Right now I am reading a book called "Match Day: One Day and One Dramatic Year in the Lives of Three New Doctors" by Brian Eule. It is about Match Day - when Medical School graduates are placed with the hospital where they will do their residencies. I am in the part of the book that talks about that 'Dramatic Year' - the internship year. I read about these brand new doctors visiting their patients, making decisions that will either help a patient or hurt them, and I feel a little bit jealous - because that is what I want to be doing - and a little bit scared. Okay scared isn't a big enough word - maybe terrified is more like it! What am I getting myself into?
When I read that laws have been put in place recently to limit a residents' workweek to 80 hours and guarantee them 4 days off a month it is a little disconcerting. And when I read that they are one of the most underpaid jobs, because when you divide what they make by the hours that residents work . . . .well it makes me wonder why I am doing this.
Then I remember that this is my dream. This is what I have been working for. Someday I will be one of those residents, just trying to survive on no sleep and save some lives, and reduce people's pain and it will be worth it in the end.
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