I’m tired of trauma. I feel like I’ve been doing this forever, and it’s going to keep going forever. Every day starts out ok, and then goes on for a whole lifetime, with twenty lives in my hands, and thirty or forty people wanting something from me (ranging from the medical students wanting something educational or useful to do, and I don’t have the time I owe them to be educational, to the nurses as usual reminding me of what their patients need, to the attendings wanting me to do a dozen different things, reminding me of things I know I should be doing, or asking me the same question for the third time in five minutes, to the families, who need to be talked to, and all want more time than I have).
That is one thing I’ve figured out. I’ve decided which of all the trauma attendings is most difficult to work with: not the one who rounds for nine hours at a time, not the one who rounds so fast it leaves you breathless, not the one who listens to himself talking all day and gets nothing done. No, the one who lets you give a whole presentation, then asks you three times for information you stated at the beginning of the speech. And writes it down, looks at something else, and then asks you again. Halfway through rounds with him, I’m ready to scream.
Many of the nurses give me a vote of confidence by seeking me out to ask questions of. It’s nice to know they trust me to manage a lot of things – but it would also be nice if they asked the other residents sometimes!
August 19, 2008 at 8:12 am
Its not to late to switch over to Anesthesia.
August 19, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Hang in there, dear young resident. I finished my residency 15 years ago, and my massage therapist (I now suffer from horrid sciatica) told me about your website. I have perused it with interest and find that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Each of us has had most, if not all, of the thoughts you’ve had. You’re in for an interesting ride. You’ll encounter many of the same difficulties and challenges in another 15 years that you are enduring now. The only thing that changes is your maturation level. You’ll grow, things won’t bother you as much, you’ll begin to sleep better at night. And if you become a “mommy” (now my MOST important job), you’ll realize how trivial most of this is. Just do your best when you need to do it, keep your priorities straight (you and your family come first always), and stay happy/healthy. I’ll pop in again. Signed: “hacking out head and neck cancer for a living”