I am an intern. Right now I am an intern in foodservice. When I used to think of foodservice it was the foodservice from reality tv chef shows. It seemed fun. I like cooking. I like baking. I like it when people eat foods that I have prepared.
However those shows are nothing like hospital foodservice where I am currently interning. For one thing, everyone hates their food. This isn't necessarily surprising as it is mass produced and everyone is sick so things don't taste right anyway. Second, there are a lot of logistics! In hospitals there is constantly construction and there are meetings about that construction and foodservice has to be involved because food is important. Finally, they don't really cook in hospitals, as I have discovered. My fellow interns and I are responsible for planning an event during our rotation. We wanted to do gingerbread men and decorate for the holidays. Apparently our food supplier not only does not supply gingerbread men, but they don't provide gingerbread cookies, gingerbread bulk dough or gingerbread mix. This means that we would have to make the cookies from scratch. When I presented that idea they said that they really didn't do that.
So, hospitals don't cook food, they thaw and reheat it. Instead of cooking they spend their time sorting out ordering guides, figuring out staffing issues, going to meetings about construction and filling out patient satisfaction surveys for unsatisfied patients. Essentially the only aspect of reality tv celebrity chef foodservice that I enjoy, cooking, is omitted from the process.
Disclaimer: I really do not like my foodservice rotation so I could be a little bit down on hospital food. I have eaten a few meals in the cafeteria and they are okay.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Saturday, November 13, 2010
The interview trail - The 2 months that determine our next 4 years
The hubs and I are on interview # 2 for residency right now. His first interview was yesterday at Mt. Carmel in Columbus, and today he is interviewing in Ann Arbor. Between now and Christmas we will be going to Ohio State, Riverside (also in Columbus); Metro Health, Cleveland Clinic and Case Western, all in Cleveland; Pittsburgh; Johns Hopkins in Baltimore; Mass Gen in Boston; and Stanford in Stanford, California (near San Jose).
This whole process is quite overwhelming and complicated - and most people do not understand how it works. Here is a brief outline of what life will look like for us between now and June, 2011.
1.) Between now and Christmas the main concern is hitting the interview trail. Well, the hubs is hitting the interview trail...I'm just sightseeing. My other responsibility when we travel to the interview cities is to determine if there is reasonably priced real estate within a half hour drive of the medical center. Also, given my recent safety scares (see Gun Shy) I am super concerned with living in a safe place. I drive around each city with a map and draw smiley faces over the neighborhoods that look safe and a frowny face over those that look dangerous (criteria for dangerous or crummy neighborhoods: Barbed wire, men wearing their pants below their behinds, payday loan stores, condemned homes).
2.) January through February we will be deciding on a ranking list for the hubs and I want to go. This is important for the match. Essentially, each residency program ranks who they want and the applicants rank where they want to go. A computer then "matches" the lists and places the applicants in residency programs. The somewhat stressful part here is that you have to sign a contract saying that you will go where you are matched. This means that while we have preferences, we ultimately do not have the final control over where we are going to be living for the next 4 years. To make it more complicated, we own a house. Because of this we are thinking about trying to do a 1+3 year program rather than a 4 year program. For a 4 year program the hubs will be doing anesthesia for all 4 years. For a 1+3 year program he will be doing medicine for 1 year and then anesthesia for the next 3 years. The nice thing about this option is that we can spend year 1 in our current hometown and then the next three years elsewhere. This would give us one full year of knowing where we will be moving, to sell our current house and to buy one in our new city.
3.) March - Match day!!! Match day occurs in March and is the day where 4th year medical students from all over the country discover where they are going to be matched for residency. This also means that this is the day where you find out where you will be living in just 2-3 months.
4.) June - Move to our new home, or stay in our current home, or...it's complicated. Like I said, we won't know until March what we will be doing.
There are many considerations that go into making this decision and they will all weigh in over the next few months. These include proximity to our families, the fact that we want to start our own family soon, moving to an east or west coast town where the cost of living is much higher or staying in the midwest where we will have a much easier time making ends meet, moving away from a city which we love, choosing the best research program where the hubs can easily transition into a fellowship, choosing a strong anesthesia residency program...so much to think about!
I will update as we continue this process!
FAQ:
Will he be a doctor after he graduates from medical school?
Yes, he will be a doctor. However, you have to do residency for further training in your specialty. You practice under a doctor called an attending (they have finished residency). He will be a doctor and he will be getting a paycheck (thank goodness!) but you are still considered a trainee during residency.
Is intern year a part of medical school or residency or something else?
Intern year is a part of residency. It is the first year of residency. For some specialties, like surgery or anesthesiology, they have an intern year so you can get a bit more exposure to general medicine. This will make you a better doctor in the end. This is why the hubs can do a 1+3 year residency program where we won't have to move our first year. The first year will be in medicine and the last 3 in anesthesia.
How long is residency?
It depends on a few factors. Many programs are 3 years long - Emergency medicine, family medicine... Some are 4, some 5. And then if you decide to do something like neurosurgery I'm pretty sure that residency never ends. :-)
What is the difference between an intern, a resident and an attending?
First you do medical school for four years. People sometimes get confused if the hubs has graduated or not because years 3 and 4 of medical school are clinical years where you do rotations in several specialties. This helps you to narrow down what specialty you want to do for residency. During the 4th year of medical school you apply to residency programs. Some of these programs include an intern year (the first year of residency - while you are a resident they refer to you as an intern...you don't get referred to as a resident until the second year after you graduate from medical school, the first year after intern year). After intern year you complete the rest of residency. When you finish residency you are an attending, with a big salary boost and the benefit of being able to practice on your own.
What are the boards?
The boards are standardized tests that you have to take along the way to becoming a doctor. Step 1 is the first board test that you take after your second year of medical school. At this point you are getting ready to start your clinical years of medical school. Step 2 is actually two tests: Clinical Skills and Clinical Knowledge. Clinical Skills is a test where you go in and talk to patients (actors that are acting out a specific disease or condition) and you get graded for that. Clinical knowledge is a written test, kind of like steps 1 and 3. Step 3 is a test that you take during residency.
This whole process is quite overwhelming and complicated - and most people do not understand how it works. Here is a brief outline of what life will look like for us between now and June, 2011.
1.) Between now and Christmas the main concern is hitting the interview trail. Well, the hubs is hitting the interview trail...I'm just sightseeing. My other responsibility when we travel to the interview cities is to determine if there is reasonably priced real estate within a half hour drive of the medical center. Also, given my recent safety scares (see Gun Shy) I am super concerned with living in a safe place. I drive around each city with a map and draw smiley faces over the neighborhoods that look safe and a frowny face over those that look dangerous (criteria for dangerous or crummy neighborhoods: Barbed wire, men wearing their pants below their behinds, payday loan stores, condemned homes).
2.) January through February we will be deciding on a ranking list for the hubs and I want to go. This is important for the match. Essentially, each residency program ranks who they want and the applicants rank where they want to go. A computer then "matches" the lists and places the applicants in residency programs. The somewhat stressful part here is that you have to sign a contract saying that you will go where you are matched. This means that while we have preferences, we ultimately do not have the final control over where we are going to be living for the next 4 years. To make it more complicated, we own a house. Because of this we are thinking about trying to do a 1+3 year program rather than a 4 year program. For a 4 year program the hubs will be doing anesthesia for all 4 years. For a 1+3 year program he will be doing medicine for 1 year and then anesthesia for the next 3 years. The nice thing about this option is that we can spend year 1 in our current hometown and then the next three years elsewhere. This would give us one full year of knowing where we will be moving, to sell our current house and to buy one in our new city.
3.) March - Match day!!! Match day occurs in March and is the day where 4th year medical students from all over the country discover where they are going to be matched for residency. This also means that this is the day where you find out where you will be living in just 2-3 months.
4.) June - Move to our new home, or stay in our current home, or...it's complicated. Like I said, we won't know until March what we will be doing.
There are many considerations that go into making this decision and they will all weigh in over the next few months. These include proximity to our families, the fact that we want to start our own family soon, moving to an east or west coast town where the cost of living is much higher or staying in the midwest where we will have a much easier time making ends meet, moving away from a city which we love, choosing the best research program where the hubs can easily transition into a fellowship, choosing a strong anesthesia residency program...so much to think about!
I will update as we continue this process!
FAQ:
Will he be a doctor after he graduates from medical school?
Yes, he will be a doctor. However, you have to do residency for further training in your specialty. You practice under a doctor called an attending (they have finished residency). He will be a doctor and he will be getting a paycheck (thank goodness!) but you are still considered a trainee during residency.
Is intern year a part of medical school or residency or something else?
Intern year is a part of residency. It is the first year of residency. For some specialties, like surgery or anesthesiology, they have an intern year so you can get a bit more exposure to general medicine. This will make you a better doctor in the end. This is why the hubs can do a 1+3 year residency program where we won't have to move our first year. The first year will be in medicine and the last 3 in anesthesia.
How long is residency?
It depends on a few factors. Many programs are 3 years long - Emergency medicine, family medicine... Some are 4, some 5. And then if you decide to do something like neurosurgery I'm pretty sure that residency never ends. :-)
What is the difference between an intern, a resident and an attending?
First you do medical school for four years. People sometimes get confused if the hubs has graduated or not because years 3 and 4 of medical school are clinical years where you do rotations in several specialties. This helps you to narrow down what specialty you want to do for residency. During the 4th year of medical school you apply to residency programs. Some of these programs include an intern year (the first year of residency - while you are a resident they refer to you as an intern...you don't get referred to as a resident until the second year after you graduate from medical school, the first year after intern year). After intern year you complete the rest of residency. When you finish residency you are an attending, with a big salary boost and the benefit of being able to practice on your own.
What are the boards?
The boards are standardized tests that you have to take along the way to becoming a doctor. Step 1 is the first board test that you take after your second year of medical school. At this point you are getting ready to start your clinical years of medical school. Step 2 is actually two tests: Clinical Skills and Clinical Knowledge. Clinical Skills is a test where you go in and talk to patients (actors that are acting out a specific disease or condition) and you get graded for that. Clinical knowledge is a written test, kind of like steps 1 and 3. Step 3 is a test that you take during residency.
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