intern absurdity

I went to four years of medical school to tell people when they can eat. It's not rocket science. I'll even let you in on the secret so you don't have to go through the four years of hell, ahm I mean school, and $180,000 debt part. If a patient is farting and pooping it means his or her guts have woken up enough after surgery so that he or she can eat, hopefully without puking. That's it.

I am essentially a glorified secretary in a long white coat with MD on my name tag. I wander the hospital halls like a zombie, making phone calls, answering pages, writing notes, typing orders, dictating discharge summaries. I'm not really sure why they call it medicine because it's really only about 2.7% medicine, 97.3% crap. And I'm not so into the crap. I want to actually have to think. I want to apply the physiology I learned in school. I want to see it in action. I want to see that I've made a difference in someone's life. Thus far I have been so sleep-deprived and depressed that I don't think I've seen anything.

For those of you considering a medical career, consider this your fair warning...it's not what everyone on the outside thinks.