Orientation week is a bit of a blur. We went on hospital tours, learned shorthand for writing prescriptions (after learning that we will likely be writing prescription and procedure orders for REAL patients, which will then be approved by a resident or attending before actually being carried out), and met our clerkship directors. We learned about the consequences of making mistakes and how to minimize them risk management, how to wash our hands (fourth time through that video? fifth?), and how to gown and glove using aseptic technique. We learned about the software used to manage patients' Electronic Health Records (EHRs), how to get involved with research as well as our mandatory research projects this year, and how to fully utilize the university libraries in taking care of our patients. We also once again learned about HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) - specifically how I will almost never be able to write about specific patients or their conditions on here. Even if I say nothing about their name, age, gender, etc., merely mentioning their condition may count as "identifying information." Particularly because I'm not *really* anonymous on here. I mean, my first name is in my comments, and my picture is all over the blog. It wouldn't be the hardest thing to identify me if you were a patient I'd seen. It's only one step further to realize that the patient I'm writing about is actually YOU. Nope, not a good idea. My patients' privacy is too important to me to compromise it just because the experience happens to be really interesting. This in NO WAY means my blog will stagnate into a boring quagmire of mediocrity like the above paragraphs about orientation. No! I will still be able to write about things that I learn, procedures I see, and much of the other awesome stuff that goes into the transformation of a bookish MS2 into a slightly less bookish, more worldly MS3. You will probably just never see anything patient-related on here. Sorry. Anyway, orientation week culminated in learning to tie specific knots used in surgery, then practicing those knots along with standard suturing technique on some dead pig feet. You see, pig skin is pretty much the closest thing to human skin - though it's still quite a bit tougher. My first rotation in the hospitals will be Obstetrics and Gynecology (ObGyn), and I start the week off with Gynecology. I expected this to mostly be Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID) cases, pelvic exams, and various pelvic pathologies. I didn't think it would be very much surgery, but according to the rumor mill from the MS4s, that's not so much the case. Apparently I can expect a lot of time in surgery this first week, as there are a lot of hysterectomies seen in the Gyn side of the rotation. I'm pretty interested in seeing anything and everything at this point. While the prospect of getting up each morning at 4:30am to begin rounding at 5:30am and not get home until 5:30pm is a bit daunting, the past couple weeks of vacation have left me feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. I'm still trying to not think about getting my Step 1 score back on Wednesday, as thinking about that seems to magically slow down time, but hopefully the business of the next few days will minimize that effect. And so. I have today and tomorrow before clerkship-specific orientation on Monday, then full-swing rotations begin on Tuesday morning. I'm making the most of today - slept in (and I mean SLEPT IN - 10am yo!), made a killer bacon & egg breakfast, bought new shoes, grazed in the Apple store, walked Hobbes, transferred some photos, and now wrote this post. Now I may do some video editing from the NC Vacation, or I may chill on the porch and read. Who knows. Tell us how was your orientation days?
