"you're beautiful and your mind is beautiful."
It's looking like I may only be able to post once a week, if that. I would really like to stick to that if not more often. To make up for what I feel to be a deficit I will do my best to update an Instagram:
(went ahead and included the first two within this entry)
A photo is worth a thousand words right? I hope so!
crate --
A lot of Firsts this week.
The main event is completion of the first week itself -- for both 3rd year Medical Students and newly minted 1st year Resident Physicians. Like most (if not all) new endeavors, most of what took place involved introductions and orientations to what life will be like within the foreseeable future.
We met our Care Teams -- the other Medical Students, Residents, and most importantly our Attending Physicians. We met the Nurses, the Physician Assistants, the various Aides and Technicians and other invaluable individuals who often go unrecognized in keeping hospitals afloat.
No one person could ever run the show. Fo Sho.
We familiarized ourselves with the Floors, the Offices, and the strategic (at times seemingly UN-strategic) locations of ScrubEx machines. We were introduced to the Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system that we will hopefully master someday -- hoping further that any future hospitals we find ourselves at will use the same software. Navigating cookie-cutter hallways and debating the costs/benefits of using the stairs over the elevator were the internal mini-struggles that pervaded First Week life as we rushed between hospital destinations and assignments.
Where can we park?
Where are the lockers?
Where do our badges work?
It was a week of establishing technicalities and clarifying administrative nuances. Perhaps not the flashiest of activities but items that are undoubtedly necessary. The First Crates off the boat are always foundational and fortunately the new harbor we are docked at has been rather friendly.
In speaking to many of my colleagues it appears the the Administrators and Attendings are acutely aware that our biggest concern this week, at least as 3rd Years, was to find solid ground beneath our feet. We have been assigned few, if any, patients for this initial week and advice/tips/wisdom/watercooler talk has been both profuse and sincere.
I start on OB/GYN and the First Set of Crates this week could not have contained better cargo.
hippo --
At least for me the 'First' I am most nervous and anxious about did not materialize this week.
But. There is nothing I am looking forward to more than my First Patient.
This entire week we did not hear the end of it and I don't think I could ever get enough of it. From senior Students, Admins, Residents, Attendings, and nearly everyone...we were constantly reminded that caring for our Patients will take more than what we know and how much we know.
It was as if everywhere I turned I was being told that Hippos could never be more important than at this time. We are no longer dissecting the inanimate body of a unique soul long gone. We are no longer narrowing down a differential diagnosis from a relatively straightforward case study from those Crates we call textbooks.
Most importantly, 'Patients' are no longer independent illnesses and disorders that exist within a bubble that exists only to make the lives of 1st and 2nd year Medical Students easier.
In the real world Hippos exist. In the real world our Patients will have fears and worries and hopes. Our Patients will have bills and children and flat tires. Wearing a clean shirt and our crisp, unproven white coats is not enough. At times perhaps even coming up with a diagnosis is not enough.
This past week we were given our task: to know our Patients inside and out.
That is one massive Hippo.
---
First Impressions are everything. Whether we like it or not we are human and that comes with all the wonderful machinations one builds upon First seeing or talking to someone. My colleagues and I set out this week to set that tone and engender a lasting positivity within the minds of our peers and omniscient Attendings.
The most important Hippo, however, that most crucial First Impression is the one we present to our Patients. We can not replace or edit First Impressions no matter how much we would like life to mimic the forgiving worlds of an Excel or Word document. More than anything, we can not replace our First Patient -- something tells me that first real interaction has the potential to reverberate within our memories above everything else.
Two years. For two years we have been focusing on mastering the Crates of medicine placed before us. Yes there were Hippos scattered sporadically but they were rare and seemingly endangered at times. We learned endless facts, figures, and lists while only sparingly dabbling in how to empathize and be culturally sensitive to those seeking our help and guidance.
Now is the time and our First Week to get settled down is over. Hopefully we know where the restrooms are, where we can find sources of caffeine for those endless days, and just how many granola bars we can stuff into our white coats. Hopefully our new homes away from home feel as such because in the real world there are more Hippos than we can imagine -- as we come out of our protective medical school bubbles.
It won't be easy. There will be less sleep. Less food. Less time.
But though Hippos may have grotesquely large mouths and nostrils I think they are #Beautiful.
Likewise, caring for our First Patients will be #Beautiful. It's going to be a good year.
It was as if everywhere I turned I was being told that Hippos could never be more important than at this time. We are no longer dissecting the inanimate body of a unique soul long gone. We are no longer narrowing down a differential diagnosis from a relatively straightforward case study from those Crates we call textbooks.
Most importantly, 'Patients' are no longer independent illnesses and disorders that exist within a bubble that exists only to make the lives of 1st and 2nd year Medical Students easier.
In the real world Hippos exist. In the real world our Patients will have fears and worries and hopes. Our Patients will have bills and children and flat tires. Wearing a clean shirt and our crisp, unproven white coats is not enough. At times perhaps even coming up with a diagnosis is not enough.
This past week we were given our task: to know our Patients inside and out.
That is one massive Hippo.
---
First Impressions are everything. Whether we like it or not we are human and that comes with all the wonderful machinations one builds upon First seeing or talking to someone. My colleagues and I set out this week to set that tone and engender a lasting positivity within the minds of our peers and omniscient Attendings.
The most important Hippo, however, that most crucial First Impression is the one we present to our Patients. We can not replace or edit First Impressions no matter how much we would like life to mimic the forgiving worlds of an Excel or Word document. More than anything, we can not replace our First Patient -- something tells me that first real interaction has the potential to reverberate within our memories above everything else.
Two years. For two years we have been focusing on mastering the Crates of medicine placed before us. Yes there were Hippos scattered sporadically but they were rare and seemingly endangered at times. We learned endless facts, figures, and lists while only sparingly dabbling in how to empathize and be culturally sensitive to those seeking our help and guidance.
Now is the time and our First Week to get settled down is over. Hopefully we know where the restrooms are, where we can find sources of caffeine for those endless days, and just how many granola bars we can stuff into our white coats. Hopefully our new homes away from home feel as such because in the real world there are more Hippos than we can imagine -- as we come out of our protective medical school bubbles.
It won't be easy. There will be less sleep. Less food. Less time.
But though Hippos may have grotesquely large mouths and nostrils I think they are #Beautiful.
Likewise, caring for our First Patients will be #Beautiful. It's going to be a good year.
"and I can't pretend that that doesn't mean a thing to me. to me."
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