June 30

The day before the first day of surgery internship at Chicago University Hospital, I went in to meet with the Vascular Surgery intern whose place I would be taking the following day.  She was a plump, tired looking woman with stringy blond hair.  She was at the nursing station on the vasc surg floor, working.  She had been working overnight until 1 am that am, and had returned to work maybe 5 hours later.  She related to me the basics of running the service, and who my supervising residents would be.  I reviewed the charts of the patients I would be picking up and made a list of them, their problems, and their meds.  Then I went home, vaguely terrified, yet elated at the prospect of beginning my internship.

I was luckier than my predecessor on the vasc surg service, in that I shared the service with another intern, making it more likely I would actually get some decent sleep on the nights I was not on call.