Disoriented

The one thing that kept me from starting a blog for a long time was the fear that I'd create one entry and then never blog again ... ever. Well, I am happy that hasn't happened, but as the beginning of my internship is fast approaching I worry that my blogging pace may slow down significantly. I feel that I'd better do as much storytelling as I can now before I am soon thrown into the lion's den.

I am now finished with my Scripps Mercy Hospital internship orientation. After the first day and then the ACLS training (see previous post), the pace slowed down significantly. We went from injections of amiodarone and electrical cardioversion to sitting all day long in a squished auditorium listening to people talk to us about everything that we'll ever want to know during the next year of work. They talked to us about the Scripps Mercy mission, employee benefits, information systems, what to do in case of a fire, discharge summaries, infection control, call schedules, and probably a dozen other things that I've already forgotten. Finally on the last day, they gave us our schedules and ran us through the nuts and bolts of working in the hospital. Many of us were very anxious to know our schedules - we had all waited a long time (some of my friends from med school had already been told their internship schedules before we graduated in early June even though they weren't starting until after me).

Because I am doing a so called "Transitional Year" for my internship instead of a regular internship just in, say Internal Medicine or General Surgery, I will be doing a variety of different rotations throughout the year which is composed of 13 blocks that are each 4 weeks long (though it will be mostly weighted towards Internal Medicine). So, drum roll please .... my schedule (block by block):

1- Internal Medicine (Hospital)
2- Internal Medicine (Hospital)
3- Internal Medicine (Clinic)
4- Ear, Nose, and Throat Surgery
5- General Surgery
6- Internal Medicine (Hospital)
7- Cardiothoracic Surgery
8- Internal Medicine (Hospital)
9- Internal Medicine (Hospital)
10- Radiology
11- Internal Medicine (Hospital)
12- Pediatrics: Special Care Nursery
13- ER

That's it. I start my first official day on Wednesday. I have my first night of "call" on Friday night where I'll be working a 30 hour shift and will be responsible for taking care of possibly as many as 100 patients overnight (my own patients as well as the patients that all the other interns would be taking care of if they weren't at home in their beds sleeping). One of the (many) nice things about working at Scripps, though, is that I'll only have to do those 30 hour overnight shifts once every 10 days instead of once every 4 or 5 days like at some other hospitals. I'm not going to lie to you, it is a little anxiety-provoking to think of the responsibility that is being placed into my hands. I am sure I will be able to handle it, but it is just a little mind-boggling sometimes that I've already come this far. Anyway, wish me luck (or better yet, maybe wish my patients luck)! I'm sure that I will have some interesting experiences to blog about.