Orientation

I started orientation on Thursday, June 18th. The first day was the longest. i had to listen to several people throughout the day about all kinds of stuff. Plus listen to a 1.5 hour lecture on performing a newborn exam and other pediatric stuff. The cool thing is they give you a handbook that they made on peds. So it has everything you need and it's in alphabetical order. It tells you what to do and what labs to order. My day ended at 4pm which is pretty good.

The previous evening, there was a social where I met the interns, chiefs, and faculty at the program director's home. It was nice to meet them all and it turned out that I knew more interns that I originally had thought. There's 14 of us total. It turns out that I ran into some of them during interview season. It was funny that some of us were at the same interviews at different locations.

On Friday, it was more paperwork. But it was much more laid back because it was at Human Resources and we learned about different benefits the hospital offers. They have cell phone discounts. For example, if I have AT&T, I get 24% off my monthly bill. Pretty cool, huh? After much research with all the different discounts they offered through Verizon and Sprint and AT&T, I decided to stay with my parents family plan with T-mobile. It's only $12 per month for me to be added on that plan. I spent a lot of time researching all the smartphones and plans and ultimately decided to hold off on it for now. I don't want the iphone. I love the palm pre (but it's too new and lacks a lot of the software I need, but great operating system and multitask ability).

I also looked into gym membership. There's an awesome gym next door to the hospital and for employees, it's $28 per month. So I will be getting that. Everyday, they've been feeding us catered food for breakfast and lunch. As well as dessert and chocolates and snacks. So I will definitely need to hit the gym soon. But I can't really complain about the food. It's been awesome. - and remember, I'm a picky eater.

Friday evening was a social at a resident's home for just the residents. So I got to meet the 2nd and 3rd years and soon to be graduates from the program.

I then had the weekend off. But my weekend did not go without stress. Why? Because I had a PALS course starting on Monday and I didn't really prepare for it. I didn't think it would be coming so soon. So I read a little and worried a lot. Monday was BLS for child and infant followed by some advanced life support (ALS). They really want us to know BLS really well and pass it before proceeding to ALS. We had to perform CPR perfectly. I had to repeat infant CPR because I forgot to lift the infant's chin when I listened to it's airway for breathing. They even time you to make sure you listen between 5-10 seconds. If you listen for too short or too long, you have to get retested. The booklet came with the fold up card which abbreviated the steps on what to do with arrhythmias, shock, respiratory problems. I was getting really worried about Tuesday because that's when we are tested on the megacode which can be a combination of the 3. btw, this was not like ACLS at school. I found out that normally each person is individually tested to lead the megacode and must pass it. But we each got to lead a couple of practice scenarios which was good. I got nervous and would blank out on what to do. But each time I practiced, I got to more confident. They also said, you can only fail either the written or the megacode once and then you get a second chance. But you can't fail both. So I was really worried. I passed the written, but I did have to repeat the megacode. I forgot to check the rhythm on the monitor before starting CPR. Overall I passed. Yeah!!!

Today, Wednesday is OSCE day. They said there's no studying involved which is good. They just want to see how you do with simulated patients. I will be doing that this afternoon and the rest of the day I have off.