Resident Life

[Winged Scapula]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Just saw a commercial for a new TLC series called "Resident Life" - starting September 8 @ 9:00 pm.

Should be interesting. Keep your eyes peeled (when not sleeping post-call) for the premiere. 😀

 

[luckyzero]

Do residents actually have time to watch tv????

🙂

 

[Winged Scapula]

Originally posted by luckyzero
Do residents actually have time to watch tv????

🙂

Believe me, there's a LOT more downtime than you would expect. It was a frequent complaint of the long work hours because those extra 40+ hours a week (over 80) were not always jam packed full with educational opportunities but rather sitting around waiting for something to happen.

So yes, last night on call was slow - I should have been reading but was transfixed by the Trading Places marathon. 😀

 

[fourthyear]

Yeah, just like med school there's always that feeling of "i should be reading".

I'm finding all too much time to watch tv, although never at work - am an intern, after all. But there's plenty of time at home with only 80 hours now. I'm watching Sex and the City right now - a waste of my brain I'm sure, but I can't help my addictions. 🙂

 

[ArrogantSurgeon]

Yawn...another "real-life" medical show.

Let me guess, they'll follow some token resident around, he/she will at first complain about how "difficult" residency is on her personal life but how he/she loves being a doctor and "helping people". Then there will be the obligatory mention of how doctors have the highest suicide/divorce/substance abuse rate of all professions and scenes where they try to show the general public how hard residency is and how little sleep residents get. Followed by the proverbial scenes where they try to display the "personal" side of the resident in order to show that there is a "real person" behind the white coat. And of course the scenes where the resident does some pseudo-heroic stuff that may seem cool to the average viewer, but people who know a thing or two about medicine will just yawn and wonder what the big deal is. And of course the show will end with him/her making some cliche comments about how although residency is hard, it is definetly worth it because he/she is doing what he/she really wants and is actually making a direct difference in peoples' lives (e.g. basically telling the average viewer in a subtle way that their job is meaningless and they suck for not being a doctor). Cue inspirational end music...fade out to stock scenes of a life-flight helicopter making a landing on the hospital roof...roll credits (including trite dedication to a patient who they lost while making this documentary). 🙄

 

[maxheadroom]

Can't believe I'm agreeing with AS . . .

I'm getting kind of sick of the reality-medicine shows. Part of it is just that they don't show me what I want to see (show me the CT with the Grade 5 liver lac, dammit). I'm sure that it's quite interesting to the general public. My brother recently made an observation quite similar to AS's. It's all about the formula . . .

 

[Homunculus]

kinda like the reality "vote someone off" series. Gotta have one homosexual, one male chauvinist, one feminist, one "brotha" or "sista" from the hood, one redneck, a couple of spoiled rich kids and an old fart or two. Instant reality television, lol.

I agree about the resident hours. Although being limited to 80 hours, the "on call" hours are mostly sitting around watching TV or playing HALO or the latest NCAA college football game waiting for the phone or pager to ring.

To sell the show they will have to make it compelling to watch, which they *may* be able to do if they get enough residents with enough going on to edit into a neat little package. unfortunately the viewer won't get the real story though. how they handle the balance between real/watchable will be interesting.

 

[maxheadroom]

mmmmm . . . HALO . . . happiness is a warm gun . . . and HALO 2, whenever Bungie gets their pretty little rumps in gear . . .

 

[Apollyon]

Originally posted by Homonculus
kinda like the reality "vote someone off" series. Gotta have one homosexual, one male chauvinist, one feminist, one "brotha" or "sista" from the hood, one redneck, a couple of spoiled rich kids and an old fart or two. Instant reality television, lol.

That's why I CAN'T STAND "The Real World" - there's nothing 'real' about it. I've said for years, take out the tattooed, pierced, smokers, homo/bisexuals, and the token right-winger, and the house is empty.

Having graduated from VMI, I STILL didn't watch it when the two cadets were there (which was an interesting turn - having two of any group).