Wayfaring MD: Missionary Physician

weightofallthings replied to your post: I love the “attendings —> fellows —> residents —>...

Mon, 28 May 2012 20:58:11 -0400

weightofallthings replied to your post: I love the “attendings —> fellows —> residents —> nurses —> custodians —> interns—> hospital gift shop volunteers —> Med students —> parking lot attendants—> —> pre-meds” hierarchy. sooooo true!

certainly not above custodians…they’re royalty.

Word. The ones at my school were really sweet. They knew all of our names and would pray for us before tests and such.

I love the "attendings —> fellows —> residents —> nurses —> custodians —> interns—> hospital gift shop volunteers —> Med students —> parking lot attendants—> —> pre-meds" hierarchy. sooooo true!

Mon, 28 May 2012 20:50:00 -0400

It is legit. And mostly based on real life. Not sure where “newly graduated nurses” fall, though.

This Friday I'm going to shadow a physician I've shadowed before but this time she said there were going to be with med students, residents and fellows; they function as a team....I'm super intimidated and feel like the weird/annoying kid that's tagging along. I guess my question is how do you deal with being the person that knows the least hands down? I foresee this happening frequently in my future, and I guess the sheer number of "better" people is getting to me.

Mon, 28 May 2012 17:14:00 -0400

No matter how much learnin’ you’ve accumulated, there’s always someone that knows more than you. That doesn’t mean they’re better than you. It just means they’ve had more training and experience. The best thing you can do with intimidation is use it as a motivating force to learn more.

So what I’ve found myself doing when I’m very intimidated (usually it’s when I’m working with my mentor, Dr. S) is just ask questions. Why did you choose drug X over drug Y for this patient? Can you show me physical exam finding again? Why this diagnosis and not that? Why did you send this person for a CT?

In a group setting though, it may not be as easy to ask questions. To keep from being the annoying tag along kid, choose your questions wisely; don’t bombard the group with queries. Maybe ask a resident or the attending while you’re walking between rooms instead of in the patient’s room. On rounds like you’re joining in on, time is of the essence. Slow the process down and everyone will resent you.

Obviously as a pre-med you’re not going to understand everything that’s going on, so ask about things that are recurring in conversation—what does this acronym mean, what is that drug for, etc—so you’ll be a little more fluent in the language of medicalspeak.

Also, be respectful. Academic medicine is a hierarchy, so be aware of where you fall on the totem pole. For future reference, it’s something like attendings —> fellows —> residents —> nurses —> custodians —> interns—> hospital gift shop volunteers —> Med students —> parking lot attendants—> —> pre-meds.

It’s not a great system, but it’s what we got. Basically, don’t pretend that you know more than you do, or you’ll end up looking stupid.

We had a high school student (a doctor’s child, I believe) tag along on rounds with us one day, and everyone got really ticked off at her because she had gone out and bought a long white coat and had her name embroidered on it. To most medical students, the long white coat is a mark of distinction, and it is something to be earned, so people were just looking at her like

. Plus she would. not. shut. up. —but not with questions, just being generally chatty. We wanted to focus and be done with rounds, not chat about the Kardashians.

*end rant* Anyway, if you don’t know what to do, just stand and listen. No one will fault you for that.

Best way to scare the physicians:

Mon, 28 May 2012 14:19:07 -0400

ermedicine:

Change their screensaver to an image that says

“YOUR COMPUTER HAS BEEN FLAGGED FOR A HIPPA VIOLATION”

Stereotype much?

Mon, 28 May 2012 11:49:41 -0400

Random Lady: My son wants to go to medical school. He's finishing engineering school now. He thought about making prosthetics and such, but he's decided on medicine. He really like the mechanics of how the body works though.
Me: oh, so maybe he'll be an orthopedic surgeon then.
Random Lady: And have 4 ex-wives before he's 40? He better not! Although the boat and vacation homes would be nice...

Hey you crazy kids

Mon, 28 May 2012 10:44:55 -0400

Spending too much time on Tumblr? Well now you can make your procrastination time a little more productive by perusing USMLEpathslides. It’s well organized and pretty useful for studying, from what I’ve seen, so check it out!

Dr. Cranquis' Mumbled Gripes: Fun Fact: Poison Ivy and Benadryl cream

Mon, 28 May 2012 10:35:19 -0400

Dr. Cranquis' Mumbled Gripes: Fun Fact: Poison Ivy and Benadryl cream:

cranquis:

It’s toxicodendron (“poison-plant” — ivy, oak, sumac, etc.) season here in the US! There’s lots of things you can do to help calm the itching, oozing, and blistering if you get exposed to those nasties, but here’s one thing you SHOULDN’T do: do not use a topical cream containing…

Good advice is good. I just pulled a ton of poison oak from my backyard last week. Remember if you pull the stuff up to use gloves and then wash the gloves afterward to get the urushiol (plant oil) off. And for goodness’ sake, if you do get blisters, don’t scratch them. A bacterial infection on top of poison ivy is bad. Or as Cranquis put it, YOU SKIN ALREADY BAD, YOU SCRATCH BAD SKIN, SKIN GET MUCH MORE BAD.

@thetourettesproject

Mon, 28 May 2012 10:30:52 -0400

Since you asked me how to get your blog noticed, check out this recent post from medicalstate about how to make your blog unique and successful.

daveeyx replied to your post: Hi there:) I was wondering if after med school in the U.S. there is a...

Sun, 27 May 2012 23:20:22 -0400

daveeyx replied to your post: Hi there:) I was wondering if after med school in the U.S. there is a possibility of me doing my residency in Sydney, Australia? Do you know what that time line would approx. look like? Like I would finish the four years and then what? Do I do an internship first or some other preliminary training before I can go? More importantly, is it a possibility to do this so early on in my career; are there programs that facilitate this? :)

Haha great to know that someone actually wants to come here! amc.org.au/index.p… Basically you need to pass USMLE 1,2,3, and two years graduate education with a residency program before applying.

There you go, zandraau!

Just deleted 80 contacts from my phone.

Sun, 27 May 2012 23:07:38 -0400

8-0.

I don’t think I’ve ever even dialed half those numbers.

I feel lighter. Free.

Hi there:) I was wondering if after med school in the U.S. there is a possibility of me doing my residency in Sydney, Australia? Do you know what that time line would approx. look like? Like I would finish the four years and then what? Do I do an internship first or some other preliminary training before I can go? More importantly, is it a possibility to do this so early on in my career; are there programs that facilitate this? :)

Sun, 27 May 2012 21:10:00 -0400

Ooh, I have no idea about Australia, sorry. I know their system is very different from the US system, but I’m sure it’s possible. Hey followers, anyone from Australia wanna take a stab at this question?

Hi! There's a huge possibility that I may be going to Poland for medschool in the fall! But I'm really getting scared. I'm very family orientated and close to my mother. I have family in Poland also. Do you live close to home/see your family often? Or is med school just so crazy busy that family time on weekends isn't really an option for 8 months of the year? Thank you!

Sun, 27 May 2012 20:34:00 -0400

Congrats on getting in!

Family in Poland, huh? Sounds like you’ll be getting to know them a little better now.

Sorry, let me just take a moment to chuckle at “8 months a year”. I don’t know, maybe things are different in Poland, but in America, med school is year-round (well, I got 6 weeks off after first year, but after that, nada). No more summers like in college. Get used to it.

I am close-ish with my family. Well, my mom and grandparents. I hardly ever talk to my crap-ton of siblings. I’m extremely independent, so I don’t have to be all up in their business all the time, and I don’t really miss them (yeesh, that sounded cold) because I try to get very involved in whatever city I’m living in. However, I talk to my mom on the phone almost daily, and to my grandparents 1-2 times a week. Nothing lengthy, though. Just little updates.

I got to the point where I had made my own little family of med school and church friends, and I felt just as bad about not seeing them sometimes as I did about not seeing family.

My medical school (and undergrad) was about 2 1/2 hours from my hometown. In undergrad I started out going home every 2-3 weeks, and it gradually lengthened to every 6 weeks or so. In med school it stretched even further, to every 8-10 weeks, and my visits home were shorter. And now that I’m about to start residency, it’ll get even longer between visits because I now live a 6 hour drive from home and, well, residency doesn’t allow for many breaks. So I’m going to have to make my few breaks really count.

Yeah, medical school sort of runs your life. Residency is worse, I’ve heard. Any time I went home during medical school (except 4th year), I had to study while I was there, which was near impossible, or I had to get ahead on my studying so I wouldn’t feel guilty for taking a day off. And don’t forget that once you start this whole med school process, it leads to residency, which likely will not be in your hometown, either.

But being overseas doesn’t mean you have to cut off contact.

Get webcams for your family and have regularly scheduled Skype chats or something. Seeing people’s faces is better than phone or e-mail conversations.

Separating from your family is not a bad thing. It’s important to learn how to be independent and function separate from your family. If you do end up going to Poland, it will probably be very hard at first being so far from home, but in the end you will be a stronger person for it. It’s a little tougher to learn how to depend on yourself when mommy and daddy are close by, you know what I’m saying? You will learn a lot from being away from home.

baffledinbrooklyn: wayfaringmd: I need a DO friend to come do some OM magic on my lower back. 2...

Sun, 27 May 2012 19:49:43 -0400

baffledinbrooklyn:

wayfaringmd:

I need a DO friend to come do some OM magic on my lower back. 2 days of pulling weeds has got me all tensed up and crooked feeling. 　

My lower back manipulative skills are limited to NYC.

Dang, that’s a fur piece from where I am.

I need a DO friend to come do some OM magic on my lower back. 2 days of pulling weeds has got me all...

Sun, 27 May 2012 17:03:54 -0400

I need a DO friend to come do some OM magic on my lower back. 2 days of pulling weeds has got me all tensed up and crooked feeling. 　

Silly surgeon, don’t you know you can’t palpate an...

Sun, 27 May 2012 11:47:45 -0400

Silly surgeon, don’t you know you can’t palpate an abdomen through a blanket?

cranquis replied to your post: wordsthatididntsay replied to your post:… There ya go — you’re...

Sat, 26 May 2012 19:10:27 -0400

cranquis replied to your post: wordsthatididntsay replied to your post:…

There ya go — you’re a TOAD now. :)

cranquis replied to your post: wordsthatididntsay replied to your post:…

I am a brand new medical lab technician. From a doctor's perspective, what do they look for in their laboratory professionals? How would I be able to convey to a doctor that the results I post are worth their weight in gold?

Sat, 26 May 2012 19:06:44 -0400

Well, I don’t have a lot of contact with lab folks. In the hospital where I did my clerkship rotations, the lab was hidden in the bowels of the hospital. We never saw the lab people (actually, I suspect the lab was staffed with house elves, not people).

I guess the main thing we want from the lab is prompt results. Our lab had no understanding of the concept STAT.

wordsthatididntsay replied to your post: descantforhope replied to your post: Is all that… Oh...

Sat, 26 May 2012 17:15:00 -0400

wordsthatididntsay replied to your post: descantforhope replied to your post: Is all that…

Oh yes. Wayfaring is quite a looker. You do have the prettiest eyes ma’am ;)

cranquis replied to your post: descantforhope replied to your post: Is all that…

Agreed, wayfaringmd definitely meets the previously-agreed upon “minimum good-lookingness” requirements, as voted upon by the Tumblr Organization of Anonymous DoctorS.

Dang, I wish I knew y’all in real life. I could use self esteem boosters like this every now and then. Btw, Cranquis, what are the previously-agreed upon “minimum good lookingness” requirements, and can I be in the TOAD?

descantforhope replied to your post: Is all that stuff that happens on grays anatomy true? and what...

Sat, 26 May 2012 12:55:33 -0400

descantforhope replied to your post: Is all that stuff that happens on grays anatomy true? and what about the TV show house. If that was real i would for sure really like be a dr. Also are you cute like the other Dr’s?

I remember back in the day when you still had pictures, and feel qualified to answer the last question: yes!

Is all that stuff that happens on grays anatomy true? and what about the TV show house. If that was real i would for sure really like be a dr. Also are you cute like the other Dr's?

Sat, 26 May 2012 11:55:40 -0400

Unfortunately, I can’t speak for Gray’s Anatomy, because I’ve never watched it (I know, I know). But if it’s anything like every other medical show out there, it’s only loosely based on reality.

Yes, medical cases like the ones on House do happen in real life, but they are not nearly as dramatic. People don’t get diagnosed and treated for major illness in the span of an hour (usually), and no doctor does everything like House and his team do. I mean, on House, the team is in the lab examining slides and doing their own blood work and such, whereas in real life you would be sitting at a computer hitting “refresh” until the lab results popped up, much like you do when Tumblr is down.

And of course, the illegal shenanigans that take place on House and Scrubs —breaking & entering, switching patient charts, HIPAA violations, doctors working while impaired, etc—get you much more than a slap on the wrist in real life.

I wish a lot of that stuff was real. Real life goes at a much slower, often more frustrating pace. But I assure you, real life medicine is just as interesting and fun and rewarding as tv medicine (and probably more so).

For more reasons why tv medicine is different than real medicine, check out these posts.

As for your last question, please know that real life doctors (and people in general) don’t look like they do on TV. But hey, after a 30 hour call when my hair and face have enough oil to run a diesel truck and I smell like C. diff and gangrene, I always feel like