The tortoise and the unicorn

I really didn't expect to feel the way I'm feeling about being an intern. With the first week over and the realisation that it's actually going to be a very manageable job for the time being, I've started to let go of many of my insecurities and simply enjoy the realities of my job.

Today I gave my first lecture as a doctor to a good turn out of Griffith and Bond medical students and I thought it went really well. I had a terrific case study to use and even got a call from pathology part way through to notify me of a blood test result that was relevant to the case! To really good effect too, since I was trying to make the point about how important the topic is for an intern. Anyone who knows me well will know I've been looking forward to taking on teaching roles for a long time and being able to do that and leave on time is pretty exciting for me. I'm hoping to turn it into a regular event and maybe achieve conjoint positions with both of the universities this year.

This Friday is my first overtime shift without a buddy but the closer it gets the more confident I'm feeling. I really thought the crippling insecurity would last a long time but now I'm more worried about how quickly it's passing and yet I have sick patients on my list, the medical registrars will attest to Tweed Heads having very sick patients, I'm not yet worried about my education being at risk because my job isn't hard enough. The discharge summaries don't take so long anymore, I seem to only have third and fourth thoughts about my decisions instead of ninth and tenth and I still haven't had to do anything I didn't feel capable of. I feel like this blog might be more interesting if there was scarier stuff to write about but there just isn't. I've put in all my documents to start a Masters of Medicine (Clinical Epidemiology) this year and I see no reason why I should have any trouble completing it.

Turns out internship doesn't have to be that bad after all.