“The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of ‘liberalism’ they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.”

Socialist Party presidential candidate Norman Thomas


Thursday, July 23, 2009

Whatever you do, don't get hospitalized in July

Throughout the US this month, recently graduated medical students are buying their new lab coats, new stethoscopes to hang around their necks, and burnishing their god-complexes in preparation for residency programs. It is widely accepted that it's probably not a good idea to go the hospital for something during the next couple of months because you'll be poked, probed, and used as a teaching tool for new residents who don't have a clue what they're doing yet. I don't know about you but, I don't want to be seen by my doctor with a half dozen, child-like residents staring at me and making jokes. I realize, that might be a slight exaggeration from watching too many shows like Grey's Anatomy but, still.

TRR helpful tip of the day: delay if you can, traumatic injuries and illnesses that require hospitalization until at least the Fall.

5 comments:

Angie Lee said...

Actually, Ed, you might wanna make a point of doing it now. Then you can give a few of them an idea what REAL doctorin' is all about. Learning experience. No sense letting the entire crop of new docs coming in be utterly corrupted by stupidity (or at least ignorance).

Bill Lockhart said...

Oh this is too juicy, and I am a rogue insider no less. YES beware July--and also August. Teaching hospitals are the worst--In my experience, the attendings there either are too interested in their research to actually watch over the new doc (older residents do that) and may even be so out of touch with the world outside their research you don't want them touching you anyway. Then there are those who are in academia because they are too crappy to make it in the private world -so they hide their incompetence behind the chief residents' care of patients-and you hope they don't countermand the resident just to show their power and end up getting someone hurt or killed. These first 2 kinds of academic doctors are (and , honestly, this is not something I made up ) called HODAD's---Hands Of Death And Destruction. And not only do you have the new docs in play , but these now have to come out and help , too. Of course you could get lucky and get one of the attendings that is in academia who is there to teach and takes an active role in patient care and keeps up with the latest in medical advances--but who really wants to play Russian Roulette ? (I was in the last category--honestly). In surgery there is a double hit--you get the newbie surgeons in July, but the newbie anesthesiologists are paired with an experienced resident for the month of July. So they aren't unleashed until August--so wham there is the second hit.

Now things are not so bad at private hospitals where the doctors care about their patients--they retain much more control, so you will see less damage in July. The attendings here watch you like a hawk--since they are paid by the patient and don't get some huge salary by a big corporation. I.e. they worry about "customer" (and yes that is replacing the word patient) service.

MY rant. Any Questions?

Anonymous said...

Scary- but thanks for the confirmation Doc Bill.
BBC

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