just In my relavtively easy intern year (2 months ICU, 6months floor and 4 electives). So I say, relax, do not look forward to intern year until it starts. Rest your brain. Rest your body and go in fresh. Then, when it gets here, in just a week or so, work hard at it. It will be one of the best experiences you'll have from a learning standpoint if you take it seriously (not everyone does and you'll see patients suffer for that). Finally, if your like me, you can be thankful for it, but ecstatic that your moving on to something other than medicine (and grateful to those who have the stamina to stay in IM.).
By all stretches of the imagination it is the hardest year you will ever go through. It's one thing to think/talk about not having any sleep, its quite another to have 5 patients crashing in an ICU, 10 "stable" ICU patients and you with a resident (and that's it) in charge of it all with the ER continuing to page to come get the patients they've intubated for drunkenness/airway protection. Or, have the 3 different surgical teams take the patient to the OR at 1AM, place about 12 drains in his head and neck and 2 chest tubes for Ludwig's angina and drop him off without post op orders in your MICU because no residents staff the SICU on your first night on call of your intern year. Your resident is nowhere to be found. Or the 36 year old patient with pancreatitis who needs you to be at his bedside non-stop through the night (17 L of fluid, intubation, central line, art line and I lost count of the electrolytes he got);until 6AM when the surgeon comes in and says, not in front of mom, " I guess he'll go the OR before he dies then" It's not just about the sleep. It's about the level your brain is required to function without all of that sleep, and people are counting on you. Families are counting on you and its a heap of responsibility, on top of the exhaustion, that you have never even been close to feeling or having before. And if you were like me, none of my patients died in medical school, at least not right in front of me, and that's a whole different ball game.
That was just In my relavtively easy intern year (2 months ICU, 6months floor and 4 electives). So I say, relax, do not look forward to intern year until it starts. Rest your brain. Rest your body and go in fresh. Then, when it gets here, in just a week or so, work hard at it. It will be one of the best experiences you'll have from a learning standpoint if you take it seriously (not everyone does and you'll see patients suffer for that). Finally, if your like me, you can be thankful for it, but ecstatic that your moving on to something other than medicine (and grateful to those who have the stamina to stay in IM.).
factoid said:
Look here for a wide selection of gadgets designed to ease the burdens of residents on the wards, including "pre-stained underwear."
Scroll down.
Philo
Hippocritis.com <---- medical satire for residents and medical students.
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Another vote for both - I'm looking forward to it and crapping my pants.
As for you people who can't wait to start because you've had so much time off - I envy you! We finished rotations on June 3 and I just graduated yesterday...damn LECOM.
We'll all be fine...I hope!
As for you people who can't wait to start because you've had so much time off - I envy you! We finished rotations on June 3 and I just graduated yesterday...damn LECOM.
We'll all be fine...I hope!
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B
Blade28
I'm excited...and scared...
B
b&ierstiefel
I'm looking forward to this upcoming year as an intern. No overnight call. Yeah baby...YEAH!
Looks like this guy matched path. As I understand it, they don't have to do a "typical" internship year. So their first year of path residency is internship for them...no overnight call to monitor the dead patients....lucky!!! 😀
B
b&ierstiefel
Screw that! When pathology gets more competitive, we can sit back and laugh and say that we got in when it wasn't that competitive 😉cytoborg said:
holy **** clc17 --thanks for scaring the hell out of me! is it too late to change into the path department?!?!
nervous, excited, scared, dread. i think i will attempt to buy a bulk box of rolaids from costco to try to stop my stomach from digesting itself...
start orientation tuesday, work on friday. anyone else starting early?
nervous, excited, scared, dread. i think i will attempt to buy a bulk box of rolaids from costco to try to stop my stomach from digesting itself...
start orientation tuesday, work on friday. anyone else starting early?
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i only have 1 month of overnight call, plus a few random nights. it's an IM prelim too...
and put me down excited/scared/nervous category. i haven't taken care of a patient in months (front-heavy 4th year!)!!!
and put me down excited/scared/nervous category. i haven't taken care of a patient in months (front-heavy 4th year!)!!!
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The learning curve is huge. Looking back, I dont think there is anything to prepare you. Enjoy your free time now, make sure you have a good pocket reference and pharmacopia. It will be fustrating learning a new hosptial, computer system, people, city but no matter how frustrated you get try not to make enemies. There are people that are going to be rude to you, some are rude people and some are testing you. Be professional. Show up on time, learn and do as much as you can, ask for help when you need it, no question is a stupid question if you dont ask it will probably come back to bite you in the ***. By the end of the year the majority of people (residents and hospital staff) will know you.. for good or bad. Probably most importantly when you feel like king dummy, look around you. You are not alone, there will be alot of other interns around feeling just like you. Good luck.
Learn how to really pronounce a pt dead before you realize, in front of about 18 crying people, that you can't just say, "Well, as far as I can tell, I think she's dead." Almost said that- caught myself. If I had thought about it before, I would have realized it's the kind of thing where no hedging is allowed whatsoever, as opposed to most discussions I find myself having with family members.
Might just want to make sure you know exactly how to do it.
In my defense, though, my hesitation was brought on by the fact that the month before an intern had pronounced a pt dead, only to have said pt wake up in the body bag on the way to the morgue.
I was right, by the way.
Here's a smiley- 😍
Might just want to make sure you know exactly how to do it.
In my defense, though, my hesitation was brought on by the fact that the month before an intern had pronounced a pt dead, only to have said pt wake up in the body bag on the way to the morgue.
I was right, by the way.
Here's a smiley- 😍
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OTN said:
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fuegofrio17 said:
It varies from state to state on both who is allowed to pronounce and the criteria used. Check with an upper level resident at your new institution.
More or less serious, except for the smiley. I mean, I did all the right stuff (no spontaneous respirations, no audible htbeat, lack of all brainstem reflexes, etc), but, because it was early in the year, my confidence was still a little lacking.
I wasn't the only one there, by the way. A fellow intern also was in the room, and he and I left (to get something, can't remember what), looked at each other, and said, "You can't exactly say, 'We think she's dead,' can you?" It just wasn't the kind of thing we had given any thought to beforehand.
Guess you had to be there.
I wasn't the only one there, by the way. A fellow intern also was in the room, and he and I left (to get something, can't remember what), looked at each other, and said, "You can't exactly say, 'We think she's dead,' can you?" It just wasn't the kind of thing we had given any thought to beforehand.
Guess you had to be there.
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lowbudget said:
Don't stress too much quite yet. If your orientation is anything like mine, you'll spend 20 minutes hearing about how important the mission statement is to the functioning of the hospital...and then when you're asked to turn to it in your packet, they forgot to include it.
Not that I'm not crapping my pants about starting intern year...just that intern year doesn't start til you're actually responsible for something.
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yeah it is kind of helpful to see that most everyone is scared ****less. i don't remember anything! i am starting a surgical preliminary year and i haven't had surgery in two years. yeah...two years. pancreatitis? fluids? whaaa?
*gulp*
*gulp*
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I'm starting an FP internship, but my first two months are surgery (first month inpatient, second month outpatient)...I haven't had surgery since December of my MS-3 year! Should be interesting...
On the upside, at my program we just got our brand-new Tungsten T5's today 👍
On the upside, at my program we just got our brand-new Tungsten T5's today 👍
OTN said:
I don't anticipate any patients dying while I am on.... 😛
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No one does . . .
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Honestly, I'm thoroughly disturbed about starting intern year. Excited, but disturbed, nonetheless.
An ER nurse here just wanting to wish all of you guys the best of luck!
You will be shocked at how fast that first year goes. The interns that I work with who are starting thier 2nd year have come such a long way, and they themselves cant believe that a year has gone by so fast. I will never forget thier first day. They were standing at the bedside with our CHF exacerbation patient just brought in by ambulence and I am starting the Tridil. I am such a ball buster, so I asked them what Tridil is and what dose you should start the patient on and gave them 10 seconds to answer. The blank look on thier faces while they are furiously flipping through the pharmacopia was priceless. We all had a good laugh about it, and now 1 year later, these interns are holding down the critical care area by themselves, and doing a great job. They have earned my respect and that of thier collegues and coworkers. Go in there with a good attitude and be open to learn from your fellow interns, your attendings, the nurses and even the techs. Good luck and keep posting letting us know how things are going.
You will be shocked at how fast that first year goes. The interns that I work with who are starting thier 2nd year have come such a long way, and they themselves cant believe that a year has gone by so fast. I will never forget thier first day. They were standing at the bedside with our CHF exacerbation patient just brought in by ambulence and I am starting the Tridil. I am such a ball buster, so I asked them what Tridil is and what dose you should start the patient on and gave them 10 seconds to answer. The blank look on thier faces while they are furiously flipping through the pharmacopia was priceless. We all had a good laugh about it, and now 1 year later, these interns are holding down the critical care area by themselves, and doing a great job. They have earned my respect and that of thier collegues and coworkers. Go in there with a good attitude and be open to learn from your fellow interns, your attendings, the nurses and even the techs. Good luck and keep posting letting us know how things are going.
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What a nice opening to my intern year. I found out today that tomorrow (my first day) I am on call and I have very, very sick patients (6 of them). Here comes the storm baby! Tomorrow, I shall begin the metamorphosis !
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First day is tomorrow, and I was initially told I would have to see 7 patients tomorrow am 🙂scared: ) but now I only have to see 3 (they are being humane to me on my first day). Still surgery, though, so those 3 need to be seen by before 7 am...gonna suck because I barely know the computer system or anything else about the floors...
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One week into internship and everything seems pretty good here.
