Sunday, April 3, 2011

Residency 1.9: Owl Team, Part Deux

Just got done with my second month of nights, and despite missing the sunshine and socialization in general, I have to say it was a blast! I had such an amazing team, which made all the difference. We had family dinner every night and would laugh so hard our faces hurt. We had a good balance of some very busy nights (almost 20 admissions, spinal taps, PICU transfers, near codes in the ED) and some very chill nights (12 episodes of Friends, 5 episodes of Castle, fondue night).

About halfway through the month, our master schedules came out for next year. And guess who gets to start off with yet another month of Owl Team? You betcha! In my first month as a senior, I'll be basically in charge of half the patients (we have 2 senior residents on at night in the summers) and supervising a bunch of squirrly interns fresh out of orientation (does anyone else remember how totally worthless I was in my first month of residency? Exactly!). Terrifying!!! And so the second half of this month, I essentially tried to function as a second-year. I tried to think through everything and come up with a plan before going to my senior resident, rather than just asking her, "What do you think?" right off the bat. It made me realize that A) I have learned so much in the last 9 months in terms of triaging, assessing, managing, and knowing when to ask for help; and B) There is still a TON that I don't know. It's going to make for a very interesting (read: STRESSFUL) July, but I know that at the end of it, I will feel ready for just about anything. Plus, there's always Friday morning Happy Hour!

Until next time, kids!

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