Life of a Medical Intern

Chapter 2

I arrived home early in the morning feeling exhausted and sleepy but I had to go and find out where I was assigned to. The others had already started yesterday. God only knows what would happen if I was late another day. I took a quick shower so I could feel alive again, put on some random clothes and drove to the institute of Internship Affairs.

Feeling lost, I asked the some girls chatting near the door for directions and they happen to be here for the same thing. When I got there I introduced myself to a guy behind a window and he asked me to file some forms and then handed me my destination. This is it. I hope it's a decent hospital...

I went back to my car and started opening the envelope slowly with anticipation. It read

"Police Hospital"
"Obstetrics and Gynecology Department"

"YESSS!!!" I was hoping to be assigned there. This hospital was like my 2nd home. It was where we were trained during med school and I almost knew every attending there and most of them knew me. I felt relieved, although I didn't want to start my year with the ObGyn, but hey, it doesn't matter. Maybe things weren't that bad after all.

I drove straight to the hospital to report for duty. When I got to the administrator's office, a guy in a police suit was waiting for me. He asked me to swear solemnly not to participate in the current strike or any other ones to come and work under all circumstances. What??!! When he saw my confusion he smiled mischievously and said "it's just a precaution, so you little interns won't participate in any of this nonsense. Or else you could go back to where you came from and consider yourself rejected." he then narrowed his eyes and leaned forward on his desk and said "Police officers are not allowed to be part of anything that might offense the government and while you are to be a member of this hospital you are to follow the orders."

I just stared at him with my mouth open. Is he for real? Have I assigned myself to the Police Academy instead of a normal hospital? I saw him leaning back on his chair saying "it's your choice. But remember, if you were to chose rejection, you have to wait a minimum of 3 months so you can get back to work again" , I weighed my options and had a quick thought. Well we are already considered traitors anyway so I guess I got nothing to lose... I think! I took a deep breath and said "OK. I swear." The guy smirked and handed me a paper slip and sent me to the unit that I'm supposed to work for.

I strode happily through the hospital's property enjoying the view of people working and patients taking a walk. This made me so eager to begin working and help patients feel better. I was so excited. I love being a doctor. I love helping people but it was the circumstances I was under that did upset me. Swept away by my thoughts I didn't realize that I finally reached my destination until I was at the secretary's office door. I knocked the door and entered the office. I handed the girl behind the desk my paper slip. She read it and made me sign on huge book she had then handed me my slip back. "You're lucky!" She said cheerfully. "Dr. Rahim, your attending, was just called to the labor room. Quick! Go and find him. He has to sign your slip then come back and give it to me!" I was lucky. He was known to be the kindest of them all.

I thanked her and ran to the labor room before he disappears and there I found him indeed. He was just leaving. I introduced myself as his new intern and his eyes suddenly lit up. "You're just in time. We have a shortage of doctors today, because of the strike, so you're going to be on call tonight. There's already one doctor inside the labor room and we need all the help we can get." He then signed my slip and handed it back to me then he disappeared into the crowd. I stood there staring at his back eyes wide open. On call?! On my first day?! Two doctors only?! This is insane! I found myself walking slowly inside and found a tired female doctor sitting on a chair with her hands pressing on her temples. She raised her head at my direction with a questioning look on her face. I introduced myself as the new intern and she instantly smiled. She asked me to sit on the chair beside her and we had a light conversation about what was going on. I told her how I just got back from a trip this morning and started my proceedings almost immediately. She gave me a sympathetic look and suggested that I should go home for now and come back later to take the night shift. "You could have a good sleep and come back here fresh and joyful" I really wanted to accept that offer so badly but I didn't want to be selfish by leaving her alone, but she insisted.

"I'll be here by 8" I promised her and by that I almost ran home.

****************

I arrived at 8 as I promised and headed straight to the labor room where I found Tamara -my colleague- engrossed in a deep conversation with another guy sitting across from her with the desk in between, probably another doctor in the unit. At least that's what I thought at the time. I greeted them both, took a seat beside her and asked about the status so far. She took me through the cases she currently had, which was one patient. "It's usually quite through the day till it's midnight." She explained. "That's when the nightmare begins because most ladies decide to deliver their babies after 12 am. I can't seem to know what the connection is."

Suddenly the guy –who I never knew who he was- smacked the desk with his hand. "We should totally do a research about it." He said enthusiastically. She nodded heavily in agreement. "You know, that's a great idea. Maybe it would be published in some journal or something." I listened to them blabbering about it for a few minutes and I busied myself with a book I brought along. Then out of the blue she faced me and said "Umm... we're going to grab some coffee from outside, do you want to come?" It was clear from the look she gave me that she was hoping I would say no and the sigh of relief she just made when I turned down her offer, politely, proved my suspicion. "It's a shame. Well, we'll be back in 30 minutes or so". She smiled at me and went out through the door with her 'friend' right behind her.

30 minutes. I scuffed smiling at the idea. I'm guessing I won't see her for a while.

Indeed I didn't.

Author's Note:

So Just to clarify how the system works, the internship is a year long. Through this year the intern rotates between the 4 major  specialties:  Medicine, Surgery, Pediatrics and  Obstetric & Gynecology.

The first shift is always picked by the institute but the remaining 3 are done electronically by your choice. Each shift is 3 months long and the website opens every 3 months for 3 days, so the competition is high and most of the good spots would be taken immediately. After that, if you didn't find your choice you have to go back to the institute and see what's available at the time.

If you couldn't continue in the destination you're allotted to for any reason or you were rejected by your attending then you have to wait for the end of your shift to apply when the website opens.

P.S.

In my Country we don't use the word intern, we use the word HOUSE OFFICER. We also use REGISTRAR for Resident and CONSULTANT for Attending. But I'll be writing in the more known titles instead of the ones I'm familiar with

Feel free to correct any errors or mistakes you find.

This chapter is dedicated to the amazing @ShelleyBurbank

Her story DISGUISED is one of my favorites. She insisted that I notify her when my memoirs are posted, so here they are :D