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?
After spending four weeks on general surgery, I have come to the conclusion that the secret to staying awake is not to ensure enough sleep the night before, but to be constantly doing something so your brain doesn't dare to fall asleep... and prophylactically drinking coffee before you start feeling tired.
Anonymous Clerk, Western University
Editor's Note: OMSA does not support dependence on any substance, delicious or otherwise. Except for chocolate.
The CN Tower, mighty and tall, greeted me when I stepped off the ferry. The small town girl that I am was completely taken aback by the endless avenues, the towering skyscrapers, and the multilingual crowd. OMSW Toronto, the event that brought me to Ontario, already promised to be unique: hundreds of medical students from all across the province were to gather in downtown Toronto for a weekend.
"They probably had good reasons…"
"Most likely they thought that…"
"Based on the statistics…"
I wanted to talk a bit about something I have experienced as a patient and encountered in conversations with peers; the tendency to become apologists for the medical system at the first sign of criticism.
On Mon Oct 21, I arrived at the Kingston Airport, all set to board on my 18 seater Air Creebec flight to Moosonee Airport. The pilot himself gave us the intro talk and safety chat. Of all the travelling I have done in my life, this would be the smallest flight I would have taken. What does the interior of an 18-seater look like? The flight from Kingston to Moose Factory was ~2hrs. I enjoy daytime very much as I enjoy seeing the sunrise, clouds and the skies! (For those who know me,
Over the past weekend I had the opportunity to visit the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University for their annual "Book to Bedside" Internal Medicine symposium. Organized by McMaster medical students in their final year, this event provided a great combination of information about choosing Internal Medicine as a career, information about McMaster’s Internal Medicine residency programs, and hands-on, interactive workshops geared towards students in their last two years of medical school. As a third year medical student at Schulich
OMSA was mentioned on Oct 29, 2013 by the Hon. Deb Matthews in the Review of 2013-2014 Estimates for the MOHLTC. She and her Deputy Minister cited the concerns of Ontario medical students regarding specialty job shortages and they referenced the Health Force Ontario (HFO) projections of 2010 (available here) as evidence that the Ontario government is eager to facilitate a
I used to get so excited for the start of Daylight Savings Time. Similarly I would hate the end of it each fall.
Afterall, the addition of an extra hour to each day meant longer nights out with friends and warmer weather overall. And the shorter and darker days seemed to clamp down on fun like a frigid fist.
Surgery clerkship is amazing and I'm sad it's going so quickly. I think I'm experiencing gen surg withdrawal already and it just ended today. It's been the most fun month of med school so far!
Anonymous Clerk, Western University
Editor suggests: Thirteen-hour work day + sleep deprivation, once daily, prn for withdrawal symptoms