<p>Hi, guys, I found the SDN site (first time in), but in which how I can find the list of the med school secondary essay topics of last year? Can someone give me a direction? Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Iirc, it is under āspecific school threadsā. Takes it from start to finish in the app cycle.</p>
<p>Well, itās done and we are all very, very happy.</p>
<p>DDās now officially engaged to her own brand new surgeon and they close on their townhouse tomorrow (she wonāt actually live there full time for a year or so, though, till she finishes up her PhD and they get married). He will be moving to start his residency soon, but they will handle the distance fine, I think. he will of course be very, very busy and she will as well, working in lab and planning their wedding. :)</p>
<p>So, all the stresses leading up to match day are toughā¦no doubt about it. But even if you donāt get your first choice, things have a way of working out!</p>
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<p>Abandon hope, all ye who enter there (SDN)</p>
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<p>ā¦ No seriously, take most things on that site with a grain of salt, and avoid it completely if possible</p>
<p>Mazal tov !!! to Churchmusicmom, her daughter and her future son-in-law.</p>
<p>One of my friends whose daughter and her SO were in a similar situation thought it was actually good not to be together all the time at the beginning of medical residency because it is so stressfulāthe theory being that it is in some ways good to be able to come home to decompress without the need to ābe niceā on a daily basisāand that having the SO coming on weekends, etc. is good because it is something to look forward to.</p>
<p>Yeah, I think this year to come will be a good one for them, though I know they will miss each other. But I think it will, in the long run, make the time they DO have togetherāwhich of course will always be at a bit of a premium, since he is going to be a surgeonāeven more precious and appreciated.</p>
<p>And thank you for the good wishes!</p>
<p>Adding my Congratulations! to your daughter, her DF, and your family. I can tell you that my Dās friends on the surgeon path have had very little time for a personal life during their residency years. D actually has a little time off this month and is looking forward to finishing her first year of residency. Wow, this year went fast. Again, I am very happy for your D and your family. :)</p>
<p>THanks, HRH19. I will let everyone know how things go once DDās DF (howās that for being cryptic with the abbreviations?? 
) is well and truly into his residency. We had dinner with DD and the DF and his parents last nightā¦and, as the DFās dad said, āand now finally we can all talk about the giant elephant that was in the room (all of us knowing they were going to be engaged soon, but were not yet) last time we were together!ā (which was Motherās Day). They (the DFās parents) went on to say very lovely things about DD and how thankful they are, etc, etc and we pretty much said the same kind of embarrassing stuff about the DF. all around, it was a great opportunity for DD and her DF to get accustomed to being the embarrassed center of attention during wedding festivities. </p>
<p>Sad thing is, we probably wonāt really see the DF nearly as much moving forward, because he is moving out to his new residency city (Charlotte, NC) this week. We are planning a trip at the end of the month, though, so my DH can help him get some wires run and such for TVās and that sort of thing. And DD, of course, will be going there pretty much weekly.</p>
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Ah, she will soon find out interns have no weekendsā¦just another work day or a day to catch up on sleep.</p>
<p>Oh, she knows about the no weekends thing. His program does not have any overnight call for interns, so thereās that. Plus I think she wants to make sure he has food and such. And she will at least get to see him when he gets home. </p>
<p>I imagine she wonāt go every single weekend eventually, but who knows? I know one thing she does want to do is visit churches and find one they both can attend eventually. She wants to help him feel more settled, and to make connections for herself as well.</p>
<p>Well, I thought Iād post an update. </p>
<p>DDās Doctor-Fianceā (DF) is into his second month of general surgery residency. Itās HARD. This is a bright, caring young man who has wanted to be a surgeon since he was a small child, and yet now I think he may be questioning that. Hopefully he is just going through a rough patch, still trying to get adjusted (heās in his second week of surgical oncologyā¦very tough), but DD is very worried about him. Heās quite stressed and seemed very discouraged when we got to see him for the first time this past weekend. </p>
<p>Yāall, residency is HARD. Surgical residency apparently is VERY HARD. Of course he knew that going in, but the reality is even starker. </p>
<p>When you do a search for articles about this, there is not much encouragement out there. Even with the new rules about how much time interns and residents can be required to work, the attrition rate is crazy. And the comments from the āold guardā people who went through the brutal training that existed before these new rules were put in place!! Comments likening surgeons to the āmarines of medicineā; if you canāt take it, get out; saying the new crop of surgeons is going to be a bunch of āsissiesā (not the word they used); etc. Lordy, if that is the attitude out there, no wonder my future son-in-law feels discouraged! </p>
<p>So any advice, encouragement, wisdom out there? I told DD that I thought DF should talk to the program head who has, in the past, seemed very supportive. Heās afraid, though, that the guy will just say āsuck it upā because he does not really have a āconcreteā complaint. I would think, though, that these programs would be trying to do all they could to retain their residents. This is a great, brilliant, conscientious and compassionate guyā¦ heās certainly the kind of surgeon Iād choose to operate on ME or my loved one! Not some jerk who does not really give a flip, which is, I guess, the traditional surgeon model. </p>
<p>In other news, the wedding planning is going well, and the only time I really saw him brighten up this weekend was when we were discussing that.</p>
<p>Yep, residency is absolutely hard - the responsibility of a doctor, the skills needed, the knowledge needed, the stamina needed - all are intense and most every successful doctor has had to suffer and conquer this part of training. Thank a doctor today!</p>
<p>A couple months in is still very new - D (and your extended family) need to give him lots of space and support - when he asks for it or indicates it. Do not badger or coddle him - it is his battle to fight. Med school and residency is a lifestyle. You live it, sleep it and breathe it.<br>
(FYI, I work in med school academics)</p>
<p>They cannot spend their time trying to retain residents - these are the people who will be responsible for quality of health for people. Residents have to persevere and rise to the challenge (work load). Your DFās seems to have a lot of good qualities - now is time to add to that list by becoming an even stronger doctor in other aspects. </p>
<p>I think your ātraditional surgeon modelā is a bit flawed! Why would surgeons not give a flip??? Bedside manner is not necessarily related to skills in the operating room.</p>
<p>It is still very early, as abasket said. When Dr. Son in Law was 1st year anesthesia resident, we had 2 of his fellow residents over for Thanksgiving since they didnāt have enough time off to go home. One was surgical and he barely knew which end was up. First year is a *****. He made it through, though. Each year goes a little more smoothly. First year fellowship for my son in law reverted pretty much back to the horror of 1st year residency in terms of hours and demands on you, though.</p>
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<p>Forgive me. I did not mean to offend. However, what I personally have encountered and meant to say is that, in my experience, surgeons often donāt seem to care about relating to people (patients) as individuals. I know they are pushed for time, I know their skill set is in demand, etc, etc. But the DF is seeing examples of bitter, negative and ānot very niceā individuals farther ahead in the training and he does not want to see himself in that way down the road, i think. </p>
<p>I am not looking to badger or coddle him. Just trying to vent a bit here and to see if there are resources that he can take advantage of. </p>
<p>Maybe I am looking in the wrong place.</p>
<p>Residency is very hard with the first year being the worse in most residencies. But it is very important that the students of medicine persevere through the early period to enjoy the benefits of their chosen profession. The fact is that from time to time, real life medicine can be challenged by poor patient outcome, financial issues, all while there may be personal stress. The new physicians of today are experiencing difficulties with adjusting to these realities of private practice. IMHO, the change in residency work rules are responsible. I had 1 year of training under the old rules. I hated it! But after 6 months of adjusting, I could handle any patient scenario that was presented to me. Within a year, I realized that the new residents could not. But what happens now in private practice when patients need more than 24 hours of direct attention, or the demands of the practice exceeds 80 hours, or the physician has to deal with divorce while practicing? A lot of the new physicians have not been able to handle these challenges because the expectations have been fixed hours of practice. </p>
<p>I am not advocating for a return to old way, it was horrible then. But there needs to be rotations or even a limited period of time that residents are challenged to provide care under realistic scenarios. Would you like your doctor to clock out during the most critical period of your care? Iāve canceled vacations and trips to take care of patients. Iāve missed important family events to take care of patients. Those patients wanted me to manage their illness not my relief.</p>
<p>Tell your family member (resident) to dig deep inside and push through these moments. They will overcome this period and will be much better physicians at the end of residency. But be prepared for thr potential to deal with this kind of stresd in thr future.</p>
<p>Your DF likely knows the people he can go to for support in his training - some of his fellow residents will be the best people - peas in a pod so to speak! </p>
<p>Your D may make friends with some of the other residents wives, girlfriends, etc. - they can be support for her in understanding the process and the stress. </p>
<p>I didnāt mean to infer that you were badgering or coddling him - sorry if it sounded that way - my point being, that those caring characteristics you speak of of his, may right now be battling with the need to develop a tougher skin, to endure the long strenuous hours, etc. - time and hours in the med setting will hopefully get him through this month by month - two months is nothing in terms of learning routines, protocol, procedures etc. of a medical unit. Letās hope in a few more months heās feeling a better handle on things and that that will pass down onto your D and your family!</p>
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<p>I think that is very much the battle he is fighting. Also, the first two rotations he has done (including his present one) have each been, I gather, āunusualā ones in his program in that they EACH have a different computer set-up, different ways of doing things, etc. Not at all the typical unit that they were told about even in their āorientationā period. So heās not even had the two monthās to get adjusted to how things are done. He DID start to feel better about his first rotation about half way through it, so hopefully that will be the case for this one as well.</p>
<p>He will figure this out, I know. He is no stranger to hard work and does not have a problem with that. He fully expected the long hoursā¦he takes it on himself to get in even earlier than he has to in order to be fully prepared, etc. I am thinking and hoping, for his sake, that the distress he was feeling this past weekend was just a combination of fatigue, being sad at leaving his fianceā again, and the stresses of adjusting to this new life of his. </p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback, everyone.</p>
<p>Reviving this threadā¦things are starting up again and I know there are some out there with 4th year med students who are currently applying for the Match.</p>
<p>I will share our situation: any who jumped in to this thread this past year may recall that my future Son in Law matched into a general surgery residency last Spring. The āangstā came into play because he and our daughter (who is working on her PhD in neuroscience and cannot relocate at this time) are engaged to be married in a few months. </p>
<p>Though he will finish out this first intern year, he has decided to switch specialities (to anesthesia) and has reapplied for the Match. So, here we go again! Good news: his current program director is very supportive, though very sorry to loose him. Our future son-in-law is changing because he realizes that being a surgeon will not fit with the sort of family-oriented lifestyle he desires. Plus (and this he did not share with the program director), though the attending physicians and upper level residents in his program are nice outside the hospital, within that setting they are, well, not. And he does not want to become them. </p>
<p>Any way, I am proud of him for going ahead and making the switch now. He plans, I think, to only apply to the med school where our daughter is working on her PhD. What they call a āsuicide matchā. If he does not get matched this time around, he may apply for the MPH program and try again next year when his (by then) wife can (hopefully) move with him, if necessary. </p>
<p>The irony in all this is that Match Day 2014 (since the traditional March 15th date falls on a Saturday this year) is THE DAY BEFORE THEIR WEDDING. :eek:</p>
<p>Our Dr. D is in month 5 of her 4 year Med-Peds residency. 1st 3 months were various peds rotations. Current 3 months are IM rotations. She is currently in an IM/ICU rotation and the hours are a strain. Tired all the time from the long hours, but persevering. Seems to be up and down depending on the day, so itās lots of encouragement from us.</p>
<p>Glad she is persevering, UMDAD. And that she has found her place.</p>