Monday, July 2, 2007

Sub-intern

All fourth year medical students are required to do a sub-internship - this is a four week rotation in either family medicine, internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics or med-psych where you are treated like an intern. You have your own patients - the senior resident oversees your management of them, but you are responsible for the tasks associated with their daily management. You also keep the schedule of the residents, so you get one day off per week and maintain the same call schedule as the interns. On Monday, I started my sub-i in Med-Psych. This first week has been exhilarating and completely overwhelming, and I am having a great time. For the first time in my career as a med student, I am happy when I go home and happy to come in the next day. The patients on our floor are complicated and really very fascinating. The unit is a combined internal medicine and psychiatry floor, so you not only have all the complicated medical issues you would see on a general medicine floor, but the patients all have some sort of mental illness - so in addition to their abdominal pain, you'll also hear about the gorillas that come out of their bathroom at night or that they were running naked through the halls of the unit and required wrist restraints to keep them in bed. There is never a dull moment. And it has been wonderful to get to manage my own patients. The hours are long - I've been routinely working 12 hour days, but it is so rewarding. And the interns are not required to take overnight call on this floor, so no overnight call for me - bonus! I am really looking forward to residency.

4 comments:

Amanda said...

sounds like your back to the old grind. I honestly don't see how you fit in any time to knit all those socks ;)

J.Po said...

Dude, I think psych is THE WAY TO GO. Of all fields, that one is going to make leaps and bounds of progress during your career (methinks). ...much needed progress, really.

Anonymous said...

It was very nice talking to you today and I suely enjoy the pictures of the knitting you are doing. The shawl is beautiful and I am excited to see it in a couple of weeks. Much love.

Anonymous said...

How exciting to have your own patients. It's great how motivated you feel as that shows what an excellent doctor you will be and how lucky your patients are to have you care for them!
Hugs,
Myriam

 
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