I want to put out there that this is true for many professions, if not all. For so many reasons I was not able to even apply to med school, ultimately possibly for the better as I'm not sure it was truly my calling. But every one of these applies to my chosen profession of clinical laboratory (still a healthcare profession) and I identify with all of the in some way. So much appreciation to you Dr. Cifu, for sharing!
I'm adding this to the folder of important commentary to dole out to my daughter who is applying to med school and will - God willing - be in this position one day. Your advice is so thoughtful and well-considered; your patients are lucky to have you on their side.
As a practicing dentist of 51+ years an now a part time educator for a few, I encourage my students to follow your writings. For the most part, the details of the issues we deal with are different, but the more we learn, the more overlap we become aware of. The principles you write about apply no matter what aspect of health care we practice. Looking forward to Part 2.
Really great read, Adam. Also change out of your scrubs when you get home and put them right in the laundry, along with the athletic shoes you have dedicated to call days. No one wants to get in their nice clean bed wearing those nasty things - and definitely the clean pair of socks! The remaining question is whether any students/interns reading this will heed your advice, particularly those that do not love medicine for the sake of medicine but as a means to make money....
I loved the advice that you will never get good at something if you don’t practice (cough…my golf game…), and Residency is that time to get down and dirty. Many trainees today simply don’t understand this.
This is fabulous and right on the money! I would also add this: take a shower before putting on those clean socks. A shower after a long shift is therapy.
Excellent, Adam. I would suggest adding one more item: LISTENING. New interns have just graduated from medical school and have absorbed quantitative knowledge. However, the world of clinical medicine is full of subjectivity, value systems, and a great deal of hurt. Listening to patients the first time and every time thereafter. Listening to nurses is number two. We do NOT teach listening in medical school.
I used to work long stints on remote "project" fires in Alaska. You couldn't carry much baggage because they flew you everywhere in small planes and helicopters. The unspoken rule on the crew was you pack one pair of socks per week out. So, 3 weeks out = 3 pairs of socks.
Sock Day-that day you put on a fresh pair of socks- was *magical*.
I was the mother of a beautiful daughter with extreme physical disabilities who ended up spending weeks at a time at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto, California.
They told me she was referred to as ‘a frequent flyer’.
As you already know, we didn’t see the doctors very often, and most of her contact was with the nurses and the respiratory therapists.
I ended up hogging the time of the wonderful chaplain and also the therapy dog ( Carly) that would wander the halls with her handler, a registered nurse at LPCH.
It was a respiratory therapist who saved her life one day when she started to crash because of a collapsing trachea. He was the one who contacted the doctor, and then the code was called, and everybody rushed in and saved her life.
She was given a tracheotomy a day later, and lived another couple of years with us.
The gratitude that I feel towards that hospital and those residents and hospitalists and therapists and nurses will never end.
When my micro-memoir was published last year, many of the acknowledgments went to those extraordinary people.
we have the largest medical library for medical students.
that can train all of Latin America.
or any Spanish speaking student.
For #9, I sorta did…like Bomba or Hanes or something…
I want to put out there that this is true for many professions, if not all. For so many reasons I was not able to even apply to med school, ultimately possibly for the better as I'm not sure it was truly my calling. But every one of these applies to my chosen profession of clinical laboratory (still a healthcare profession) and I identify with all of the in some way. So much appreciation to you Dr. Cifu, for sharing!
As a relatively junior critical care attending, I can attest that all of this is true, *especially* the socks.
I'm adding this to the folder of important commentary to dole out to my daughter who is applying to med school and will - God willing - be in this position one day. Your advice is so thoughtful and well-considered; your patients are lucky to have you on their side.
As a practicing dentist of 51+ years an now a part time educator for a few, I encourage my students to follow your writings. For the most part, the details of the issues we deal with are different, but the more we learn, the more overlap we become aware of. The principles you write about apply no matter what aspect of health care we practice. Looking forward to Part 2.
Really great read, Adam. Also change out of your scrubs when you get home and put them right in the laundry, along with the athletic shoes you have dedicated to call days. No one wants to get in their nice clean bed wearing those nasty things - and definitely the clean pair of socks! The remaining question is whether any students/interns reading this will heed your advice, particularly those that do not love medicine for the sake of medicine but as a means to make money....
Yeah, I really was looking for reference for #9. :-D
I loved the advice that you will never get good at something if you don’t practice (cough…my golf game…), and Residency is that time to get down and dirty. Many trainees today simply don’t understand this.
This is fabulous and right on the money! I would also add this: take a shower before putting on those clean socks. A shower after a long shift is therapy.
Excellent, Adam. I would suggest adding one more item: LISTENING. New interns have just graduated from medical school and have absorbed quantitative knowledge. However, the world of clinical medicine is full of subjectivity, value systems, and a great deal of hurt. Listening to patients the first time and every time thereafter. Listening to nurses is number two. We do NOT teach listening in medical school.
I used to work long stints on remote "project" fires in Alaska. You couldn't carry much baggage because they flew you everywhere in small planes and helicopters. The unspoken rule on the crew was you pack one pair of socks per week out. So, 3 weeks out = 3 pairs of socks.
Sock Day-that day you put on a fresh pair of socks- was *magical*.
Going to sleep without socks is best!
Apprenticeships are all about drinking from the fire hose. It's how we make the quantum jump from novice to expert. No shortcuts.
Problem is, if you do points 1-5 well, there's little/no time or energy for #7. And as to point #8:
https://medium.com/@bairdbrightman/national-physician-suicide-awareness-day-c024b0d0b2f9
And yes to the joys of clean socks!
I love this post. Especially number two.
I was the mother of a beautiful daughter with extreme physical disabilities who ended up spending weeks at a time at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto, California.
They told me she was referred to as ‘a frequent flyer’.
As you already know, we didn’t see the doctors very often, and most of her contact was with the nurses and the respiratory therapists.
I ended up hogging the time of the wonderful chaplain and also the therapy dog ( Carly) that would wander the halls with her handler, a registered nurse at LPCH.
It was a respiratory therapist who saved her life one day when she started to crash because of a collapsing trachea. He was the one who contacted the doctor, and then the code was called, and everybody rushed in and saved her life.
She was given a tracheotomy a day later, and lived another couple of years with us.
The gratitude that I feel towards that hospital and those residents and hospitalists and therapists and nurses will never end.
When my micro-memoir was published last year, many of the acknowledgments went to those extraordinary people.
Thank you for your work.
Can you a share a link to the "micro-memoir"?
jodygelb.com
Thank you for asking about my book Dr. Cifu.
I will figure out the link…
Great advice. I've done a lot of backtracking to the bedside and it always paid off.