Wes reminded me the other day how important it is not to get sick in the summer. This, despite the fact that last summer, I spent a day in the ED and OU with my infamous kidney stones. Of course, I had something going for me that offset the problem of visiting a teaching hospital in the summer.
If you were to become seriously ill in Chicago right now and go to a teaching hospital, here is who you would have taking care of you in the MICU (medical intensive care unit):
1 brand new 3rd year medical student who has never actually taken care of a live patient
1 brand new 1st year ED resident who just became a doctor about three weeks ago
1 brand new 2nd year resident who has only done this once and now is supposed to supervise the two below
1 brand new 3rd year ED resident who is overstressed and sleep-deprived because he's trying to teach the three below and, because he is dutiful, also trying to make sure he 1) doesn't let the patient die, and 2) doesn't make the three below have as agonizing an experience as he did (this is Wes)
and possibly 1 brand new 3rd year internal medicine resident who, despite being as senior as the 3rd year ED resident, has only spent one or two months in the ICU because s/he has been doing internal medicine for the first two years in a clinic
Maybe, perhaps, an attending will round now and then. You can see why being in the hospital right now possibly isn't the best timing. What saved me? First, when I went in it was the morning of conference in Evanston, which meant all the residents, both new and old, were not in the hospital and their absences were replaced with attendings, and second, I am one of those resident's wife. A medical student saw me initially, but when Wes came up in conversation, an attending quickly materialized. Nepotism has its benefits sometimes.
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