Well, today was my first day of 4th year medical school. It was great, and also scary. It was great to say out loud, "I'm a 4th year." It was scary to have people assume that somehow that means I know what I'm doing.
It's also great and scary because I'm no longer at my home base. I am doing a rotation at a somewhat nearby (also, major rival) school. In a field, which I love and want to enter, which I have not done, ever. With my limited, one-day experience, I have to say it has been pretty great. It's always scary for me to try completely new things, but I'm trying to focus on the positive, exciting parts of trying completely new things. Like, for example, it's nice to have new things to suck at, when all the other things I suck at start to get old.
No, but really, everyone was very nice today, and I think I am going to have a good month, which is followed by a super awesome two more weeks off. So, overall, I'm very pleased. Except...
Well, here's the thing I can't stop thinking about.
Vacation was awesome. You know what I really liked about it? The part where I don't have to do anything. It is actually making me feel kind of conflicted. Like, shouldn't I have been more excited to get back to things? Shouldn't I have at least been less depressed to be done with my vacation?
Here's the thing. I think that whole "Do for a living what you would do for free" thing is real nice in theory, but it hardly ever works out like that. I think that finding that job is like winning the lottery. I think that you are pretty damn lucky if you don't hate your job, and even luckier if you sort of like it.
I don't know... how many people do you know who would keep their job if they won the lottery? I'd like to say that I would, but I don't know that I would. I am trying to chalk some of this up to the fact that we are still not really moved in yet. The place is a mess, which I hate, but I hit a wall, and with the hubby on night float I'm not sure how much more I can do. I'm telling myself that if we can just make it through this damn night float that things will be better. And that's a whole separate post... how many times I've said that over the past 7 years of training. "If I can just make it through (insert whatever phase I'm in at the point), things will be better". But there's always something new.
But those are thoughts for another day. Today it is time to start some reading, and here's another reason to cheer: I'm reading to try and look like less of an idiot, but NOT FOR A SHELF EXAM. If that's not a reason to embrace novelty, I don't know what is.
The experiences of a recently minted MD/PhD out to take over the world.
Posts Which Might Have Meant Something (A "Best Of" About the MD/PhD Experience)
- Grad vs Med: The Smackdown
- Surviving Graduate School (And Possibly Even Getting a Degree), Part 1
- Surviving Graduate School, Part 2: Be the Captain of Your Own Ship
- Surviving Graduate School, Part 3: Constant Dripping Hollows Out a Stone
- The four most important decisions of graduate school
- The MD/PhD Journey: Welcome to the bottom of a new ladder!
- You say Mudphud, I say Sucker
- MD/PhDs are people, too
- Like Being in the Ring with Mike Tyson
- Student, evaluate thyself
- ChumpWork
- Big Deal, I'm Very Professional
- Grad vs Med: The Smackdown--UPDATE
- Random Observations from the Clinics
- Whatcha, whatcha, whatcha want?
- It's graduate school that sucks; not research
Terms Possibly Unfamiliar to Non-Med Types
- Mudphud: An MD/PhD
- Fellow: A jolly gentleman. Kidding--someone who could be an attending but instead choses to continue training despite being paid and treated like livestock
- PGY: Post-graduate year, ie PGY1 would be a first-year resident, PGY2 would be a second year, etc
- Hammer page: Someone pages you every few minutes for hours; dreaded by all
- AI: Acting internship, done in 4th year medical school, to try and prepare you for your internship
- MS3: A third year medical student
- Rounds: Where the docs and med students get together and check up on all of their patients, usually REALLY early in the morning
- Intern: A first-year resident
- Attending: The senior physician in charge of the service and your future; aka the big boss, the head cheese.
- Clerkship: A rotation through a clinical specialty, such as medicine, pediatrics, etc.
- Shelf test: The big, scary national exam given at the end of each clinical clerkship
- Pimping: When the attending quizzes you on medical stuff in front of the whole team. Var: getting pimped, pimp question
Other MD/PhD, Grad or Med School Web Pages and Blogs
About Me
- Dr.VonB
- An MD/PhD beginning her residency, with an MD/PhD husband beginning his residency, with a weensy MD/PhD offspring beginning her life and two large dogs in tow.
I didn't spend six years in evil medical school to be called "mister", thank you very much.
Current Obsessions
My Favorite Sites
5 comments:
Hi. What rotation are you doing, dare I ask?
Me. I'd totally keep my job if I won the lottery. Especially after I stopped being a resident. Depending on how big the payout was (i.e., will it cover my accruing-interest-at-a-frightening-rate loans?), I'd fund the treatment center I want to open and do lots of cheap therapy and fund a scholarship and research grants and...you know, maybe buy a nice house and a car that has less than 100K miles on it. And some new dog toys.
I should really start playing the lottery....
I want to know what rotation you're on, too!
Dermatology. Lovely, wonderful dermatology.
DK, I am duly impressed. I only hope that one day I feel the same... perhaps when all I have to do is awesome, fun, great, lovely, wonderful dermatology.
Did I mention I like derm? :)
Putting that MD-PhD to good use I see.
;-)
Personally, I like Ophtho. But we'll have to see how it all pans out for me.
I would probably kick the job to the side... the people who win the lottery and keep their waitressing job because they don't know what else to do ought to be beaten. There would be so many things that I would want to do (all sorts of travel for one) that a job would just get in the way.
But upon reflection, perhaps keeping my future clinic and research going would be great with the liberation granted by the knowledge that if I lose out on an R01 or something won't sink me and my family. Kinda like not having a shelf test to worry about at the end of a rotation... you enjoy it so much more.
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