Learn Something Every Day

I often say this to students who ask "are we learning today?" I find this a surprising and peculiar question, but I always respond that we should all try to be learning all the time, even if we're just fooling around.

So what did I learn at the hospital? The biggest thing I learned is that medical care at a big hospital is like a game of telephone. Quality and consistency of care are completely dependent on how well each person passes on information to the next. If you have a nurse who doesn't write something down or forgets to mention something, the next day you might not get fed. In the course of a 17 day stay, there's a combined oral and written tale that's collaboratively created and retold to later generations and this seems to me to be the weakest part of the system. That's why you need to advocate for yourself- not because anyone means harm, but because they don't know anything if the person before them didn't say so or write it down.

I learned that there's such a thing as an extern that is different from an intern but not really.

I learned that it's possible for a hospital responsible for feeding hundreds of children to run out of pizza. And veggie burgers. At the same time.

I learned that the more comprehensive and well-documented a treatment plan is, the greater the opportunity for personal style to play into how it's implemented.

I learned that Lost really was a good show.

I learned that if you have lots of electrical circuits and therefore lots of circuit-breakers, it's a very good idea to label every outlet with its circuit number.

And I learned that it's very nice to have a nourishment room nearby at all times, because everyone needs some nourishment now and then.