Psyched up or psyched out?

Ok, so I really haven't been good about posting here...I really need to make a better effort to do that.  If I was able to post every night during Ob-Gyn (when I was getting up at 0330 to make it to work by 0430), I should be able to pull it off easily during rotations where I don't have to be in till 8.  I'll work on it.

Anyway, first day of psych today.  Yikes.  This could be a long few weeks.  On the plus side, at least it's not a toxic environment with the moral and ethical challenges presented by Ob-Gyn, and that's definitely something to be thankful for (seriously, that's something that every rotation from now till the end of med school has going for it -- it's not Ob-Gyn).  There are, however, serious flaws in the system.  For example, we have OSCEs (Observed Standardized Clinical Exams, a sort of dry run / preparatory mechanism for Step 2 of national boards) tomorrow.  Yeah, on the second day of the clerkship.  I might even have seen one whole psych patient by then.  Yep, it'll be a great learning experience because clearly it's not something you need to be trained to do or anything.  Even better, from the sounds of things we basically spend our first week and a half shadowing our residents.  Don't get me wrong, shadowing is great for an MS1 or 2, or maybe even a brand new MS3.  But we're closing in on our eighth month on the wards.  We have a clue.  We don't need to stand like the useless statues we were today -- four of us watched a medical student who's been on the rotation for a few weeks already interview a consult patient as the attending looked on and evaluated said student (no, that wasn't awkward at all or anything...).  We are perfectly capable of seeing patients, and we learn best by doing.  Trust me, since the residents and attendings will need to see the patients anyway, just accelerate the learning curve by throwing us in there (on consults, anyway; I might feel differently were I on an inpatient psych service).  There are other sources of frustration, but those are the big ones for the moment.

However, it's not all bad.  The course director is a terrific individual who cares deeply about medical student education and about the clerkship, and I think he'll do everything in his power to make this as positive an experience as possible.  Then, too, it will be a useful learning experience figuring out how to diagnose psych issues in patients with other underlying medical conditions that may be masking psych symptoms, even if these patients are adults (aw, I wanna be back at Children's...oh well).  So it could be a useful month, but it may be less than overwhelmingly appealing at times.

Regardless, just a couple of days till Thanksgiving...my first stretch of four days off since April.  And then just a few more weeks till Christmas break...Hallelujah!  So there are a few things to look forward to :-)  (Not to mention a second stunning Patriots victory in a row...go Pats!)

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well...till next time, peace and God bless!