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- Apr 29, 2007
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I was part of the soap opera fiasco at King-Drew, via being an EM resident there.. For obvious reasons I will keep myself anonymous; however, I give props to Jon for being openly vocal.
There is enough material to write a book, even a movie on the MLK EM residency itself with the surrounding havoc around it. The EM dept. itself has all the complex personalities between residents, attending(s), to radiology techs, to clerks on and on.
I havent read Jons article, but hope to read it soon.
In all honesty, being away from King five months now, I miss the ED there. As cheesy as it sounds, it was relatively magical. It had its own unique personality and even with its less than stellar attendings, the ED dept was like the little train that could. It had managed to encase itself, like a lively seed protected from its surrounding. For the amount of independence and the level of acuity, residents ran a good show.
I myself was surprised by the competent care rendered in the ED amist the sickest and poorest patients. It wasnt fun working with the world watching over you, but the ED dept and its residents chugged along steaming here and there and letting out a thick whisle at the end of the shift, but at days end, the ED at king had saved a life or two, had stopped the pain of more than a dozen people, and had directed others to appropriate specialists whilst the L.A. times without an ounce of mercy pounded and pounded at the hospital, and in the end, even at the ED residents.
When we were literally thrown out, none of the California residencies wanted to get their hands dirty. One thing I disagree with Jon, from reading his posts here, is that it seems he puts the complete blame on the county, which, yes, they put resistance to one program that kinda peeked their head and kinda wanted to help, but I was disappointed with how none of the California programs tried to help.
Email after email from resident after resident to programs across California went literally unanswered.
Another thing I disagree with Jon, is the possible use of race/gender in picking cheif residents. In-service exam scores were used heavily in choosing chief residents. So how is that using racial/gender preferences? If anything, residents that hauled their butts were disportionately picked as chiefs. One of the chiefs this year was a hispanic guy, and he was amazing clincially. One of the smartest people I ever met.
Another subject I want to touch on, which I heard about only a day before taking the inservice exam, was accusations of using previous questions to study. Bottomline, that was news to me. I never heard of any of my fellow residents using previous questions and no one ever offered me any such previous questions. At the point when this came down, I just didnt' care that they almost didnt' let us take the test. I was tired, I had given up. I wasn't gonna put up a fight. They year had taken it's toll. But with my number two pencil, I sat there and took out my anger on the test, I think I knew the answer to every question. Maybe they'll contact me soon and accuse me of cheating?
Everyone was placed, and hey, sometimes things happen for a reason. I hope I find that reason soon.
There is enough material to write a book, even a movie on the MLK EM residency itself with the surrounding havoc around it. The EM dept. itself has all the complex personalities between residents, attending(s), to radiology techs, to clerks on and on.
I havent read Jons article, but hope to read it soon.
In all honesty, being away from King five months now, I miss the ED there. As cheesy as it sounds, it was relatively magical. It had its own unique personality and even with its less than stellar attendings, the ED dept was like the little train that could. It had managed to encase itself, like a lively seed protected from its surrounding. For the amount of independence and the level of acuity, residents ran a good show.
I myself was surprised by the competent care rendered in the ED amist the sickest and poorest patients. It wasnt fun working with the world watching over you, but the ED dept and its residents chugged along steaming here and there and letting out a thick whisle at the end of the shift, but at days end, the ED at king had saved a life or two, had stopped the pain of more than a dozen people, and had directed others to appropriate specialists whilst the L.A. times without an ounce of mercy pounded and pounded at the hospital, and in the end, even at the ED residents.
When we were literally thrown out, none of the California residencies wanted to get their hands dirty. One thing I disagree with Jon, from reading his posts here, is that it seems he puts the complete blame on the county, which, yes, they put resistance to one program that kinda peeked their head and kinda wanted to help, but I was disappointed with how none of the California programs tried to help.
Email after email from resident after resident to programs across California went literally unanswered.
Another thing I disagree with Jon, is the possible use of race/gender in picking cheif residents. In-service exam scores were used heavily in choosing chief residents. So how is that using racial/gender preferences? If anything, residents that hauled their butts were disportionately picked as chiefs. One of the chiefs this year was a hispanic guy, and he was amazing clincially. One of the smartest people I ever met.
Another subject I want to touch on, which I heard about only a day before taking the inservice exam, was accusations of using previous questions to study. Bottomline, that was news to me. I never heard of any of my fellow residents using previous questions and no one ever offered me any such previous questions. At the point when this came down, I just didnt' care that they almost didnt' let us take the test. I was tired, I had given up. I wasn't gonna put up a fight. They year had taken it's toll. But with my number two pencil, I sat there and took out my anger on the test, I think I knew the answer to every question. Maybe they'll contact me soon and accuse me of cheating?
Everyone was placed, and hey, sometimes things happen for a reason. I hope I find that reason soon.