Friday, January 16, 2009

Week One - Check, Done

Week one of my medical externship is complete. I'm quite pleased. Monday and Tuesday were a little rough, as I was still pouting that my should-be-eight-week externship was extended to 12 weeks for no real reason. But, after I got over that, it went okay. Here are some things I've learned this week.

1. Working five days each week is really annoying. I'm not sure it agrees with me.

2. Straws may not be as evil as I was told in school. Really, a chin-tuck position works quite nicely with a straw.

3. Hospitals, though a bit depressing and gross, are way more exciting than schools.

4. Discharging a patient is great. You can pretend that maybe you'll get done a little early. Ha!

5. If I worked at St. John's next year, I would make $43 an hour, which seems like a real fortune. The year after that I would make over $60 an hour, an even larger fortune. Now I have to think if the money is better or if working short days with summers off is better. Tough decision.

6. I look really sexy in a white lab coat. I think they suit me. Thanks, Vanilla Bean Counter, for buying me mine.

7. Families at the hospital are much friendlier than families at school. They're so worried about their loved one that they don't have time to be defensive and argumentative.

8. Working with adults is very nice; no need to jump through hoops to make things fun. They know they're at the hospital, and it sucks. No disappointment or whining that they don't want to play Candyland today.

9. I need to look up how to play the card game Money, Money. Wanda makes it sound very fun. They play every Saturday night. Maybe I'll do that instead of a Bunco group next year.

1 comment:

jb.little said...

Wow. You make hospitals sound so much fun... I even may consider it. Quick note about straws: they are used quite often in the nursing home world... and it actually seems to (I can't believe I'm saying this) help some people with facial muscle atrophy. Huh. Who woulda guessed?