Intern - first day on call

With much trepidation - I left my house at 4:10 am, arrived at the hospital at 4:40 am, and began ... waking up the patients. Aren't you glad you didn't try to sleep at a hospital saturday night? No sleeping on my census!! Anyway, I, M.D. Dr. Dale, now have full rights and privileges to write Rx for patients. My first order: "Advance diet to clears". Don't worry - no malpractice here. I first made certain the patient had had flatus since her operation. Flatus, i.e. noxious fumes exiting from the rectum, is my daily bread. What an elegant profession. If you only knew how much I trembled just to write those words, "Advance diet to clears." It's tough to be doctor. : )

I think it was a light day, there were only 3 traumas, and those not until evening. I even slept a few hours!

By the end of the day, I was ordering blood transfusions on ICU patients. Steep learning curve, huh?

I didn't get to put in any lines (i.e. big ivs into big veins) because they were on on very complex patients that if I screwed up, they would die. That was ok. I'll get more chances.

So that's the real story --- and I still haven't been in the OR. Trust me, the title of the blog will be true someday...soon.