Nice books before residency begins :-)

Today was a rainy, cloudy, gray and a thunderous day here in the Midwest and I simply had to take a refreshing walk in the breezy thunderstorms ! And though I enjoyed waddling and splashing in the tiny street-side streams more than I enjoyed waddling in the Pacific waters off the San Diego beaches few years ago, I couldn't help sensing an anxiety of July looming over the horizon - the responsibility, expectations, pressure to stay abreast of latest medicine knowledge and sleepless nights. And besides - is it just me or do others too get visions of grim attending-physicians waiting for new residents ? ;-)

Lol..am sure it's gonna be fine for all, I have no intentions of spoiling the party of candidates who matched. Nevertheless, since there will be a change coming fast, and a big change especially for people who have been out of touch of clinical practice, or those who will experience the American medical system for the first time - getting a perspective shared by others who've 'been there, done that' and getting an inkling of what's coming can help protect against excess stress, disillusionments and adjustment problems - which are not as uncommon as you would like to think. Depression during residency, as a latest study has shown, leads to drug errors:-)


Here are some good books that you could either buy & sell back on Amazon (its easy !), or borrow from University and Public Libraries or use the Inter Library Loan system to get them for free.


1. On Call: A Doctor's Days and Nights in Residency

A residency diary of things learned and experienced, by Dr. Transue during her residency years.

Excerpts:

"I arrive on my first day of continuity clinic.....The attending in charge shows me around.....introduces me to the charting system and the lab computer..."here's your first chart"...my stomach lurches - Couldn't my first patient have been someone simple and reasonable healthy ? "

lol &

"My Heart pounds and my mouth is dry. I reach for the familiar phrases and motions of this role for which I have spent so many years preparing" - "Tell me what brings you here today."

2. Intern: A Doctor's Initiation

Publishers comments:

"Dr. Jauhar feels responsible when he botches the blood pressure check on a patient who later dies during an aortic dissection and when he misses the high blood sodium level of a man who then suffers irreversible brain damage."

"As his internship progresses, he romances his future wife (an affair he describes with the passion of one buying a used car); cracks under self-doubt and the expectations of his traditional Indian family, and suffers a serious depression."


3. Staying Human during Residency Training

This book provides "hundreds of practical tips on coping with stress, sleep deprivation, time pressures, and other issues of concern to hospital residents"

Excerpts:

"Many residents unfortunately miss the opportunity of giving and receiving informal peer support because they are competitive or believe thet have to appear all knowing and omnipotent."

Hmmm..maybe its ok for residents / fellows in training - but later on as practising docs, I wonder if patients will feel comfortable if their doctor does not appear "all knowing" ...

"Ask for help when you need it, cover for each other, do favors, talk through intense shared experiences together"..

Agree ! Besides, I shall be initiating my Residency diary blog this year (June 2008) to share what my life as a resident in Internal Medicine :-) Lemme know if anyone of you plan to do the same and I will be happy for a link-exchange for various specialties...

4. The Residency Handbook

Excerpt:

"Sleep Stages have important implications for house officers as your ability to awaken and think clearly is dependent on this."

"It is entirely possible to receive critical patient information and give orders and have no information of these events in the morning" ..LOL


5. Portable Surgical Mentor: A Handbook of Protocol for Interns and Residents in Surgery

Excerpt:

"Dressing for new Situation in life can often divert unwanted attention away from other inadequacies - why not take very opportunity to impress your superiors ? Does not take much efforts and will reassure your patients"


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Besides these books, for people who have been out of touch with reading and clinical medicine for a long time, it might be a good idea to actually take an online subscription to a USMLE Step 2 CK and or USMLE Step 3 question banks to go over questions and answers in a more relaxed frame of mind...

"Books open your mind, broaden your mind, and strengthen you as nothing else can”

- William Feather