harder than i thought it would be...

3 intubations yesterday...all failed. I keep telling myself that this is a very hard skill to learn and its going to take a lot of practice. I voiced my frustrations to a friend also going into EM and he said
"It's easily the most difficult and dangerous procedure we do in the ED. That said, we're what, 2 months into our ER careers? We've got another 4 years of training to iron this skill out, and another 30 or so to perfect it. Sometimes we have to make sure our expectations are in line with our limited amount of experience."

This made me feel a lot better. I guess my concern is that the doc I am working with doesnt give me a whole lotta time to troubleshoot. Once i get in and fumble for about 10 seconds, he immediately takes over to 'show me how to do it.' Its very frustrating because i never really know what i am doing wrong each time. Intubating is a skill that has to be done right, quickly, everytime or else the patient dies. We sedate them then paralyze every muscle in their body. If we do not bag them and 'breathe for them' they die. If we do not get the tube into the right spot and ventilate them, they desaturate and die. Its a stressful 30 seconds and I am trying very hard to not be frustrated with myself for not doing it correctly yet.

But, I have plenty of time to learn...

PACU

Kid coming out of anesthesia:

"I didn't throw up on anyone did I?"

I reassured him, he did not.

Residency Application In!!

Submitted ERAS!! Finished my personal statement. Thats it! My residency application has been submitted and now I wait...and wait...and wait. Waiting for an email from residency programs wanting to interview me. Its the medical school application process allllll over again.

Difference is, I went on 3 interviews for med school. This fall and winter, I hope to get at least 15 interviews. thats 15 flights, 15 hotel rooms. 15 minimum, the more the better. Thats a lotta money....but hey, i shouldnt spare any expense at this point in my career right?

AOA [osteopathic] programs start looking at applications earlier than ACGME [MD programs]. Right now, I have applied to 13 osteopathic programs and when the MD programs open up to applications, I will apply to a lot more of them.

Here goes!!

OR Music

Let me tell you, if you go in for a surgery and there's music, and then when you wake up, someone has shut it off, that's Bad.