A Couple Weeks In...

Well, still at it - doing the whole doctor thing.  It's fun, though I still gotta say I like clinic the most.  Clinic is where I see myself practicing most of the time.  Right now, though, I've got another week of Emergency left.  It's fun, it's interesting - a fair few procedures and such.  Only thing about it though is it's all very short term - essentially putting a bandage on someone's problem.  I would find that very demoralizing after a while.  I guess it has the same appeal as surgery - there's a problem, and you fix what you see in front of you.  Maybe it was my education at an osteopathic school, but I just don't see the appeal.  Or at least it doesn't really feel like being a 'doctor.'  You don't even get to do elaborate labs when you have an interesting case - it's just 'not our problem, they'll work that up later.'  The lifestyle is somewhat appealing, a few long shifts then a few days off, but still - doesn't have the same appeal in terms of feeling fulfilled.  

Right now trying to figure out what I should focus on learning on my own - there's so much stuff to learn more about, and it's hard to know what to focus on.  

Also enjoying being employed - getting paychecks is great.  Once I get used to the schedule of how things work I'll feel better about everything and a little less stressed - scheduling in enough sleep is the biggest challenge.  I want to get more out of my day when I've been gone a long time, and end up cutting into sleep.  Almost August...my how time flies.  Well, I think I'll try to read up on one medical topic and one medication each day.  Or every other day.  Whichever I can accomplish.  I'd really like to at least know what receptors everything acts upon - some of them I know but some I just memorized what you use them for.  The nuances count the most...

As far as my crusade against poor management of mental health in outpatient medicine, I'm still not backing down.  Still using my PHQ-9s, documenting them, discussing it with patients... it would be really hard to manage some patients if I were limited by time the way the real doctors are.  I'm given a lot of time to see patients and hear their stories, and I'm really thankful for that.  It'll be a challenge in the future when I have to boil down a 45 minute psychiatric visit into a 15-20 minute visit that includes their other problems.  Gotta pick the battles where you can...