More orientation

This morning, I attended the general orientation that all the new interns (and fellow) go to. I liked that I had to wake up at 5:30, so I could sign in at 6:30 and watch the 7 a.m. lecture on preventing sleep deprivation. It wasn't easy, especially since I've been waking up at noon (or later) nearly every day for the past two months.

Most of the lectures actually had little to do with me. There was, of course, another HIPAA lecture, as well as the usual unintentionally hilarious sexual harassment video. There was a talk on how to handle emergency pages. Since I'm not even ACLS certified, I think my reaction to a code would be to stand back and let the other doctors handle things. I mean, if the effort fails, I'd be happy to take the body to the morgue ...

Infection control is something I need to keep in mind, but since I won't be seeing too many patients hacking up their TB-ridden lung, I don't feel bad about nodding off during the lecture. Same with risk management and quality control.

Don't get me wrong; pathologists have to think about all these things. We just have to approach it differently than most other physicians. I won't be performing wrong-site surgery any time soon, but I might mis-label a piece of tissue or do a poor job cutting through a tumor and miss a margin.

It's also comforting to know that even big-name institutions can't always get their acts together. We had to get parking passes for two separate hospitals. They ran out of passes early for one of the hospitals, so the people manning that table just up and left for the day. They knew how many people were going to be there today! I fortunately don't have to work at that hospital until August, but the folks who start there tomorrow aren't so lucky.

And tomorrow is July 1, the fabled "go to a hospital and die instantly" day. I have a pathology-specific orientation in the morning, and then I start work after lunch. Well, unless they let me slip out and take care of the aforementioned parking stuff. I think they will. It's not like I'm going to save anyone's life in the micro lab tomorrow. Heck, it will be a good day if I simply don't contaminate or break anything.