What’s So Cool?
What’s so cool about saving somebody’s life? Can’t you just call 911 like everybody else does?
Is it some popularity contest, just like you had in high school? Do you tell your friends and neighbors about your medical school experience with pride?
Do you feel like you’ll get more pussy at the bars if you tell them that you’re a medical student? I used to think that, but the pussy was as frequent as before my acceptance.
Does your wife or husband realize that you’ll be working like a slave to uphold some underground celebrity status that nobody else knows about?
I don’t know. Do you?
Hours Watch Is A Must See
I know I’ve got a link to Hours Watch over to the right, but I thought I’d post this here so you’ll have a better chance at getting over there.
From their About page:
“Hours Watch is dedicated to ending excessive work hours for medical residents, and finding solutions that enhance patient care and residency education. Hours watch is jointly sponsored by the Committee of Interns and Residents, and the American Medical Student Association, organizations that have led the fight to reduce unsafe and unhealthy overwork of medical trainees.”
I really like what they’re doing and I 100% support the cause.
Are You Ready?
I think one of the mistakes that I made when deciding to go to medical school was that I really didn’t know what to expect. I did the volunteer thing, I worked in hospitals, I transported patients, and I tried to shadow physicians as much as possible.
One thing was different, though. At the end of my “shift”, I went home. I didn’t really get to see what it was like to be a physician. At least not until I was junior medical student. It all became pretty clear at that point.
You need to realize that medicine isn’t simply a job. For the most part, it’s a lifestyle. You need to be ready to accept that if you plan on seriously pursuing medicine. Simply put, I wasn’t ready to give up my life for that.
With the exception of very few specialties, you’ll have to field pagers and phone calls after your normal work day is over. You’ll sacrifice weekends to round on patients that were admitted to the hospital, and you’ll have to get up out of bed at some ungodly hour to take care of someone no matter how tired you are.
Ask yourself if that’s where you want to be in 20 or 30 years, because unless you get really lucky you’ll still need that paycheck at the end of the month. If you love what you’re doing, it’s icing on the cake. But remember that even too much cake will get very old after many long, hard years.
More On Hours
Ran across Panda Bear over at the SDN forums. Here’s a great post on his blog regarding work hours.
Real People. Real Stories.
Taken from HoursWatch:
“Here is my typical week.
Monday -6:00 AM to 7:00 PM — 12 – 13 Hours
Tuesday (on call)-6:00 AM to Wednesday at 6 or 7 PM – 36-37 Hours (we do not follow the 30 hour rule)
Thursday -6:00 AM to maybe 6 or 7 PM — 12 – 13 Hours
Friday -6:00AM to 6:00 PM — 12 Hours
Saturday (on call again) 7:00 AM until Sunday morning at maybe 9:00 AM. — 26 Hours
Back to work Monday at 6:00 AM…
Week Total: 98-101
These hours may even be exceeded if others call in sick or there are unexpected surgeries or traumas. What is the most appalling is the week day on calls where we are expected to work in the clinic seeing NEW patients while post call and going well over the 24/30 hour in one shift rule. Our program makes no efforts to fix this and does not report these violations to the ACGME.”
Anonymous Resident, Ohio State University
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“Our program has been grossly non-compliant with work hour regulations since June 2003. While we conitinue to get lip-service regarding how the program is still working on being compliant, the truth is that there is no relief in sight. On q 4 call, I work a minimum of 34 hours, and on non-call days, the average day is 10 hours. So, overall, I work close to 90 hour weeks if I have a day off every 7 days, which doesn’t necessarily happen.”
Anonymous Resident, University of Washington
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“My medical school has informed the students indirectly that the 80 hour work week does not apply to MS III and MS IV students. We could conceivably be ordererd to work 120 hours a week and if we do not we would fail that course. Could you please tell me where I could find regulations or laws about this? Any legal resources would also be appreciated.”
Anonymous Medical Student
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Read more real-life stories at http://www.hourswatch.org/47yourstoriesarticle.htm