A THIRD-YEAR MEDICAL STUDENT BLOG: THE TRANSITION FROM THE CLASSROOM TO THE WARDS
NOTE: This blog will respect patient privacy by not featuing names or extensive details.
5/24 - The thirteenth floor of Long is incredible. For those of you who don't know, it's completely re-modeled. Every patient room has a gigantic (50 inch?) plasma TV, and the sinks are hotel quality (I think that they're marble). I wonder who paid for all this (a generous donor?).
5/21 - If you eat at Moffitt Cafeteria and are a student, don't forget to ask for the discount! I didn't realize one existed until recently. I must recommend the breakfast burrito - even if you have to skip lunch (i.e., you're in the OR or are doing things on the floor), the breakfast burrito seems hearty enough to carry you through for quite a while.
5/17 - I have been continually amazed at the selfless dedication of the healthcare providers at UCSF. When things get super busy, many people here simply don't eat (it's not that they merely delay their lunch - it's not unusual at all for some people to forgo food from sunrise to sunset).
5/16 - Cool things I have seen in the last month (partial list): a liver being procured from a donor, a liver transplant, surgical repair of an imperforate anus, a laparascopic appendectomy, and radiofrequency ablation of a liver tumor.
5/14 - I'd like to highlight something touching I saw recently.
A little boy was gravely ill and was, needless to say, in significant pain. But when the physicians went to examine him, all he wanted to do was show off his loose tooth, which he proudly demonstrated for all to see, smiling all the while and seemingly unaware of the gravity of his situation.
5/10 - I absolutely love third-year so far. It's been extremely challenging to transition to the wards, but I feel excited and energized now that we're putting all our "book knowledge" to work. The opportunity to work with real patients and learn from experienced clinicians has been quite a privilege.