surprisingly, the idea that i'm an intern for the second time hasn't yet come up yet in this blog. for those of you that don't know me in my real life, i completed my first residency (in family medicine) in the san francisco bay area back in 2007. i enjoyed taking care of families, community medicine, and delivering babies. but my place in the "field" of medicine seemed to lie more in taking care of very ill patients in the hospital. most of my friends thought this crazy. the hospital can be a toxic environment. for me, the hospital wards and ERs were interesting places where i could effect change in people's lives with the tools of my trade.
so after three years practicing as a medical hospitalist, then emergency physician (both at teaching hospitals working with some very sharp medical students and residents), i decided to go back and get some more training, this time in emergency medicine.
after going through (what some mind call the hazing ritual of) residency, i'm back at the beginning, in the role of intern in two large teaching hospitals. what's it like being an intern all over again? well, it's totally different. the first time around, i didn't know my ass from my elbow. psychologically, it was hard to be in a place where i had virtually no control over my own life. i pretended like i knew how to do my job, although i really didn't know very much. throughout the three years of training, this got better. by the time i graduated, i had learned enough medicine to do my job, and i had learned to manage my time and energy in such a way as to leave plenty of myself to do the things that made me whole. here are a few pics from those days:
this is at the top of sweetwater springs pass, between guerneville and healdsburg. it was my favorite bike ride that i could squeeze into a half-day.
this is coming down the backside of sweetwater canyon. the pasture to the left is where this blog's mascot (the sheep) lives.
and here's another view from the top of the pass.
internship the second time around is surprisingly easy. i think sometimes i forget how hard that first year of residency in 2004 actually was. there were growing pains, to say the least. now, i'm a bit more sure of myself, but i'm not afraid to ask for advice or help. granted, i've had to tell the story above (about how i've done one residency already, so i'm not REALLY an intern, etc) to my attendings multiple times. but once they hear that, they pretty much universally give me a generous degree of autonomy. most of all, they respect my experience. this is the thing that i appreciate most. during my last shift at university hospital, i got to do an ultrasound guided IJ without any help from the attending, which i'm pretty sure i can owe to the above.
in other news, bubba has a hotspot on his hindquarters, so he's relegated to the cone of shame. hopefully this won't last for too long.
so after three years practicing as a medical hospitalist, then emergency physician (both at teaching hospitals working with some very sharp medical students and residents), i decided to go back and get some more training, this time in emergency medicine.
after going through (what some mind call the hazing ritual of) residency, i'm back at the beginning, in the role of intern in two large teaching hospitals. what's it like being an intern all over again? well, it's totally different. the first time around, i didn't know my ass from my elbow. psychologically, it was hard to be in a place where i had virtually no control over my own life. i pretended like i knew how to do my job, although i really didn't know very much. throughout the three years of training, this got better. by the time i graduated, i had learned enough medicine to do my job, and i had learned to manage my time and energy in such a way as to leave plenty of myself to do the things that made me whole. here are a few pics from those days:
and here's another view from the top of the pass.
internship the second time around is surprisingly easy. i think sometimes i forget how hard that first year of residency in 2004 actually was. there were growing pains, to say the least. now, i'm a bit more sure of myself, but i'm not afraid to ask for advice or help. granted, i've had to tell the story above (about how i've done one residency already, so i'm not REALLY an intern, etc) to my attendings multiple times. but once they hear that, they pretty much universally give me a generous degree of autonomy. most of all, they respect my experience. this is the thing that i appreciate most. during my last shift at university hospital, i got to do an ultrasound guided IJ without any help from the attending, which i'm pretty sure i can owe to the above.
in other news, bubba has a hotspot on his hindquarters, so he's relegated to the cone of shame. hopefully this won't last for too long.
livvie and i had a great day yesterday, which included kayaking (with roll practice) at jordan lake and yoga at open heart yoga school.
the day ended with a good beer, and i finally cooked that butternut squash from the CSA that had been sitting around for two weeks. i made a winter gratin that is as delicious as it is caloric. no coincidence, i think.
how could i forget? yesterday was zosia mae's birthday. here's a pic from when i went out to visit j, k, and zm during interview season last year. it was a short trip with interviews at highland, davis and stanford crammed into a 3-day stretch.
happy birthday zosia!
2 comments:
Steve-O, get some sulphur medicine in a tube from the local feed store. Bubba's hot spot will grow hair again, and I promise you he won't lick it more than once. Take off the cone... This works for horses also if you should be so inclined.
We use Pierce's All Purpose NU-STOCK "for use on animals. Non Toxic and safe for all animals. Contains no Steroids. Kills mites on contact. Stops itching immediately. Promotes fastest hair growth. Re-grows hair even old wounds. It's effective on all skin disorders, deep wounds, cuts..."
One of our Aussies is allergic to flea bites, so we do the once a month pill Comfortis to eliminate the problem rather than treat the cause which is a bit stinky unless you like the smell of sulphur which is not really bad but objectionable to some people like your uncle.
Ha ha, cone of shame for the Bubbs. You should bring him by this evening so Beatrice can make fun of him.
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