I've just finished my third week as an intern, and it has been a wild ride. Sure, I've seen interns in action for the last few years as I tagged along, the medical student in-tow, but it's a whole different game now that I actually sign my own orders and write prescriptions. This morning I was paged over the PA system in the hospital: "Dr. Coach, please call 84441. Dr. Coach, please call 84441." This is the same voice that announces code blues and trauma alerts. It was kind of a surreal.
There have been a lot of crazy experiences and I keep wondering which if any are appropriate to blog about. Well, I'll try to keep blogging about my crazy experiences as they happen whenever I can do so without breaking confidentiality. I tend to think that as long as I don't share anything with details that make it personally identifiable it should be okay. We'll see.
The real story of the year is that being an intern is a lot of work. Since I still don't know much, my life consists mainly of doing everyone else's paperwork. When the patient comes in, I do the busy work and sort of pay attention to the senior and the attending as far as what the plan will be. With enough exposure, I guess, the idea is that the treatment plans will become reflexive. Basically, I'm a trained monkey. Doing what we refer to as "scut work". But being a scut monkey is important. It helps people live and get better.
Plus, the Boss likes monkeys.
2 comments:
Makes me think of Grey's Anatomy or Scrubs, you know, those doctor / intern shows. Or maybe Gross Anatomy, but that one's about medical school. I am certain that all the work you are doing is important. At one time your senior and attending were doing exactly what you are doing. I have some friends who are psychiatric interns in San Antonio. I like reading about all the intern stuff. It's very interesting. Thanks for writing about it.
I do like monkeys. Thanks for all the hard work you do, Coach. We miss you--and not just because we could use a monkey around here.
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