Seventh quarter is wrapping up and there are some enormous changes occurring both personally and professionally at school. Next quarter is eighth quarter! I never thought I'd say that, but we have arrived and now it is game time!
The intensity is supposed to get higher next term with tons of work in our clinic phase labs and the new stress of managing a handful of patients. It is interesting how your perspective changes the further you get in the curriculum. My first impression of my intern in 1st quarter has changed to one that respects what he was going through when I met him. I didn't understand the pressure he was under and I judged him too severely. The changes that will occur in July for about 45 of us, are immense. We will likely be judged just as severe and it will be tough to deal with it and move on. Our awareness of the patients we are inheriting must be the number one priority from here on out. It is our job to be their advocates in school as well as their health. If we treat them with sincerity and respect, they will do the same for us.
We'll be given the typical Western States workload along with adapting to the clinic and learning to treat patients as well as retain them. I don't think students, who will be our patients, understand the system if they haven't given it a try and tried hard to get to know it. My hunch is that the system does work if the students are educated by the interns and the new interns are educated/mentored by the senior interns they replace. It all comes down to being respectful to each other and being open to learning from one another.
If there was one thing I could change during that first quarter at Western States, it would be to give my intern a shot and use him as an education source. Comparing where I am now to where I was in first quarter, is insane to think about. The skills I have obtained (not that they are perfect) are way further than I ever thought they'd be. Even since the last quarter (6th quarter), I have changed leaps and bounds. Going from being afraid of palpating the neck to adjusting it and seeing therapeutic benefit from it, is huge. It is hard to explain the situation we are going through right now unless you've been there before or are walking through the trenches.
We are, in a way, between worlds. One foot is still stuck or hesitating to leave life as we have known it our whole life and the other is edging closer to becoming a doctor.
Not many people get to feel these things and we should be proud and confident in who we are becoming.
All for now.
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