Where there is an end, there is always a beginning

The tents have gone up. Receptions have occurred. Graduation for the seniors has come and gone. We are 3 days away from leaving our posts as interns and moving on to becoming residents.  There are a group of 65 people waiting to take our jobs and we have been given the task of telling them what to expect.

We are finding our assignment more arduous than previously anticipated. The thought of describing this year in a neat package seems as onerous as preparing to walk on the moon. There are the moments of darkness – endless lists, pages every 15 seconds, the perpetual sprint from one triage to another, feeling that the world is a check box, and the nights where sleep is elusive.  There are also the moments of light - tending to a patient in the middle of a night who thanks you for caring.

Sometimes the joy of our job is helping someone to die with grace and kindness. Sometimes the joy of our job is running to a code blue and resuscitating a person near death. Sometimes the joy of our job is learning from people who love medicine. Our writing has augmented our joy. Our patients are our role models. They teach us the most every day, and when we get a brief moment to write a story about one or two who have touched our lives, we are merely reflecting back that which they have given us.

As of July 1^st we will be residents – we will run a team, teach new interns, and most importantly be one step closer to being where the buck stops.  Fear and glee are intertwined when we think about our new lives. But we plan on remaining true to our writing – we will continue this blog, still calling it Intern’s Diary – as that is where the idea was conceived. We plan on telling more stories of our lives on the front lines of care – both nationally and, for a brief month, internationally.  We also hope to be publishing in other venues as we have in the past. Keep checking us out and we’ll keep you posted.

Thank you for sharing this year with us.  It has been an incredible journey – and there is much more to come.

Share your comments8:12:57 PM