Last day of residency

[Winged Scapula]

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is sort of melancholy. Apparently, I'm supposed to be glad but its tough leaving a place you've known (loved and hated) for so many years.

I will miss:

- the people (from fellow residents in all departments to the secretaries, nurses, OR techs, cafeteria workers and some of the housekeeping staff who have kept me in warm blankets during cold nights on call)
- the refrigerator with free drinks and food while on call
- the awesome Edy's ice cream on tap in the cafeteria
- the easy commute and the ability to live like a Queen here on my salary
- the hospital campus; its beautiful

I won't miss:
- trauma call
- middle of the night calls for Vascular studies (have to have permission from service Chief) which are non-emergent or won't change management (no matter how many times we tell the ED the policy)
- any in house call (ok, a few were fun)
- the green scrubs (but unfortunately I wear just a different shade of green for my fellowship 😉 )

I don't think its hit me that its my last day - especially since I won't be physically moving for a couple of weeks and I can't turn in my pager, do the paperwork until Monday since I will be in the OR after 5 pm today.

Anyone else finishing soon?

 

[12R34Y]

just wanted to say congrats!!

it's weird. you and I both signed up in April 2000 at SDN.

Of course you don't know me, but I of course know you because you are a moderator and prolific poster.

I just wanted to say that it is really cool and kind of freaky that it seems just like yesterday i was sitting in my undergrad library in 2000 and hoping to get into medical school someday.

Now, I'm a doctor and starting my EM residency in one week!

You just got me all kind of sentimental........I can't believe I've been lurking around SDN long enough for you to finish and entire surgical residency!!!!

anyway........just feeling nostalgic and a huge congrats again!!! 👍

 

[deleted87716]

Congrats, Kim!

It must feel great, after such a (seemingly) long time.

My last days of residency were tempered by the fact that I scheduled my last month as an elective, and spent it actually working (for free) in the practice that I was going to join. If nothing else, it made for a smoother transition from residency to reality.

Enjoy your time off before fellowship! 😎

 

[docB]

Congrats. I know what you mean because I felt the same way (although my residency was shorter than yours). I had to go back to deal with some paperwork in late July and I felt like I was no longer a member of the club. It also was weird to see things moving on along perfectly well without me. It's also a tough time because there's a lot of anxiety about going out on your own and that first year or so is tough. Then it gets better. If you really want to prolong things though you can always do a fellowship. 😉

 

[Gfunk6]

Kim, what/where are you doing/going for fellowship? Congrats, I always enjoy reading your posts.

 

[Apollyon]

You know, it's funny that you mention the cafeteria people and environmental services - these are two groups of people that always, ALWAYS have a smile and a good word, and it is indeed comforting to see people that are "just folks" in the middle of the day - that is something I will miss.

After having done a prelim year, then a regular 3 year residency (and having been the intern twice), I have been ready to be done for a while - but it's just starting to hit me that it is coming. As much as it has been onerous, it's like when I left military college - the routine that is welcome, albeit heavy, is going away.

 

[HTD]

Good luck

 

[Tater]

Congratulations! It does seem weird to be starting on the road as someone else is finishing. So I'm wondering, when is the point when you feel as though you have most of this stuff figured out? Maybe not 100% of it, but at least 75% of it.

Again, congratulations!

 

[Winged Scapula]

Kim, what/where are you doing/going for fellowship? Congrats, I always enjoy reading your posts.

Going to UMDNJ, New Brunswick - Cancer Institute of New Jersey for a Breast Diseases/Surgery fellowship.

1 year
No in house call
No weekends
Every Wednesday off to work on my required research project
Living like a Pauper in Joisey
Spectre of death
Having tissues as a regular part of my office decor
Long term patient relationships


its gonna be great! 😀

 

[Winged Scapula]

Congratulations! It does seem weird to be starting on the road as someone else is finishing. So I'm wondering, when is the point when you feel as though you have most of this stuff figured out? Maybe not 100% of it, but at least 75% of it.

Again, congratulations!

Hah! I'd bet you most attendings would say YEARS and YEARS and even then its difficult to have most of it "figured out". I still feel like an idiot and I'm sure I will for many years (I'm worried my new fellowship director will feel jipped when I arrive and he finds out how stupid I am).

 

[fiatslug]

I don't think its hit me that its my last day - especially since I won't be physically moving for a couple of weeks and I can't turn in my pager, do the paperwork until Monday since I will be in the OR after 5 pm today.

A pager runs, what, $100? I think it might be worth it--from a theraputic perspective--to beat the holy crud out of it with a sledgehammer upon release from its ever-demanding beeps! Not that you'll ever be without a pager... but this one must have caused you considerable pain.

Congrats on another impressive milestone.

Now go and save some boobies! 😉

Slug out.

 

[Tater]

Hah! I'd bet you most attendings would say YEARS and YEARS and even then its difficult to have most of it "figured out". I still feel like an idiot and I'm sure I will for many years (I'm worried my new fellowship director will feel jipped when I arrive and he finds out how stupid I am).

So you're saying I should fear and avoid those who say they "know it all"? 😀

Good, that makes me feel better about my amnestic response to the last four years of medical school. I'm starting to wonder if I even went to medical school. Too late to get out of the frying pan now!

 

[DrQuinn]

Congrats, KC.

I am nearing the end as well, but just like docB and Apollyon, our road is much shorter. I think you were a resident when I was just joining SDN!

My pager has gone off maybe 1000x less than yours has, so I will not sledge it with a hammer (having already dropped one in the toilet doing a #2... I was NOT going to fish that one out). I am just going to especially miss the comraderie of the ED staff that I have worked so closely with (I am sure it is the same with you and the OR staff)... we work as a team so often in the ED (although it seems like we are working chaotically to any off-service resident), its going to be interesting to see what it is like at another hospital.

Cheers!

(Four more shifts left).
Q

 

[docB]

My pager...(having already dropped one in the toilet doing a #2... I was NOT going to fish that one out).

So what did you do? Flush it? Leave it (ick!)? Sorry, I have to know.

 

[DOtobe]

You just got me all kind of sentimental........I can't believe I've been lurking around SDN long enough for you to finish and entire surgical residency!!!!

I was thinking the same thing when I saw Kim's original post. Wow, we've been on SDN a long time!

Congratulations!

 

[DrQuinn]

So what did you do? Flush it? Leave it (ick!)? Sorry, I have to know.

I flushed the toilet, and the pager didn't go down, so i flushed it a bunch of times to 'wash it off." Grabbed some gloves, then washed it in the sink for a while. Let it air dry in the call room for about a day, then took it to Communications. Funny thing is, she asked me "What did you do to it?" I told her I got it wet, and she said: "Thanks for being honest. I won't charge you $50. Residents always drop their pagers in the water, then they lie to me about what they did to it. If they lie to me, I charge them the $50 in the contract."

Phew! Glad I didn't tell her it was brown water.

Q

 

[Blade28]

Congrats! I'm sure you'll be one of their star fellows in a few weeks.

 

[emtcsmith]

Congrats to all! One of the R3's I saw alot in my ER time during paramedic school is going strait into an attending spot, how often does that happen?

 

[Blade28]

R3 in what, ER? If they're in a 3-year program, they become attendings after they graduate. Is that what you mean?

 

[Winged Scapula]

My pager has gone off maybe 1000x less than yours has, so I will not sledge it with a hammer (having already dropped one in the toilet doing a #2... I was NOT going to fish that one out).

I dropped my in the toilet TWICE one night while on Trauma Senior call last year (I move the pager around to the back so I can get to it easier whilst wearing a lead apron), so the powers that be came up with this idea to put little elastic leashes on the pagers.

Funny thing is when I went to get my leash I asked why it was being done and they told me "some resident" dropped the pager into the toilet twice one night so this was a precautionary tactic!

While I may be tempted to bash the pager into bits, even at $100 its a price I can't bear since the cost of living is so much more in Joisey that I need every extra $$$ I can find.

 

[factoid]

hey, you're sad about leaving a residency after 5 yrs; i'm sad for finishing up a transitional year! i had such a great group of ppl i worked with this year that i'm very sad to be moving onto my real specialty! most ppl in my shoes would be on cloud nine at this point. anyway, i'm hoping that once i get to where i'm going, i'll be a happier!