Why do I have to have a title?

Ok, so I feel like I should post again, but I don't feel like there's anything to talk about. My life has been comprised of a pretty much steady stream of car wrecks, knife stab wounds, and gun shots the last month and a half. The fact that I don't do drugs or alcohol makes me feel much safer. The fact that other folks do makes me feel much less safe.

One of the outgoing chiefs gave me the job of being the resident responsible for the medical students who do their surgery rotations here. I enjoy interacting with the medical students. The third year students haven't been jaded by the realities of medicine and therefore bring a fresh new perspective along with them. Its also really interesting to see how they each are different in their approach to the rotation.

For me personally, my surgery rotation as a medical student was a process of falling in love, but fighting it tooth and nail. Of the 165 medical students in my class, only 3 of us did surgery. At most medical schools, the number going into surgery is much higher. Our surgery program had the reputation of being "malignant." This basically meant that the attending surgeons were miserable and took it out on the residents. The residents in turn took it out on each other and the medical students. Hence, anyone who expressed an interest in doing surgery was thought to be slightly not right in the head. After briefly toying with the idea of doing pediatrics or ENT, I finally settled with what my heart was telling me to do. Every now and then you see a medical student come through and catch the surgery bug, so to speak. Fortunately, we are not a "malignant" surgery program, and a higher percentage of our students decide to do surgery.

I've found the best way to teach is through stories. There is nothing that will put students to sleep faster than asking them to recite lists or criteria. However, there is nothing like a story to perk them up. So therefore, instead of asking them to list Becks Triad (Jugular vein distension, Muffled heart sounds, and hypotension), you start with a story.

It might start out with a scenario such as Mr Jones presents to the ER following a knife stab wound to the left thorax after his girlfriend assaulted him. (As a side note, women tend to jab up with the knife, and therefore inflict worse injuries whereas men tend to jab down with the knife and don't cause injuries that are quite as bad.) Anyway, you let the medical student manage the theoretical patient. Inevitably the theoretical patient dies. You then backtrack to the critical decision and start over again from that point. Eventually they figure out how to save the patient. I've found they enjoy that method of teaching. I also find it moderately entertaining. So anyway, I'm looking forward to being the resident coordinator person for the medical students. Maybe I can even save some of them from monotonous careers in pediatrics (Just kidding Elam and Olivia. Really I am).