Can a Family Medicine Year Be Used as an Intern Year
By Ben Brown, MD, MPH
It was nearly 1 year ago I fabricated my plunge into the proverbial anest mail service graduate medical training yr also known as 'Intern' yr. In many ways, information technology was like jumping from the loftier dive into the deep stop of a pool for the first time. Y'all slowly climb the ladder of four years of medical schoolhouse to attain the elevated spring board. Y'all stand and walk to the edge of the board and in theory y'all should be prepared for the jump, however, the puddle which is fifteen feet beneath suddenly seems 100 anxiety away and y'all wonder if your head will ever re-surface later on jumping from such a height. Prior to making this jump, we medical graduates spent hours upon hours deliberating over the type of specialty to use for. We applied through a most odd, unbelievable, and all the same crazily satisfying hiring process called the friction match. We and so await July 1st, the universal starting time engagement of residency. You reach the border of the diving board, your toes are hanging over the cool wetted turquoise dark-green metal, and yous know the simply way to actually do this is to just jump knowing many accept jumped earlier you. You have courage and jump forward losing ground below your anxiety and entering into a life full of new experience.
Again, this jump was 1 year ago for me. In that yr I've had highs and lows, sleepless nights and exhausting days. Intern year has fluctuations in its demand merely in the finish information technology is all well-nigh survival. As a brief overview, during intern year nosotros are 'immune' to work up to lxxx hours per week. Our shifts are limited to no more than 16 hours in total (recently increased to 24 hours). We must exist given at least ane day off for every half-dozen days worked (although we still might work 12-14 days in a row). Lastly, we must have at least 8 hours off between shifts. Granted, non every calendar week are we pushed to these limits. At i betoken I figured I was working on average about 60 hours per week. In improver, in family unit medicine we work on drastically different services switching every four weeks. My showtime two rotations were adult inpatient medicine and the well-babe plant nursery. This characteristic of our grooming adds its own unique set of challenges. Working under stressful atmospheric condition for so many hours and over many weekends has its effect. Many days afterward work you badly seek to take some semblance of what y'all perceive of a normal life (i.e., getting something to consume, connecting with a friend or family fellow member, sleeping). Sometimes you tin fit in exercise or laundry, just usually that comes at the expense of one of your other essential daily activities.
Why does our preparation have to exist this style? A question I have pondered many times. I don't have a perfect answer. At present looking back, I can meet that the long hours, the nighttime shifts, the increased responsibilities, and the sleep impecuniousness have put me miles ahead of where I was every bit a graduating medical student. I had a loving family member tell me prior to residency to not be afraid to work hard and I often reflect on that. Many great things are produced from difficult work and I believe that includes becoming a skilled, experienced, and knowledgeable physician. This piece of work life tin can exist hard in the context of the current social culture where much of what yous see of those around you are the 'good' times. All of u.s.a. tend to post about our happiest moments and a full feed of this makes it seem like life for others is a constant vacation or party. Friends and family don't get to see the waking at 4:30 am, driving to work in the dark, working for 12-xiii hours, and then returning dwelling house in the dark merely to feel lone, unhealthy, and depressed. Is information technology ironic that we physicians regularly recommend to our patients to go regular exercise, adequate slumber, practice mindfulness, and eat healthily where nosotros ourselves struggle mightily with such life activities?
Despite the darkness which I may take painted above, intern year has been filled with merely every bit much calorie-free. Intern year has been very meaningful and even fun. I've had excited mornings driving to the hospital in apprehension to see how our patient's fared overnight and to see my beau co-residents and other staff. In fact, our demanding work schedule forges bonds that cannot be replicated elsewhere. These bonds are intensified by laboring over challenging patients and working through difficult cases. Being part of a team is very meaningful, specially when your team's goal is to help in the commitment of a infant, helping to support someone's life through CPR, or helping families and patients through making very difficult healthcare decisions. Every bit an intern, your membership in these teams is much more integral than it ever has been earlier. You are now someone'south doctor rather than the accessory medical student (don't get me wrong, medical students are integral to our teams likewise).
Other light that came during this year was from loving family unit members and friends who offered support through all the ups and downs. They were the prophylactic havens, the listeners, and the giving souls that allowed you to find respite when in greatest need. In addition, having a plan that emphasizes health has been a smashing approval. During intern year, we had about every Friday afternoon blocked from clinical duties to spend fourth dimension learning, participating in wellness activities, checking-in with each other, and often times confidentially complaining about our lives and experiences.
Working month in and month out, over nights, over Christmas, and even New Years Eve nosotros interns slowly merely surely undergo modify. Our co-workers in the dispensary and hospital add to our family and friends. We slowly grow in our sense of conviction and begin the delicate procedure of refining our art of practicing medicine. We grow into our defined role on our squad and we become teachers to medical students. We become more than equipped to deal with stress, face new challenges, and to recognize the limits of our cognition and where and when to ask for help. Also, finally getting a pay check is not and then bad likewise. Nearly to movement into my second yr of residency, I feel that I am consistently keeping my head above h2o in the deep cease of this puddle, I am fix to see another group of newly minted MDs make their plunge off the high dive, and I am excited to continue beingness part of this great story.
Ben Brown, MD, MPH is a second twelvemonth Family Medicine Resident in the Department of Family & Preventive Medicine at the University of Utah Schoolhouse of Medicine.
Source: https://fammedvitalsigns.com/2017/08/10/my-year-as-a-family-medicine-intern/
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