Help me lobby the mods to approve my auto-removed post. How incredibly annoying

Test: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ciuhqvzs1b6olb4xnizfy/MGH-Housestaff-Manual-2024-2025.pdf?rlkey=hazf90wlhl9ygjlhw29ajmd6l&e=1&st=przhdhdv&dl=0

Besides the obvious dignity, autonomy, sleep, and self respect:

My favorite travel coffee mug (>10yrs use) - maybe somewhere in MRI

Nintendo switch charger

Stethoscope - although I found a suspiciously similar one and decided it was mine.

What have you lost that still bothers you?

So, I’ve always wanted to take 6 months to a year off to eat-pray-love around the world. However, this career happened to me and all of the sudden I found myself stuck on the railroad track. Has anyone heard of someone doing this with a career in medicine? Obviously the debt and maintaining my clinical skills are a concern, but I’m sure it can be done. Help me break outside the mold. I’m sick on being a complacent career student.

Hello there.

I am not sure if I should write it here, but please help me out.

I am young doctor working for 3 months in IM unit. I am not from USA but EU. I made careless mistake of forgetting of reading CT scan result. I also forgot to tell another doctor to check it out. The Patient was a woman with 3 day of icterus and she had meteorism. She didnt have belly pain otother symptoms. She admitted drinking alcohol and having a party.She was admitted on friday.

During Monday I ordered CT scan but forgot to check result. She had obstructive icterus with dilated ductus choledochus. Thursday my boss noticed it when he was checking patient. The worst thing is I had only 3 patients, so not too much work, yet I still forget. I checked it, but there were no CT results. They came just before the end of my shift, maybe 30 minutes. The thing its very small hospital and it happened around Christmas so we should have to move her to another clinic. She didnt die, her bilirubin levels got better. The only thing happened that other diagnoses would be delayed by few days - 2-3 days. She had sonography which I order and it was normal.

I just feel irresponsible, careless and stupid for making such a trivial mistake especially if I had only 3 patients. My boss is very angry at me, which I understand and I apologised multiple times. I am worried that he will fire me and I will had to leave my medical degree forever, because of such stupid mistake. I am also terrified to see him on Monday. Thank you for you comments. Please be realistic. I am thinking of leaving medical life behind me. I am sorry for my bad English.

Edit: Thank you everyone for your responses, especiall how quick you had answer me. I also wants to thank everyone for the good ideas. Yes I intent to do a chcek list and before the end of my shift I would set an alarm clock in case I forget about it. There are lots of things I have to learn and have more attention. I want to go to other hospital which will give an opportunity to grow. The problem is, that I feel like most of the doctors doesnt like the job they are doing and I feel like I become careless towards patients because of them. When I am alone in emergancy department then I feel like I am doing my best. Which is bad because I still need guidance.

Edit 2: the patient doesnt habe obstructive icterus. They have done ERCP today and she didnt have any obstruction.

I have had a few patients die over the years with no contactable next of kin. I have sat by their bedside so they wouldn’t have to take that last breath alone. But sometimes the night turns to day and I have to go to my next shift. I want to utilize a service like no one dies alone, but I am unsure of the ethics of asking a stranger to sit with my patient as they pass. I understood these services to be primarily for families to call. I’m not sure it’s appropriate for me to call since I don’t actually know this person. Any advice?

I’m at a crossroads and feel that I have completely lost sight of who I am.

I’m currently an R2 in OB. 

For some context, I moved across the country to pursue this, I believed it was worth every sacrifice at that time. I started residency with a significant injury, no support network, and had to adjust to a completely different environment. Throughout the first year, my mental health continued to deteriorate, to a point where I am severely depressed. At the same time, I began to realize my values were beginning to shift - I didn’t care if I became a surgeon, nor do I care about the money or status, I just wanted to be there for people. That’s what led me to medicine in the first place. 

I’ve always had it in the back of my mind to transfer programs, particularly when I discuss this with my loved ones over the past few months…but I feel stuck. I can’t tell whether I’m depressed and want to get out of this mental state, or whether this program is wrong for me. I’m in the middle of the toughest year of this specialty, which is known to be gruelling and highly stressful - I don’t know how long I can push on in this state, moreover, I don’t know if I want to. If I do switch, it would be to family medicine (or maybe internal), which I know has its own challenges…and I want to avoid “the grass is always greener” mindset. But I can’t imagine how the grass could be any less greener than it currently is. 

Going back and forth is driving me insane. I would greatly appreciate any insights or perspectives. My deepest thanks in advance. 

People often talk about the hours in the US being higher (although part of this is balanced out with the fact that the intensity of the hours is less in the US compared to the UK), but I’ve seen no threads which discuss the day-to-day differences.

I’m a PGY3 in the UK. We often have to deal with crappy PCs that are really slow, spend time trying to get the printer to work, fighting to find a space to just sit and use a computer on the ward (a lot of wards don’t have a “doctors office” anymore, and even the ones that do usually cram more doctors than there are seats/PC’s). Moreover a lot of our time is taken up with basic procedures like venepuncture, cannulation, urinary catherisation etc. A lot of the time it feels like you’re not “doctoring”.

Was just wondering how the average US resident experience compared?

Just submitted my call shifts for reimbursement last month, and I calculated that the average pay I had while on call was $6.80CAD/hr, which has been illegal in my province since October 1, 1995. That’s before I was born.

I don’t claim to be some kind of hero but I do think I deserve to be paid the same for being up all night trying to stop patients from dying, as the coffee shop barista who was up all night preventing me from dying.

For me, I think that I would be a writer.

Even now I feel like I want to accomplish it.

Working nights NYE this year and want to do something nice for my interns. Any ideas? Sparkling cider is a given.

Hey all, non medicine person here. Currently stuck on whether I should message this optho resident I was dating over the summer… we had a wonderful time period together but she decided to end it due to her being busy and not being available due to her work..

So as a guy I’m wondering- from a woman’s perspective, would it be okay to message her or no?

Currently rotating through a children’s hospital and some of you guys are the most pushiest, demanding people I have ever met. I’ve never met a group of more annoying residents than in this field. I’ve never had this much push back from the adult side. You’d expect that people who would be working with kids would be nicer but no they’re awful.

I always expected that residency would be when I finally set aside childish things and grow up, but I doubled down instead. It’s got to be a coping mechanism. The tougher the days the longer I stare at the screen mashing buttons later. It’s not the healthiest stress reaction. I wish I became a gym rat instead to blow off steam. My professional life is not spiraling out of control, either. The work is getting easier. Zeroing in on a well-paying job. The stars are starting to line up. And yet I’m grinding WoW like my life depended on it. I just think it’s kind of amusing and bizarre.

Anybody else experiencing this?

Just out of curiosity - how many of you find pre-numbing with lidocaine to be preferable for diagnostic paracentesis? And I mean strictly for diagnostic paracentesis done with a 18/20 gauge IV catheter or even butterfly needle setup. NOT large needles, or with anything that required scalpel and large bore catheters. I ask because I had always been taught that sometimes it’s less painful NOT to use lidocaine and such if you’re using small gauge needle to do the para, because it’s additional pokes with a needle plus the pain from lidocaine itself.. but today my attending looked at me like I was a monster for not using it and lectured me on being a good physician and having empathy, etc.

When we are on-call, we have 2 hospitals including their ED, a plethora of floors, and anything else that comes through the phone.

I never work out on-call, never hang out with people, or basically do anything but stayed glued to the phone even on slow days, weekends, nights, etc.

How do you guys effectively remove yourself from the constant worry of having to answer the phone and continuing on with life?

With only 5 weeks left of on-call in my residency, it might not even matter that much, but I am curious.

I was extremely fortunate to have a residency that only has 12 weeks in 3 years I guess.

Sure, unscrupulous community hospitals (and even some “nonprofit” academic centers) will push to discharge an uninsured patient prior to them being medically optimized, but your ability or inability to pay doesn’t actually factor into whether a patient is admitted or not. So can we stop pretending like poor people that are actively dying are being turned away

I heard that the GWU residents and fellows voted to strike a few weeks ago. Any idea what's happening with that situation? Just want to know.

In the spirit of the season I thought it would be fun for everyone to share their best 'medical miracle' stories. Lazarus? Anyone...?

Michael Moore's Oscar-nominated 2007 film, "SiCKO" on America's healthcare system. YouTube link is below.

You can learn a little bit about US Healthcare Delivery and Healthcare Insurance.

Everybody claims to be a doctor but only MD and DO are physicians. In fact there’s a whole career developed for being assistant to physicians. With that being said why don’t we begin identifying as physicians more often and say we went to physician school? I personally always use the word physician and avoid the title doctor.

Hi all,

My wife is a first year resident - we have been working with a bank to purchase a home using a physician’s loan. We have a home that is under contract and has passed inspection with a closing date of Jan 17th. As my wife is a new resident, she applied for loan consolidation and for the Income Based Repayment plan on 11/19.

We’ve yet to hear back on confirmation of the monthly payment as the servicer (Aidvantage) has yet to process the application. Due to this, our mortgage company is not approving our loan, and we’re at risk of losing the house because the processing times for the IDR approval is out of our control.

With the current federal litigation on other IDR programs, I’m writing here to check if anyone else has been having issues providing proof of student loan monthly payment? Have you worked with a mortgage company under similar circumstances?

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated! We really don’t want to lose out on this home over what seems like an administrative overhead (the bank’s request seems unreasonable to us because they preapproved us assuming a monthly payment of 800 a month, and the estimated monthly payment student aid provided is less than 300).

Hi everyone,

I am currently a PGY-1 in Pediatrics at a lower-tier academic institution. Initially, I was interested in cardiology, but recently I have developed an interest in Allergy & Immunology (A&I). I am planning to do 1-2 away rotations in A&I, but I want to make sure I am making the right financial decision.

1. What does pay look like in A&I in private practice (PP)?I know that academic positions tend to pay less and are more research-focused, so I have ruled out academia. Is the pay similar for someone who does an A&I fellowship through pediatrics versus internal medicine (IM), especially if they end up seeing more adult patients? How common is it to make $350-400K in private practice, in A&I?

2. I don't have many research opportunities at my current institution, and to be honest, I dislike research.However, I am willing to work on 1-2 projects just for the sake of a fellowship spot. How crucial is research for matching into an A&I fellowship?

I would greatly appreciate your input. Thank you!

Mayo Clinic, an institution that prides itself on being one of the best in the world, is paying midlevel providers in training more than doctors in training. 

PA/NP fellow: 77,000 

PGY 1- 72,565

PGY 2- 75,093

PGY 3-78,199

Physicians are responsible for the most complex patient cases and are expected to know more than anyone else in the room. They sacrifice years of their lives (relationships, hobbies, kids, home ownership), and for many, go into debt to pursue this path. And yet, despite all of this, Mayo has decided that midlevels—whose training is a fraction of that of a doctor—deserve a bigger paycheck. This is an insult to every doctor.

Mayo, you should know better.

You position yourself as a leader in healthcare, but you’re sending a clear message: the years of sacrifice, the intellectual rigor, the emotional toll that doctors in training go through means less than the financial convenience of training midlevels. This kind of pay discrepancy devalues the medical profession, and honestly, it’s downright disrespectful.

This is more than just a payroll issue; it’s a values issue. It’s about recognizing the true worth of highly trained professionals and investing in them accordingly. Mayo should be setting the example, but instead, they’re perpetuating a system that undervalues the most rigorous path in healthcare.

Advocating for yourself is just as important as advocating for the patient.

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Mayo Clinic, an institution that prides itself on being one of the best in the world, is paying midlevel providers in training more than doctors in training. 

PA/NP fellow: 77,000 

PGY 1- 72,565

PGY 2- 75,093

PGY 3-78,199

Physicians are responsible for the most complex patient cases and are expected to know more than anyone else in the room. They sacrifice years of their lives (relationships, hobbies, kids, home ownership), and for many, go into debt to pursue this path. And yet, despite all of this, Mayo has decided that midlevels—whose training is a fraction of that of a doctor—deserve a bigger paycheck. This is an insult to every doctor.

Mayo, you should know better.

You position yourself as a leader in healthcare, but you’re sending a clear message: the years of sacrifice, the intellectual rigor, the emotional toll that doctors in training go through means less than the financial convenience of training midlevels. This kind of pay discrepancy devalues the medical profession, and honestly, it’s downright disrespectful.

This is more than just a payroll issue; it’s a values issue. It’s about recognizing the true worth of highly trained professionals and investing in them accordingly. Mayo should be setting the example, but instead, they’re perpetuating a system that undervalues the most rigorous path in healthcare.

If you’re a 4th year medical student applying this cycle, please know you deserve better.

Current residents- advocating for yourself is just as important as advocating for the patient.