The perks of being a 4th year

Two weeks into my AI on the pads wards and I find that I actually somewhat like being in the role of a resident. I don't mind being at the hospital long hours as long as I actually get to do something with most of my time, and the nice thing is, my residents are pretty good about giving me the leeway. I do my own H&P's, see my own patients, follow-up on cross-covers, check labs, make and give check-out...all things that I couldn't (or could only do in very limited fashion) last year. It's nice to feel that I actually have some legitimate responsibility, even if I can't actually sign anything yet. But even just knowing that my residents trust me to give them an exam or to write the check-out sheet without double-checking it is awesome and reaffirming.

I do have to admit though...perhaps the greatest sign that I'm being treated like a resident is that every time the pager goes off on our call days, I cringe just a little bit inside. Thankfully, yesterday we only admitted two patients on-call, and neither of them were to our hospitalist service (one an epileptic to the neuro team, the other a new diabetic to the endocrine team). So we sat around chilling out most of the day and eating cookies, which is my idea of an excellent call.

Speaking of excellent, I secured another letter of recommendation today, which brings the grand total up to 3 and makes my applications at list a little more complete. Now to take a picture that makes me look somewhat professional and hopefully not too "deer in the headlights on a passport" and we'll be set to go.