#460

Sunday night was my last scheduled clinical shift as a medical student. It went fairly well - inserted an IV successfully on the first try, removed a "foreign body" from an ear canal, threw in a couple of stitches, incised and drained a boil, molded a stirrup splint. All in all a good, busy, productive night.

Today, I washed my short white coat for what is hopefully the last time. I don't think I'll miss this one, even though it's beginning was rather auspicious. It's actually my second short coat - I had to buy a new one after spilling an entire tray of chicken juice all over myself on my first day of my neurology clerkship. (That was a fun shift, walking around smelling like garlic. At least I could tell if my patients' first cranial nerve was intact.) I remember getting my first white coat on my fifth day of medical school. My parents were there for the White Coat Ceremony (Tom was away at a scientific conference), and I was shocked to find myself misty eyed as I waited for them to call me to the stage to slip on my new saddle bags. (Sometimes your coat is so heavy it looks like saddle bags.)

Ever wanted something so badly in your life you gave up everything to get it? And then you did? I'm assuming I'll be similarly misty eyed at graduation, although at this point they don't give you your first long coat; that's up to your residency program, and I submitted my name embroidery request today. I think the emotional point will be taking the Hippocratic Oath (love it or hate it) for the first time as an official (albeit unlicensed) physician. At least, I hope I get misty eyed. And maybe if it's sunny (it always rains on important days in my life), I can wear a white dress again...But then everyone will ask me what kind of a nurse I am going to be. Nurses make the world go round, for sure, but it's amazing how many people ask you what kind of nurse you are going to be even when you're in your short white coat and clearly rounding with the physician team. Such is life as a woman in medicine.

I turned in my pager today, too, in anticipation of one that actually beeps next year. Oh, and the $60 refund of a rental fee as we desperately need money.

If I have one piece of enduring advice for future medical students, it is this: even though you have negative dollars, try to save a little money every month. Your big worry is going to be residency application fees, but you're going to need money for moving when you actually find a residency position. Trust me, it's brutal.