summer employment

Monday I started my new summer job as a health tech at a Boston hospital. I won't identify it or name any names, but I will say that it's a medium sized hospital that's very friendly and welcoming so far.

Anyway, this job is a special program for medical students who have just finished their first year. I'm working as a health tech, which is just another way of saying a nursing assistant. What's really cool is that the whole program is especially designed for med students to see what roles the nurses and other hospital staff have in the hospital. By putting us on the job with the nursing service, the hospital is hoping to get medical students (future doctors) to have more respect for other members of the health care team, and learn how to communicate better with nurses. In other words, they're hoping to give us an education in respect and feed us some humble pie.

And boy has it been humbling so far.

I didn't realize how little they taught in medical school until I got on the wards. Sure, the first few days of work were just orientation--where the cafeteria is, how to wash your hands (yes, we got a 3 hour lecture on how to wash our hands), and how to call a code. Orientation was mostly dry and boring, with the exception of having one afternoon to play around with the medical equipment. They sent us down some clinical engineers and some useful gadgets--a vitals machine, an EKG machine, a machine to help prevent DVT, a bladder scanner to scan how much urine is in the bladder, and my favorite of all, the Hoyer lift. We practiced lifting each other from a desk to another chair on these miniature-sized cranes, and it was pretty neat.

Today was my first half-day on the actual ward. The charge nurse was completely frazzled when I got there. Nurses take turns being the charge nurse when the nurse manager isn't there, and this particular nurse moaned, "Oh, I hate being in charge!!" before immediately sending me off to go change a patient's bed linens (hey, I didn't say this was going to be a glamorous job).

Uh, well never having changed a patient's sheets before... I walk into the room hesitantly. "WAIT!" yells the nurse before I barely cross the threshold. "You need to glove up and put on a gown. He's got MRSA!"

Oh great. Barely 5 minutes into the job and I'm going to get or spread MRSA. Wonderful! No harm was done since I had barely entered the room and without touching anything, so I went back outside and gloved up and sloppily tied a gown around me before going in to do the sheets.

What was slightly worse, though a taste of what's to come: there was an attending and what looked like an intern in the room already with the patient. They were trying to get an arterial blood gas (ABG) sample from the patient who was sitting in an armchair squeezed next to the bed. Of course I was trying to change the sheets without getting in their way, but I could tell they were annoyed that I was in the room and doing MY job while they were doing THEIRS. Go figure. And of course they exited the room with the attending giving the intern advice and encouragement that the next one would be easier, and of course they didn't say bye to me or introduce themselves. I can tell this'll be an interesting experience already.

So overall I'm on a pretty low-key ward, where patients aren't super sick or about to crash any second. But we are the one with the most filled beds in the hospital, so I expect it'll get crazy busy sometimes. Already I've found that there are some interesting patients to talk to, and hopefully I'll hear a few good stories from them and others before the end of July.

More this weekend after I get my feet wet tomorrow.

summertime and the living's easy so far

Oh dear well I tapered off there for a while…

Since last time, I graduated from undergrad, took my last first-year medical school exam, and started work as a full time CNA for the summer. Yes, in that order.

Graduation weekend: As expected, it was stressful and a little reminiscent of high school graduation, except that this time we got these awful $85 one-size-fit-all caps and gowns (the 5'5"-sized gown fit me almost as well as a circus tent so I was not impressed). Man do I miss the days of living pure JoCo style and getting our silky "Lancer Blue" caps and gowns personally fitted by volunteer moms because HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION is A BIG MILESTONE. Graduation from college just seems like an afterthought.

(Photos soon, once photographer-extraordinaire dad finishes fiddling with them.)

I spent that weekend running around showing my parents and grandparents around the campus again, but thankfully they spared me from giving a big involved tour of Boston so that I could study for my Endocrinology and Histology final. Those went off without a hitch, and to my sheer CHAGRIN and with some mortification, I later found out I missed only two questions on one of the exams. Annnnnd so the unnecessary overstudying lesson has been learned. And not a moment too soon for second year.

We celebrated the end of the first year the best way we know how: with margaritas and nachos, and then an all night BUSM-only dance party at a bar in the Financial District called the Vault. It was sweaty, it was drunken, but it still had just the hint of class.


Since the end of school I went home for a few days to see my family again, this time without the uneasy burden of two finals. I also caught up with most of my old high school friends. We went out for my first legal drink in Kansas City (wow), and did stuff that I only do with my high school friends (namely play Hearts and Catchphrase and talk about how silly we were in high school). We did summery stuff, like have a delicious barbecue, but mostly I stayed home and enjoyed the luxury of the time to read all the Harry Potter books again.


When Andrei and I got back to Boston, we started making a Boston Bucket List of things we wanted to do this summer. One of these we crossed off by catching an early ferry to the Boston Harbor Islands, where we whiled away an entire day with leisurely hiking, having a picnic, reading, and sleeping on a blanket in the grass. It was superbly satisfying and humbling to be able to see the Boston skyline from the islands, yet still feel a world away from city life. We definitely plan to go again later this summer, because besides being an awesome time, getting there and back only costs $14. I've paid to see movies for more than that in Boston!


The island in the last picture used to be the site for a horse rendering factory and a landfill for Boston, but it got a makeover when the the city laid the dirt from the Big Dig onto the island to fill the landfill and beautify the island. I wish I were kidding, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

Anyhow, today was the first day of work. It started at the ungodly hour of 7.30AM (had to wake up at 6AM just to get there in time), and it was dead boring. But for sitting through orientation for 8 hours we were handsomely paid nearly $150, so you won't hear much complaining from me.

More about the program tomorrow or Wednesday when I get a better picture of what I've gotten myself into. (The director's words, not mine!)