Why I enjoy my Internship?

Why I Enjoy My Internship?

For the last few days I have been quite busy. In the previous week I had to take AIIMS PGMEEE at New Delhi. Soon after my return, I had 4 back to back emergency duties! Well, that all is over now, and I have now been resetting my biological clock back to normal (from nocturnal to diurnal!), meaning thereby I had ample of free time in last couple of days! So, while I was whiling away in last few days, I went through my 10 months’ journey so far, its highs and lows, as an Intern- and without any doubt I can tell I have enjoyed it! That’s why blog is titled “Why I enjoy My Internship?”

   It’s a Learning Experience! When I compare, where I was and what I knew nearly a year ago with where I am and what I know now, I can say, “I learned a lot many new things!” Almost every day you acquire a new set of skills… I remember how sick I felt when I entered the OT for the first time somewhere in my late second prof.! The mere site of blood used to make me feel dizzy… And now as I am about to complete my Internship, I already have assisted emergency laparotomy as first assistant, sutured scalp wounds, conducted deliveries, stitched episiotomies, done phlebotomy, done vene-section (thrice! Thanks to helping residents of Surgery)… And all these are going to help in future in one way or the other! It’s really fun to sit with residents in the Casualty learn new things! So, like I said it’s a learning experience!

    Logic and reason is the essence of Science…I have always liked things that have some reasoning or logic behind it (and if something has not one I try to find one for it!). Therefore, in school days Physics was my favorite science subject coz everything in it had explanations and exceptions were few… but later life science interested me a lot and here I am! Although it has too many exceptions, when you give close attention to the perfectness with which it has evolved you will get compelled to appreciate how Mother Nature has evolved us into… for instance see how cardiac rhythm and co-ordination among its different chambers is maintained: impulse generated in one specialized tissue depolarizes right atrium, which is delayed for a moment at the AV node so that atria contracts before ventricles and specialized arrangement of bundle of His & Purkinje fibers to ensure ventricles contract below upward pushing blood into the aorta… its just fascinating! The precision with which all these things go on in body is mind boggling!

   
You learn how to interact with all sorts of people! During my CRIP (Compulsory Rotatory Internship Program) one thing that fascinated me is the variety of patients! Variety in terms of educational level, social status, their understanding of illnesses etc. and not in terms of diseases. You have to interact with all, from poor-illiterate in the General wards to highly sophisticated ones in the special wards! Many are fun to interact with but some are pain in the a** too! But the good thing is you learn the way to tackle both… in one way or the other you start talking like a diplomat.

4.  It’s a career with high self-satisfaction with handsome money and above all I just LOVE IT!

I said it at the last because it’s the most important thing! It feels good to know that in a matter of few short years from now, someone’s going to come to me with some health issue and I’ll make him better! Yes I agree, I may not be able to make the big difference all the time but I will surely be trying my level best! Everything else becomes smaller when some one sick thanks me for what ever little difference I have made in his/her ailing life! It’s nostalgic! (at least for me at this level, I don’t know if I will become used to it). You don’t want a career which you don’t believe in! As much as you can complain about it (be it the gruesome long duty hours, tough life, uncertain future etc.) your career options are endless…and you can always shine, only if you are willing to!

Dr. Virat Kuntalam

Intern, IGMC

Shimla

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