Surgery. That’s what I’m doing day in, day out lately. Well, surgery and procedures like colonoscopies. My surgery preceptor (fancy name for surgeon that supervises me) is a very nice surgeon and only occasionally gets grumpy, though not at me yet. Given the circumstances, already surgery is surpassing my expectations since it was my most dreaded rotation and one in which I thought I would be truly learning by humiliation. Not so. Or at least not humiliation imposed on me by someone other than myself.
It’s been good to get into the routine of “scrubbing in” so that I don’t feel so clueless in the OR and to learn how to move carefully around the room so you don’t contaminate myself or something/one else. Unlike many classmates whose preceptor grills them continuously during surgery or rounds, my surgeon doesn’t ask me any questions aside from “Do you have any questions?” I find this question puts me in a tricky situation since I’d really like to say “Yes, can you give me a 20 minute lecture on diseases of the gallbladder?” But, of course, I can’t. I tend to stand there and try desperately to think up just the right question that isn’t too stupid, too easy to look up and something that my surgeon will still know the answer to after 20 years in practice (not all of them remember stats on things they’re not involved with all the time).
I’ve noticed that communication is not the #1 skill for my preceptor, though I must say he’s a very nice man who cares deeply about his patients. But he’s a bit of a mumbler. And vague. And when someone asks a question he can have the tendency not to answer it directly but with a vague response using lots of medical jargon/anatomy terms that they’re not familiar with. It’s kinda painful to watch sometimes. When I’m with him I just follow along behind like a puppy, and not surprisingly, I think he enjoys my company since I’m not too demanding in any respect – with questions, adding to his workload or annoying him. So far, so good. Just 2 more weeks of this. Head down, doing as I’m told. I’ve noticed that after the fact, patients seem to be thrilled with his work or very angry. I guess surgery’s like that – you either cure them or you don’t and people react to the results accordingly. Plus, it doesn’t help with someone is just upset and looking for empathy from a surgeon. Not a good place to look for sympathy expressed verbally (and effectively).
I have to do a little venting. Here goes:
- I had a bit of a marathon call shift yesterday/today of 33 hours. Bleh. It wasn’t that busy but I was in the hospital that long missing out on the beautiful sunshine. And at the end of my day, my supervisor turned to me and said, “So are you in the hospital tonight?” (I said No!)
- Last night I admitted a patient on my own without my supervisor ever setting eyes on her, I just told him about her over the phone. Kinda freaky & not supposed to happen just yet.
Surprisingly last week I met my surgery mentor who’s a dynamo and an administrator on the health region. It turns out he did an MBA at my B-school too and will be a great resource for me to learn about potential combos of mgmt and medicine! I quite like him.
Anyway, gotta run and hit the books finally. I’m sooooo behind.
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