Clerkships

[seaside*bliss]

Garrett scheduled his away clerkships today. He will be in Tacoma during August, then he is working on San Antonio in September. He was informed that he will do interviews while there. It's going to be very hard having him away for 8 weeks! Nicholas starts kindergarten in August also. I guess he has it well off though since Army match starts late fall it's good to get these done early fall. I am really nervous! and previously we thoguht there were 4 spots for ER Residencies, but Eisenhower Medical Center is only affiliated with the Medical College of GA so we can't apply there

[DCJenn]

It's typical for them to 'interview' while doing the rotations- but really, the entire month is one 30 day long interview.

I've been to the BAMC and the WFMC ERs(the Army and the AF hospitals, respectively) and the staff are always really nice. Currently, children end up going to the AF hospital since they haven't moved the peds units over to BAMC yet (ginormous construction due to the BRAC). ER residents rotate between the two and I expect that to stay the same until the construction is all finished.

Best of luck to him!

[peggyfromwastate]

Are you planning to visit him for any time in there? Maybe you and your newly minted kindergartener could make a trip in September? If you have long enough notice, G should be able to contact the program and they would be able to give him days off while you were there.

It is a 30 day interview--- my DH ended up interviewing at each site with something like 8 attendings-- on separate days. Plus if you tick off just one resident, especially a chief, your through.

Make sure he practices his salutes!!! And his yes maams and yes sirs...

[DCJenn]

YES! They can always spot the med students from the civilian schools! He's not yet been commissioned, right? But if he has and he's in uniform make sure he nails the protocols- he salutes to senior officers FIRST, the immediate hospital area is a "salute-free" area (otherwise, that's all they'd do), and above all, note that MANY of the nurses will have a lot more rank than he does (or might EVER have for that matter) and he'll need to respect that. There's been many a med student felled by a pissed off nurse.

Also, at the military hospitals, they can wear either the ACUs or the Class Bs. Both require the beret unless they're authorized to wear one of the other covers (in the normal world, they're known as 'hats'.) They may authorize him to wear scrubs like the others in the ER- they should let him know what to do on Day One. Most ER docs that are working IN the ER wear scrubs but the ones who are running triage don't- they're either in ACUs or in the case of contractors, civies.

If he's in civies, then dress shirts, ties, nice pants and nice (but comfy and washable) shoes will be required. They may tell him to lose the tie but that needs to be their decision.
This is also not the time to show up in the SpongeBob tie or the orange Mario Batali clogs.

Also, September in San Antonio is brutal. We likely won't have a day under 90 the whole month.

Jenn

[peggyfromwastate]

AND in the ER he's likely to treat some big wigs kid/wife or something. He needs to be *on* for every.single.patient.

Tell him to be upfront about being a med student. I appreciate it when I'm interviewed by a med student and he tells me that he's a med student first-- it makes it easier for all.

And... the beret dance. Quite a sight to behold. Plus have him get up to speed on protocol for the flag stuff. I think if you are outside when the flag is lowered or raised up, you are supposed to face the flag wherever it may be, salute, and hold the pose until you here the bugle or whatever it is... Something for him to ask about, because with his hours he might hit the flag raising and lowering.

Also, in the ER he may run across a lot of residents and attendings from other services there to see consults. These consultants will also be military, and so... yeah.... there's a lot to keep straight.

Basically if he's a respectful, nice guy as a standard, he should be fine. But there's not a whole lot of room for rolling your eyes or any other thing.

[DCJenn]

Yes, and even if he's in civilian clothes, and he hears them raising and lowering the flag he needs to stop what he's doing and stand at attention. I've watched my husband stand at attention in shorts, a t-shirt and his Jerry Garcia Birkenstocks.

and if he's in his car when he hears it, he needs to pull over, get out of the car and stand at attention.

If you are there and you see it, you need to stand with your hand over your heart or with your hands at your side.

Peggy is 150% correct about never knowing who he may be seeing. The nicest letter my husband ever got was from a two-star at Walter Reed whose wife was treated by my husband during his adult neurology rotations during fellowship. He needs to make sure that every Private is treated the same way every General is treated.

Also, the cafeteria food is surprisingly good these days- but they don't stay open 24 hours so he'll need to make sure to bring lots and lots of snacks.

Jenn