Posts tagged stress

Exam Tomorrow. Psychiatry has been a very nuanced rotation. We become so used to dealing with the objective and the tangible in our day to day practice that the abstract and intangible aspects of a patient’s health are often lost. However, if we dig deep enough, we often surprise ourselves with how many people struggle with psychiatric issues. It is definitely a weakness of mine and one that I will need to continue to improve in my later weeks in psychiatry. For the time being, the psychiatry exam will be my focus.

Exam Tomorrow.

Psychiatry has been a very nuanced rotation. We become so used to dealing with the objective and the tangible in our day to day practice that the abstract and intangible aspects of a patient’s health are often lost. However, if we dig deep enough, we often surprise ourselves with how many people struggle with psychiatric issues. It is definitely a weakness of mine and one that I will need to continue to improve in my later weeks in psychiatry.

For the time being, the psychiatry exam will be my focus.

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Runaway by the National.

This is my motivational song of the day. I have been sleeping better, eating better these last two days. I just need a bit more time to get back into the groove of things. This will help to an extent.

Winners Never Quit. Burning out is one issue but I will not let it run my life. Not now. I need to stay ahead of the weather before it takes me in. Once I am well-rested, I must forge ahead.

Winners Never Quit.

Burning out is one issue but I will not let it run my life. Not now. I need to stay ahead of the weather before it takes me in. Once I am well-rested, I must forge ahead.

Burn Out

I can feel it around the bend. It is creeping in from all sides: I am not sleeping well; I am not eating well. When I sit down to study, I cannot maintain my concentration and the information seems to evaporate before it has a moment to settle in my mind. While I hate to admit it, it is become more and more evident.

The first step to fixing any problem is acknowledging that there is a problem.

And this is a terrible problem to have at this point with a big exam coming.

One of the benefits of my rotation is the fact that I can schedule my own call. I had some faint aspirations to pick up the call shift tonight. But what I need more than anything is a moment away from it all. 

Tonight I will just go with the flow and let my body dictate what it needs to get better again. 

Thank you all for your patience and support.

I have a board exam in five days and I am freaking out. This is the culmination of my life. If I fail it I will have no job.
A R2 stresses over her upcoming OSCE and board exam.

I see it in all of you. You will all make great doctors because you care about your patients. It is in the way you behave and talk.

You will be great doctors. I know you are all struggling to find what is true and right. But hear me: do not let this schooling system rob you of your sense of self.

An inspiring attending gives us a pep talk.

The Impossible Workload for Doctors in Training

I remember reading about these new regulations when I was in first year. It was all that everyone could talk about: the days will be better.

Being exposed to clinical teaching this year, I can tell you that this restriction often times exists as a formality on paper only. By mandate of the university, we are only supposed to work up sixteen hours excluding call shifts. At that point, we are mandated to work only until handover and latest until noon.

I can count on one hand how often I have gone by the rules. I have almost always worked the whole day following call. Thirty-plus-hour days are not uncommon. Partly, the issue is one of manpower to meet the requirements and objectives of a day; partly, it is still the expectation of the team that you do not clock out until the job is done.

Is restricting the hours the solution? It would appear not. However, we struggle to find the answer. No one denies that it is unhealthy and the outcomes suffer, but simply restricting hours is most definitely not the solution. 

md-admissions

Finishing Internal Exam Part Two

I thought the exam overall went pretty well. Having only had two oral exams though, this one included, I still find the practice to be very awkward and disjointed.

For example, the examiner goes by a script and does not move to the next section until I have finished my answer and will tell me information afterwards that I may not have requested because it is in the script. Though I had a list of investigations I wanted to have done, the timing of some of them was inappropriate for that particular moment and I was reserving them for - in my mind - a later point in the case as it unfolded. It was a terrible mistake and easy points were lost.

Having said that, I feel that I eventually did come to the right diagnoses for the cases I had, though my process getting there could definitely have been slicker and more thorough.

Lesson learned.

The bus ride home. When I am at home, I de-stress by listening to some music or talking with my fiancée. When I am finishing an exam, I de-stress by getting a haircut or zoning out on the bus. I swipe my card, take my seat, and then watch the city bustle to the sound of cars, people, and the greenery. 

The bus ride home.

When I am at home, I de-stress by listening to some music or talking with my fiancée. When I am finishing an exam, I de-stress by getting a haircut or zoning out on the bus. I swipe my card, take my seat, and then watch the city bustle to the sound of cars, people, and the greenery. 

Finishing Internal Exam Part One

Overall it was actually a very straight forward and easy exam. And that just makes it all the more painful when my nerves get the best of me and I miss the easy points.

Square yourself away and get your act together, brain!