April Is The Cruelest Month – Last Month Of Medicine Wards

At the end of every month, there’s always some anxiety about starting the next rotation. Having to work out logistical issues, meeting new residents and attendings, and adjusting to a new schedule are all things which drive this anxiety. In April, I’ll be at the VA Hospital completing my very last month of inpatient medical wards… ever. Unfortunately, this rotation was already going to be the hardest of intern year… and this has been compounded by the fact that I’ll be starting on a service that’s already hard-capped. In other words, I’ll have 9-10 patients right off the bat!

I really enjoyed my last month of inpatient wards in October. Our team had a great dynamic and I had the opportunity to teach medical students fascinating pathologies (learning more about it in the process) which made it incredibly rewarding. But this will be a different month. For starters, I’ve not worn my white coat or “clinic attire” in four months. I’ve had horrible fevers, malaise, and myalgias over the weekend which have finally started to improve today. I’m not familiar with admitting or discharging patients with the VA’s EMR, although I’ve used it many times as a student and in my first month of intern year to write notes on the renal service. And on top of this, the VA is notoriously slow about logistical things (seriously, how many times do I have to be RE-trained in HIPAA or get my parking badge activated?!)

We’ll see how tomorrow goes, but by the looks of it, “April is [shaping up to be] the cruelest month.” Thank you, T.S. Eliot. 😉

T-minus 30 days. It’s game time!

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