Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Done with Medical School!

I'm sitting in a Bank of America branch while my oldest daughter is setting up her first checking account and I'm enjoying one of my few remaining days of "freedom" before my Internship. I'm finally done with medical school and it feels great. The reality of Internship in Internal Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine hasn't fully set in and I'm able to enjoy my family for a little while.

I do feel like a different person than when I started on this journey of becoming a physician. I have learned a lot about the medical field and already I feel like I have the knowledge of how to take better care of myself and my family's health. I feel like I have better insight into my strengths and weaknesses and how to make the most happen with my abilities. I learned a lot about work-life balance and feel like I'm a better husband and father than I was in the business world and left much of the home life to my wife to manage.

Now I am a about to embark on a new training experience that I expect will have a steep learning curve initially. Based on what I have been told by others, this will probably be a much steeper than medical school was at first. Although I expect internship year to be challenging, I am so happy to finally be at this point. Very soon I will be able to help care for patients to a much greater degree than I ever have before. Yes, I will have many limits in what I can do. I will depend on the patient to provide information for a good diagnosis and in implementing a plan of care.

As in my earlier training, I will be supervised and work in a way that suits my upper level resident and attending. However, I will be able to write orders and perform evaluation and procedures with greater independence than before. I'll have much less time to spend with patients than I did as a medical student, but I like the idea of having more patients and being able to contribute more. Getting paid for my work will also be a huge plus!

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Ralf B Lukner, MD, PhD

Location:Dixie Farm Rd,Pearland,United States

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