Burning Out

Why I am never oriented to date? As a third year medical student, I often have to assess whether my patients are alert and oriented to themselves, the date, and their location as a sign of their mental status. Not only do I have to look at my beeper to confirm the date the patient is saying, but I have to do so for each of the 2-3 patients I pre-round on everyday (i.e. examine at 6AM). I just don't register the date.

Is my brain too saturated? Probably not since I don't usually have the answers to questions I'm pimped on (i.e. progressively harder questions from superiors until you just don't have the answer anymore, i.e. Superior, "what is the temperature of cheese fridges in supermarkets?" Student answer," 5-10 degrees C?" Superior, "no, 4. Why 4?" Student with puzzled look on face, "I don't know." Superior, "listeria." Student answer, "Oh." Student thought "F******CK !"). I think my altered mental status is actually a sign of my burning out, as evidenced in my inability to coherently write this blogpost.

Luckily, Thanksgiving is just around the corner, in time for me to regroup. Funny enough, everyday that I look at the date, I groan about not knowing the date and about my burning out, but then am pleasantly surprised, everyday, that Thanksgiving is in fact around the corner. Well, at least my daily self-reorientation usually ends with a happy thought.