Last Friday was my first day of orientation for my internship at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego. As this marks the beginning of my "official" duties as a doctor, I figured that I should probably summarize the happenings for posterity's sake.
Friday morning I woke up and did my usual routine to get ready for the day. I had been fighting off a minor cold ever since we had got down to San Diego on Tuesday, which I felt like I had pretty much beat. Since I still had a few sniffles, though, I decided to pop a 12-hour Sudafed to clear up the sinuses so that I wouldn't have to be blowing my nose all day long as I met all of my new colleagues for the first time. It kicked in pretty quickly and I was already feeling somewhat better. I finished breakfast, hugged Ashley, then Mom, then Dad and walked out the door as everyone wished me good luck. It was more than a little reminiscent of every first day of school that I had experienced growing up from elementary through high school (with the exception of me being married this time). The only thing missing was the first day of school photo.
The orientation day itself involved meeting a lot of new people, all of us dressed up and smiling and cheery. Everyone was very nice and I met a lot of people that I could tell right off the bat that I will probably get along very well with. The first day wasn't too exciting - mostly just filling out paperwork, getting on the payroll, obtaining ID badges, getting immunizations and a TB test, a preemployment physical, and a definite "first" experience in my life: a urine drug test. In case you haven't ever had the pleasure of experiencing a urine drug test first-hand, allow me to try to capture in some small way what that experience is like. After filling out a short form so they can identify your ... ummm ... sample, you are handed a plastic cup and enter a bathroom. However, since they have to make sure that you're not "cheating" on your test, you are accompanied by a supervising staff member. This must be the least sought-after job on the planet: "Ok, Jennifer, today you will be assigned to the task of making a bunch of new doctors feel completely uncomfortable ... all day." At least they don't enter the stall with you.
After finishing that test, I sat in the waiting room and waited for the physical examination from one of the Scripps clinic physicians. As I sat there I thought to myself, "Hmmmm... I just took a Sudafed this morning about 2 hours before I took that urine drug test. Uh oh." FYI, Sudafed contains a drug that is of the same nature as the class of illicit drugs known as amphetamines. In fact, the company has somewhat recently switched the main ingredient in the unregulated over-the-counter form of Sudafed from pseudoephedrine to phenylephrine because pseudoephedrine
can be used to manufacture methamphetamine. Fantastic.I sat there contemplating the various possibilities of what might happen when they found out my test results. I figured they probably wouldn't be very happy if one of their brand-new interns tested positive for amphetamines on the first day of the job - especially when they had previously warned us that we'd be getting drug tested. Good thinking, Sean.
Well, fortunately for me when I explained what I had done to the physician doing my physical exam, he said, "Oh don't worry. I'll just make a note that you took some Sudafed so if it comes back positive it won't be a problem." PHEW. I was really worried for a second, though.
The rest of the day went much more smoothly. By the end of the day I was worn out. Even though we didn't have to necessarily DO a whole lot, meeting lots of new people and putting my best foot forward is really tiring for me (I promise I'm not anti-social, I'm just an introvert).
We had the weekend off which was nice because Saturday was Ashley's birthday. We had a fun time going out to dinner at PF Chang's (one of Ashley's favorites) with Mom and Dad, and Brian and Tira. Then we had Baskin Robbins ice cream cake back at home with that crew and a couple more of Ashley's friends that live down here.
Monday and Tuesday I headed back to orientation. These days were pretty exciting for the most part. Both Monday and Tuesday were spent doing ACLS training (Advanced Cardiac Life Support training) and testing to become certified. The training prepares you to know how to respond to any situation where someone collapses and needs emergency medical attention. It goes beyond the basics of CPR to also teach you what drugs to give people in certain situations and how to appropriately use a defribillator if a person develops a dangerous heart rhythm. We spent a lot of our time huddled in groups around a dummy while our instructors ran us through various scenarios and we shouted things like "Give him 1 milligram of epinephrine, STAT!" and "She's in unstable monomorphic V-Tach - prepare to shock her. CLEAR!" Ok, well I may be making it sound a little more exciting than it actually was (they were just manequins after all), but still it was more fun than filling out paperwork. And I also believe that I would definitely feel a little more confident if I were faced with such a situation now in the future. Hopefully not anytime soon, though.
2 comments:
Bummer that you didn't get a "first day" photo, although I don't know if it would have been worth it without some cowboy boots! Did you live in those things or what? Congrats on making it through your first few days, and getting around the drug test. Yeah right, sudafed. I see what you're doing.
I had to have a drug test done before I could be hired on as an intern and then again when I got a real job. I didn't have to have anybody accompany me to the bathroom, but they had special restrooms where the toilet could not be flushed from in the restroom... the nurse had to push some button outside the door when I came out. After I gave her my sample I had to sit there and watch her fill different viles with the speciman and then initial them... I think that would be a pretty bad job to have too. The first time I took the drug screen test was right after I tore my ACL and the night before I took and Percocet without thinking. Luckily they didn't screen for that :) I am glad you made it though your first few days!
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