Island Med Student

I really hope you get the reference to the title of this post, and the photo above (Bindi + Kendra hands).

Internal medicine is going okay so far, but it’s so very slow compared to surgery. The longest days are 12 hours, and we have no night calls. There is no “Group D” to bring me joy. We do virtually zero work, as we are no longer slaves to our residents. We are merely there to learn, and not to do the work of the residents, which means it’s a heck of a lot easier and less stressful. Oddly enough, I miss that stress, though. Maybe I just miss being needed.

Anyway, the other night, a bunch of my Group D folks got together at Life Cafe in Brooklyn for dinner and drinks. T’was just splendid to see all my peeps again. I miss you Group D!

Click Here to View the New Pics (at the bottom)

A few weeks ago, I had an experience that has really stuck in my head. The resident and I were performing a painful procedure on a patient, and I could tell that he was really enduring a lot of pain by the grimace on his face. As I’ve done in the past, I instinctively reached out my hand and held his hand in mine. I allowed him to grip my fingers, and told him to squeeze my hand as hard as he needed to.

He started squeezing my fingers, and suddenly his face turned from a grimace to a smile. The change was rather startling, and so I jokingly told him that I’d never seen a patient with such a huge grin on their face while undergoing such a painful procedure. He smiled even more and said that it was because he was so happy to hold such a “pretty girl’s” hand. I smiled back, and soon the procedure was over.

I think it probably makes common sense that hand holding might bring some relief from pain. We all reflexively hold a child’s hand when they’re in pain. And I believe that even the most callous people might agree that there is something powerful about the human touch. Hugs are an even better example. I don’t know when the hug was invented, but I’m sure that it’s been around for quite some time. People of all races, ethnicities, and cultures seem to use the hug as a means of displaying affection. And while certain cultures might value human touch to varying degrees, I think we all agree on its significance.

One of the most well known studies on the power of touch and the importance of physical and social interaction is that of Harry Harlow. In his famous experiments, he allowed rhesus monkeys to choose either a cloth or wire “surrogate mother,” both with and without a bottle of milk attached. Regardless of which mother had the bottle, the monkeys continued to choose the softer, cloth mothers. He also performed other controversial experiments, including ones where he deprived the monkeys of all physical or social interaction. The lack of physical touch produced monkeys with severe psychological pathologies, and in a few cases led to their deaths from self-induced starvation.

A study recently published in the journal Science also found some interesting results with regard to “warm hands and a warm heart.” The researchers found that if people were given something warm to hold, they subsequently described other people as having “warmer” personality traits, such as being more generous, more social, happier, and better natured. They also discovered that people who held something warm were more likely to behave in a friendly and generous way.

I’ve only begun to scratch the surface of the importance of the human touch, but you can see that the subject is much more than simply skin deep (pun intended). I tried to find some research that supports my anecdotal notion that holding someone’s hand who is in pain can serve to decrease their perception of the pain, but I was unable to find much research on this topic. Perhaps it’s a topic that will be further explored in the future.

But for the time being, I will continue to hold my patients’ hands. Whether they are in pain, or just very sad, or just very lonely, or even just very happy, I will continue to offer my hands to them. And hopefully when I need a hand to hold, someone will do the same for me.

Click Here To View the Original Post on Medscape

I love you all. More pics and videos to follow. I have so much to say.

But for now. Goodbye. Surgery is over. Goodbye, Group D Surgery. And cheers!

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A few months ago, I received a phone call that I’ll never forget. An obviously distressed friend and fellow med student was on the line. In between the sounds of sobbing, she related to me the most unbelievable truth. Another friend and fellow medical student was dead. He had committed suicide the night before. I nearly dropped my phone. I was, of course, in complete shock and didn’t understand what was happening. Time has passed since then, but the shock has still not faded. I can’t believe he’s gone.

Unfortunately, my experience is not all that unique. Many studies have documented the fact that medical students have higher rates of suicide than that of the general population. And guess what profession has the highest rate of suicide? You guessed it, physicians.

We have known for many years that medical students and physicians have higher rates of suicide. Studies have shown that psychiatrists, anesthesiologists, and emergency physicians, in particular, have the highest of all physician suicide rates. It’s been posited that this is because these fields involve incredibly high levels of stress, and access to drugs of abuse. For years, researchers have documented that depression combined with drug or alcohol addiction contributes to the likelihood that someone will commit suicide. And perhaps not surprisingly, the rates of depression and drug or alcohol abuse have also been found to be high amongst medical students and physicians.

A study recently published in the Annals of Internal Medicine has started to shine some much needed light on one of the variables involved with med student suicide. The authors found that one factor, in particular, was linked to the probability of a med student committing suicide. And guess what that factor was? Burnout. Should we be surprised?

I wrote an article last month that expressed my own feelings of burnout, and questioned whether or not torturing medical students was a valid method of education. I’ve since had even more time to reflect on these thoughts. I’ve also spent a good deal of time thinking about the death of my friend, and the factors that might have contributed to him making the choice he did.

Can I say that the pressures of medical school absolutely led to his death? Definitely not. But do I believe that the unbelievable amount of stress and pressure to do well in school contributed to his choice? Yes, I think I do.

Just today, I sat in an open discussion at my hospital, led by a senior physician. One student spoke up and complained about the fact that some residents and attendings had been very mean to him at times. He also mentioned the long hours, and the sometimes belittling treatment that med students receive. The physician’s response? That’s just the way it is. That’s what he himself had to deal with to make it through medical school many years ago. And he said that when that student eventually becomes a resident or attending physician, he will also treat medical students the same way.

So, are we to believe that this is all simply a fact of life? Is this just the way it has to be? Is the stress simply inevitable? Are the resultant deaths also simply inevitable? Must this cycle of abuse continue, similar to the cycle of abuse in families?

I’m sorry, but I refuse to accept this as truth.

Click Here To View the Original Post on Medscape

I learned some cool stuff today.

My favorite thing learned from morning lecture is a quote from the our attending: “If they ain’t peeing when they go into the operating room, they sure as hell won’t be peeing when they come out!”

I also learned how to remove staples from a post-op wound.

Also, I learned (again) the power of hand holding. I think I’ll write a longer post another day, but the gist is this. Today, I held the hand of a patient as he underwent a painful procedure. I let him squeeze my hand as he endured the pain. I could tell it made a huge difference, and he even smiled, commenting on my “pretty face.” NEVER EVER EVER underestimate the power of a hand to hold and a friendly smile. Seriously, never.

Group D Surgery!

On Halloween day, my Surgery Group D entered a hospital wide pumpkin carving/decorating contest. We were assigned to the OR for the day, but since there weren’t many operations going on, we were able to devote most of our time to carving and decorating the pumpkin (you know, important medical stuff). We eventually decided on carving a skull into the pumpkin, and then decorating it like it was a surgeon. I served as the artistic director, Asema did most of the drawing and a lot of the carving, Midori helped with the fine details, Bindi carved as well, Katrina helped to carve and to hold, Thao assisted with holding and cleaning it up, Samira performed the VERY important duty of providing a name and awesome voice to Mr./Surgeon Pumpkin Head, and everyone else pitched in by helping to find the supplies and giving moral support. The finished product was very awesome, and we were all quite pleased.

Before taking “Mr./Surgeon Pumpkin Head” to the cafeteria, we decided to tour the hospital. We all put on witches hats and had a blast running around the hospital and giving out candy. We toured the peds floor, and accidentally made one kid cry! Farrah also decided to scare people in her scary mask, including jumping out from behind the soda machines!

We entered the contest, and then awaited the results of the judging quite anxiously. After waiting all day long, they finally announced the winners at the end of the day. Third place was called, second place was called, and finally, first place….Group D Surgery! Apparently, we upset a 6 year winning streak by another department.

After the contest, some of us went to a nearby bar and celebrated our new title and celebrity status with some yummy beverages. A good time was had by all.

I left out many of the details of this story, but the point is this: yesterday was one of the BEST halloweens I’ve ever had, and it was all because of a pumpkin carving contest, and one helluva awesome group of friends.

Click Here to View the 5 Million Pics (most of them compliments of Midori)

Last night, I hung out with my Group D surgery folks at a nearby bar. We all had a blast.

In other news, today I entered our group in a hospital wide pumpkin carving contest. I wrote down my name, and the cafeteria gave me a pumpkin to use. The battle is on!

Is is just me, or are Scope and me the cutest couple that ever existed? There is nothing like coming home after a long day, and having the very cutest ball of fur waiting for you, wanting to lick you, wanting to cuddle. He makes everything okay.

Today I learned not to count your chickens before they hatch. I’ll write a longer post later, but the gist is that we were sure a patient had stage IV cancer, and we would have to tell her that she only had 6 months left to live. But then the frozen sections came back, and it turned out to be completely benign. Sometimes, it does turn out other than what you expect, which is why expectations can suck.

Also, I got yelled at by a doctor for talking to my patient. More on this to come. But, seriously? So, instead of listening to him, I came back later, and again talked to my patient. Screw him. Patients need to hear a human voice, and feel a human touch. I don’t care what any doctor says.

The other day, Midori needed some blood drawn, so I volunteered. Two sticks and a lot of blood later, I had her blood in a vial. Yes, if I can’t get blood from Midori’s incredible veins, I definitely need practice!

In other news, Midori has incredibly small feet and Baby Boy has incredibly large ones.

Stuff learned today? I think not a damn thing, at least not about surgery.

Yesterday, Bindi and I had to give a presentation on Step 3 orthopedic surgery questions. I think the orthopedic surgeon didn’t think our questions were very good, but oh well! We took them from Kaplan, so who knows. But my idea of making it a contest and giving out silly prizes seemed to work pretty well. I’m just glad to have it over with!

Click Here to See the Pics (crappy quality, b/c low light…scroll to the bottom to see them.)