RE: Residency is Hard Work
From: Michael Felley, DPM
After being in residency for over a year, I could sum up my time and hopefully help future residents who are hoping to match in a single word- WORK. There is no other way around it. Residency is hard work. After clinic, cases, and education, there still is work to be done and we sometimes have to put off our recreational time until later.
The most important thing to remember when working these long days is to not feel sorry for yourself. We only have three years to be trained into the best doctors and surgeons. Three years is not a long time! When we feel like it’s too much or we feel like we’re being pushed too hard and that we need a break, is the time when the rest of the group has to pick up your slack. We all have a role to play.
Just remember the quickest way to grow is to be pushed and forced to stretch our capabilities. That is when we learn what we’re made of. Sometimes a day’s work will last into the late evening and we still have to study for a surgery the next day, or we have early morning clinic. It’s difficult to stay focused on the real reason we are there. No matter the reason, stay focused on the prize. Don’t play the victim - work for your goals.
When you feel like you’re at the end of your rope and you’ve had to work late several nights or your attending tried to reinforce something you should have already learned and you're overwhelmed, remember this quote by Australian activist, Christine Caine: “… you think you have been buried, but actually you have been planted.”
Michael Felley, DPM, Wycoff Heights Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY
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