If you’ve been following me for a minute, you know that I led a lot of family meetings as an intern. I don’t remember every single patient, but I remember every family I’ve spoken to about end of life. For me- a wee tot in her 20s whose first run-ins with death happened in the hospital- it could be really difficult. . . Especially when the family meetings ended up looking like an episode of Maury. I have seen fights break out in the halls, yelling around the nursing station, illegal demands that x person be updated and not y, and security being called. I’ve also seen multiple generations of a family cluster to bedside, friends/family who hadn’t seen their loved one in twenty years make it to say goodbye, and siblings put aside disagreements to come to a conclusion. It’s really a privilege to be privy to such a trying time for families- and it’s something most people deal with only occasionally in their lifetimes, let alone multiple times a week. . . #procreate #illustration #webcomic #healthcare #resident #intern #inpatient #doctor #relatable #womeninmedicine #blackdoctors #graphicmedicine #premed #premedmotivation #residency #internalmedicine #medschool #medicine #medicalschool #medlife #md #medstudent #nurse
The only inaccuracy here is that I’m way too intelligible in panel 2. (The title is from an episode of Arthur.) . . . . #procreate #illustration #webcomic #healthcare #resident #intern #inpatient #doctor #relatable #womeninmedicine #blackdoctors #graphicmedicine #premed #premedmotivation #residency #internalmedicine #medschool #medicine #medicalschool #medlife #md #medstudent #nurse
I know for a fact that I have blinders up to what goes on in the hospital. I’m always quick to defend the nurses, staff, and my fellow docs about their treatment of patients, because I trust that (almost) everyone is trying their best! So I have a hard time when people talk trash about our staff, especially for things that are clearly out of their control…but also I’m a doctor and I’m here to see you, don’t you think you should use my expertise for your medical conditions and not to snitch on your nurse? . . . #procreate #illustration #webcomic #healthcare #resident #intern #inpatient #doctor #relatable #womeninmedicine #blackdoctors #graphicmedicine #premed #premedmotivation #residency #internalmedicine #medschool #medicine #medicalschool #medlife #md #medstudent #nurse
My institution just went through a five day nursing strike. It was a doozy, and I was so happy to see some of my favorite nurses back on the floor yesterday! But the strike opened my eyes up to how poorly doctors advocate for ourselves. If you saw my story on day 1, I put all my feelings out there about this topic, and learned a lot from your responses. You’ll probably see more about that soon. . One thing that really rankled me was the fact that tasks were offloaded on physicians and especially residents during the strike. We were expected to come in two hours early on the first and last day to round on our patients during the transitions between strike and Union nurses. Residents on consult blocks volunteered to help walk the halls in case of disaster- and were paid with nothing but admiration and thanks. We were told to go around multiple times a day to make sure orders were being carried out. All this for no additional compensation. My IM program is wonderful and so the program bought us all breakfast on those days, but so far, all the hospital admin has offered us is a free lunch (ironically, on the day that we get “good” lunch from our program.) . To make matters worse, one of my colleagues anonymously aired their grievances on a social media platform- only to be reprimanded by hospital admin for being “inaccurate” in their expression of their opinion. Even though that person was providing free labor!!! There was no compassion for them, not recognition for the additional burden they were taking on. . For me and pretty much all of my colleagues, patient care comes first. But it feels like this hurts us as a profession. I didn’t think twice about waking up early to make sure my patients didn’t fall through the cracks. But I also know that I wouldn’t have accepted this from the job I had in college- so why am I accepting it now? . #procreate #illustration #webcomic #healthcare #resident #intern #inpatient #doctor #relatable #womeninmedicine #blackdoctors #graphicmedicine #premed #premedmotivation #residency #internalmedicine #medschool #medicine #medicalschool #medlife #md #medstudent #nurse
Pursuing a career in medicine is like running a marathon, except the further you go along the steeper the incline and at some point the floor actually turns to lava. Despite this, I don’t think I could be anything other than a doctor. I love my job, I love having a specialized fund of knowledge, love my patient population, and especially love having a very direct impact through my work. I will definitely never force my future kids into it though, and I encourage all my wee pre-meds to really know what they’re getting into, and what they’ll have to sacrifice to get there. Because for me, it’s been worth it, even when i feel like flipping tables over it. . . . #procreate #illustration #webcomic #healthcare #resident #intern #inpatient #doctor #relatable #womeninmedicine #blackdoctors #graphicmedicine #premed #premedmotivation #residency #internalmedicine #medschool #medicine #medicalschool #medlife #md #medstudent #nurse
my name is shirlene and i am very dramatic and this is a self call-out. (Back to standard programming soon.) . . . #procreate #illustration #webcomic #healthcare #resident #intern #inpatient #doctor #relatable #womeninmedicine #blackdoctors #graphicmedicine #premed #premedmotivation #residency #internalmedicine #medschool #medicine #medicalschool #medlife #md #medstudent #nurse
Hiii sorry for the absence! I was working on a really cool commission that I can’t tell anyone about yet but when I can… Squee . Anyway. I’ve been on clinic. My patients tend to be pretty sick, even my returns. I’ve gotten better about typing more during my visits, but I still usually have 1-2 hours of note writing left when I go home. The concept of having to do this for the rest of my life is, admittedly, a not-insignificant part of what drew me away from primary care. . The expectation that we provide good care, connect with patients, and appropriately document for billing at the same time while not receiving additional compensation for practically doing another job is something that makes me think docs need to be better at advocating for ourselves. What efforts have you guys seen to take this extra burden off. . . #procreate #illustration #webcomic #healthcare #resident #intern #inpatient #doctor #relatable #womeninmedicine #blackdoctors #graphicmedicine #premed #premedmotivation #residency #internalmedicine #medschool #medicine #medicalschool #medlife #md #medstudent #nurse #internalmedicine
Me at attendings who round after noon: 💪🏿💪🏿💪🏿🙅🏿♀️🙅🏿♀️😤😤😤 . . . . #procreate #illustration #webcomic #healthcare #resident #intern #inpatient #doctor #relatable #womeninmedicine #blackdoctors #graphicmedicine #premed #premedmotivation #residency #internalmedicine #medschool #medicine #medicalschool #medlife #md #medstudent #nurse
The smaller the attending the tighter the ship they run convince me otherwise . . . #procreate #illustration #webcomic #healthcare #resident #intern #inpatient #doctor #relatable #womeninmedicine #blackdoctors #graphicmedicine #premed #premedmotivation #residency #internalmedicine #medschool #medicine #medicalschool #medlife #md #medstudent #nurse
Once upon a time a guy was bragging about how expensive his jeans were and one of my friends paused and said “well I got these jeans for $20 but we still got the same look” and I think about that every time a former Bostonite brings up his pedigree . . . #procreate #illustration #webcomic #healthcare #resident #intern #inpatient #doctor #relatable #womeninmedicine #blackdoctors #graphicmedicine #premed #premedmotivation #residency #internalmedicine #medschool #medicine #medicalschool #medlife #md #medstudent #nurse