Wow the CCU is done

I lived through my first month of internship. It really is out of control. I had heard all the legendary tales of those who went before me. Never ending hours, sleep deprivation, extreme exhaustion and living in the hospital 24 / 7. I have to say the tales were fairly accurate. I got worked. I used to look at residents and wonder how they did it. However as a resident you have no option but you also have the extra layer of responsibility which makes you busier which makes your time go faster. As a medical student you were often at the mercy of what your residents told you to do. You had to wait around at times for an assignment.

As a resident you have to make sure things get done and patients are seen. This keeps you busy which makes the time go by much faster. There used to be no hour limits on residents and many of the older doctors love to point out "back in the day we worked 2000 hours / week and had to walk barefoot in the snow uphill both ways" I remind them that back in the day the patients were much more likely to die while they were waiting for modalities like CT, MRI and medications to be invented. :) Now we have the 80 hour work week which tends to be complicated. You are supposed to only work 80 hours / week however education hours like conferences and paperwork do not count. It is 80 hours of patient care hours and it is averaged over 4 weeks. You can work 100 hours 2 weeks in a row and then you could work 60 hours for the next 2 weeks and you would still be ok. The educational and the paperwork hours can really ad up and push you towards 100 hours / week anyways.

In reality it can end up not much different than the "old days". Also very few residents are willing to turn their program in if they are required to work longer than the 80 hours / week. No matter how you look at it, you work insane hours during residency and especially during intern year.

I really enjoyed the CCU. I learned a great deal about cardiac patients and the management of sick heart patients. I became very comfortable treating patients with very high blood pressure, very low blood pressure, myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, pulmonary hypertension and all manners of cardiac pathology. It was a very high yield experience and I feel a lot more comfortable around these sick patients. I still have lots to learn but it is a good feeling to know that I have made it through my first month of residency and one of the more difficult and demanding rotations.

It is great. I love what I am doing.