One test!

I took my first multiple choice test in five years last week. It is astounding that this is really how we evaluate future doctors. I mean, it is sort of amusing, except that it is stressful. I think I did OK . . . I've done a stellar job of studying every weekend and most evenings through the rotation. As long as they don't make me take it again, I'll be pleased. I wasn't even all that stressed about the testing part, though I got to watch a couple of other med students totally freak out two days before the test. I don't miss that.

I was going to take the entire day before the test to work. I had clinic until 5 and then I was going to study at the coffee shop until 11. All day I was in a poor mood because I wasn't going to see the kids at all (I left at 7:30). Then I realized it was my own stupid choice and if I was going to be that upset about it, I should just go home for an hour. So I did. Good call.

I also get 1 gold star for only having to eat out 4 times in 8 weeks.

This next rotation may not go so well. It is internal medicine in the hospital and there will be very early mornings and some long nights. It isn't even all that bad (relative to residency) with only 5 nights of short call (there until 11PM) this month. But those are days without babies. I am really not asking too much of the system that I should be able to see my kids every day.

The highlights of my primary care rotation include realizing that the meeting rooms in one building were the old dormitory rooms for the nuns. A sink in every one. More spacious than I would have presumed. The building is a funny mix of beautiful custom woodwork and tile that reminds me of elementary school. Also that the nursing home I went to had Wii bowling. And having enough exposure to pharm reps that they officially became scary. Some are very pushy and really want to talk about why the doctor isn't prescribing their drug more. Some just top by to stock the cabinet and remind you that they did so and then chat about sports. Those ones scare me more because it really reinforces how subliminal all of it is . . . they wouldn't be paid otherwise. And it also scared me to see the doctors prescibing based on what was in the cabinets - if one drug was out, they moved to the next one over. Not really the way I hope to do it . . .

I was hoping that the primary care rotation would expose me to a lot of things and I'd get my medical chops back before hitting the more intensly medical rotations (as a medical student, I can get pretty far in primary care with just being comfortable talking to and examining people). And I did see a lot of things. The problem was that I wasn't at all focused in what I needed to learn. I'd come home with a list of 15 things I wanted to look up and then only have time to do 2 of them. This got better as the rotation went on - I relearned the structure of the information and can now plug the information back in. Starting tomorrow.