Today I signed off on my last chart as an M4. I carefully placed my last sutures in my last patient as a medical student. I helped cardiovert a gentleman in SVT. I reduced a Colle's fracture. I spoke to a patient about their depression. I got the chance to ultrasound a woman to alleviate some stress regarding her pregnancy. I wrote and explained, created plans, followed up on my own patients, and laughed with my colleagues about how fast the past 16 months have gone.
The first thing to know about Labour & Delivery is that there is no guarantee of when a child will be born.
When I step onto the ward for my first L&D observership, I am greeted by the sounds of howling mothers and mewling infants. Twenty minutes early and two births in process. Beginner’s luck, it would seem. I rush to switch from street clothes to scrubs.
Ten minutes later and it’s ten minutes too late.
Older physicians humor us with war stories of the infamous 48-hour call shifts, burnout as a casual by-product of being a physician, and the unbridled sentiment that our generation values lifestyle above all. In the last decade, there has been a cultural shift promoting the ideology of physician, heal thyself. But where do we as medical students fit into this paradigm?