The Real Tales of an Intern Part 5

“Mum, I am home.” “How was your first call?” “Memorable mum, we’ll talk about it later. I have a zoom call now.” With that, Sam blew off her mum and went to her room. On her way from the movie theatre, she had been ‘concocting’ an effective way to avoid the conversation. The next thing was to make sure that zoom call happened. If things went according to plan, the call would last long enough for her mum to get busy with something else.

“Linda, what’s up? I have missed you.” “Sam, how are you? You look like hell.” “Yeah, I am post-call. I am sure I looked worse earlier. I went to see a movie. My call was bloody.” “Aren’t they all?” Linda was Sam’s classmate from med school. She was doing her internship at a Federal hospital on the west. “I doubt yours are as bloody as mine. Knife wounds and gunshot injuries were all over the place. Diabetic and hypertensive emergencies were too many to count. Then to top it up, I lost a patient, the worst feeling ever.” “If you go through a call without losing any of your patients, thank heavens.”

“Linda, it doesn’t get better, does it?” “Nope, it doesn’t. For starters, we are interns so we get to see every category of patient. Before you complain, the next you hear is ‘this is a learning phase for you. Apply yourself.’” They both echoed and burst out laughing. “Fabian said that to me this morning. He is the senior house officer I work with and God, he sounds like a medical officer sometimes.” “That’s because he has been there longer and has adapted.” They burst out laughing again. “He is far from being an ass though. He is supportive. If he wasn’t part of the team, things might have been more miserable for me. My supervising medical officer, on the other hand, is a slave driver.”

Sam narrated her first day in the outpatient. Linda listened intently. “That’s so different from my center. They would never let you see patients on your first day. You are the errand boy. You chase test results, make sure patient documents are complete. You ensure theatres are booked. In fact, your errands might extend to buying lunch for your supervisors.” Sam mused at Linda’s narrative. For once, she felt good doing her internship at her center. “Don’t be surprised if you start doing appendectomies after your surgical posting.” “For real?” Sam asked. “I hear people who do internships in state hospitals pick skills faster than people like us. What do you expect when part of our job list is buying lunch?”

“You know Fabian told me adult medicine is grim. He said that’s why people opted for community medicine, pediatrics, etc. Have you chosen a specialty?” “Sam, it’s too early for me. I doubt many people choose specialties at this point. We are too busy trying to wrap our minds around the whole process than choose specialties. I am sure some of us are wondering if we should remain doctors after the internship.” “That bad? My issue is I don’t think I can keep up with the mortalities.” “Maybe you should become a psychiatrist.” “We don’t have that rotation and I doubt I had adequate exposure in med school.” “You can do an optional rotation after the official internship.” Sam rolled her eyes at Linda. “Perhaps, if I still have enough mojo left.”

“Linda, can we do this again next week? It’s therapy.” “Do you want to add therapy sessions to my extensive job list now?” “Tell me you did not like this.” Sam pushed. “I did, was fooling around.” “Say hi to Chad for me.” “I thought you were going to call him after this.” “I am tired and I have work tomorrow. Need to save energy so no Chad today or anyone else.” “Ok then, ciao.” Sam lay on the bed for a while after the call. She was tired but also felt good. As she caught herself drifting to sleep, she got up, took off her clothes, and headed to the shower. Sam finished showering and was drying her hair when she heard a knock on the door. She heard her mum’s voice: “Sam, can I come in?”