Signout is hospital slang for the transfer of information between patient care teams. It is also the name of this blog, which represents one of the less dysfunctional ways in which Dr. Signout copes with her participation in a U.S. medical residency program.
It's a very exciting week for residents all over the country. This Thursday, at exactly 12:00 EST, we find out who next year's chumps are--for this Thursday is Match Day.
It is a spectacle most powerful for the sheer simultaneousness of the reactions it elicits. The vindication for some, the crushing devastation of ego for others--I still shudder when I recall the faces in my medical school's big auditorium on Match Day. Words cannot express how happy I am to not have to sit in that sea of dread again, nearly sick to my stomach with hope.
It's a very different feeling, waiting to see the list of incoming interns. It reinforces my sense that this year is much closer to being over than it is to having started, and that before long, I'll be a senior resident. It will no longer be my responsibility to write twelve notes in the morning and to chase down information. Instead, it will be up to me to set the tone and the schedule for my team; to teach as much as I learn; and, bless it all, to think. I am already thrilled with the fresh-faced interns who will take our places next year--as much for their potential to be worthy colleagues as for the certainty that they will be the interns.
Suckers.
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As one of those incoming interns, my own perspective is one of unbridled glee.
"This is the springtime of my love, the second season I am to know." - Led Zeppelin, The Rain Song
Posted by: karrvakarela | March 13, 2007 5:36 PM
Blah blah blah poignent deep thoughts about death and dying and learning and all that important crap... A'friggin'men to this post!
Posted by: slander | March 14, 2007 4:25 AM
Psychologists get matched as well for their predoctoral internships. It is a VERY similar experience as yours, and I remember it well. It was horrible: the waiting, the cost, the interviews, the cost, the dread, you've got it. I got my first pick, and to this day I'm not really sure how. It is my understanding that almost all residents get matched somewhere; whereas, psychologists have a good chance of not getting matched to an APA program. Sigh.. I'm so glad to be done with all of that.
Posted by: K2 | March 16, 2007 7:04 PM
What's really scary, and I mean no disrespect to you, who I am sure will be a fine senior resident, is watching a group of interns who are plodding along nowhere near ready to be senior residents. There are a couple whom I know will do well, but I shudder to think of some of them being on call and being responsible for all that our seniors are responsible for. Children the world over...please do not get sick this July! That could go for adults, too, I suppose.
Hope you got a great crop of interns!
girlMD
Posted by: girlMD | March 18, 2007 8:00 PM