I am just going to say it - I miss the pre -80 hour work week. For those of you who don't know, a few years ago, the federal government established limits and conditions on resident work weeks. (Of course this happened after it would really affect my resident life, but I digress.) The theory was to improve patient safety, and the working conditions of the last legal group of indentured servants. The theory has met with some serious reality.
I am not morally opposed, as many of my colleagues are, by big brothers interference. I am a liberal - we like big brother. Sometimes big brother is necessary to help us see the big picture. There are many ridiculous things that I did as a resident simply because my senior level resident or attending had to do "it" when they were in my shoes. These tasks contributed absolutely nothing to my education. I am not opposed to residents having lives. I don't begrudge them a life just because I never had one. Nor am I convinced that not sleeping for days on end really made me a better surgeon. (I am convinced that it directly contributed to the lovely bags under my eyes.) However, there were some very important lessons that I learned that I fear are now being missed.
Lesson One: Patient Responsibility - I learned VERY early in my training (my first week when Bassam yelled at me for not replacing a patient's potassium) that I had a direct contribution to my patient's well-being. It was made very clear to me that every i had to be dotted and every t crossed to insure that my patients left the hospital alive. I was taught that this is a very sacred responsibility that had to be taken seriously It could not be ignored because I was tired, wanted to go home, or had been up all night.
Lesson Two: Camaraderie - For better or worse, I spent way more time with my fellow residents than I did with everyone else in my life combined. Did we argue, fight and basically get on each other's nerves? Absolutely!!! However, we also laughed, talked, commiserated, and all knew at the end of the day who had our backs. We were in the trenches together, and trying to get as many of us as possible out the other side alive. To this day, some of my closest friends were made in those trenches. (Even Bassam who yelled and made me cry.)
Lesson Three: Satisfaction of a job well done - My trainer keeps telling me that it is good that I am sore after our workouts. She cites this as evidence of a productive work-out. Was I a little "sore" after my surgical training. Sure, but I walked away feeling that I actually accomplished something. I knew more than how to operate - I knew how to care for patients. I never want to go through it again, but I wouldn't take anything for the memories that I have of that time.
Lesson Four: The benefit of watching others - When I was walking to school up hill both ways in the snow, we would come in hours early to get our work done so that we could go to the operating room and scrub into a case. We were usually the second or third assistant standing somewhere behind the medical student, but we were there and ultimately that was all that mattered. The lesson you ask? Many. I learned patience. If you stood there enough, you would eventually get to do something. Preparedness. If you could correctly answer a question about the patient or the case, a reward usually followed. Technique. I will simply say that it astounds me for anyone to think they can do a procedure regardless of how simple it is having never seen it.
Lesson Five: Work ethic - There is something in knowing that you cannot go home until the work is complete. It puts a little extra drive to actually accomplish tasks. You really do try a little harder. You also learn that life isn't fair, and that being on call for the fourth straight Christmas sucks, but it doesn't kill you.
I could go on, but I have to go to a meeting with the general surgery residency coordinator. The "CT" service has had a complaint from a first year resident about the "working conditions". Therefore, the girl who has only been here for 2 months gets to go defend the "system".
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