As a resident, I rotate through a number of different departments and different hospital sites. This past month (or last month, because I’m late on posting this), I rotated through the trauma service.
On a string of nights, I met another strong, powerful, kick butt mother in medicine. A senior surgery resident on another surgical service, she was not my direct senior; but as we both set up headquarters in the trauma bay, we had the work equivalent of an all night sleepover, q3, for about 2 weeks.
It was so much fun. Being a resident who is also a mom is pretty lonely at times. I’m not free for most brunches, I don’t party on weekends, I can’t commit to an 8 pm weekly spin class. While I get along with most people on shift, it has been difficult to connect out of work- with both men an women residents alike.
How do you bridge that gap? Part of me likes having that separation of work life and home life. But recently, when a resident – who I always laugh with on shift and love working with- got married, it stung that I wasn’t invited. I offered to cover her call, though.
So I will continue to look out for members of the club. Give a head nod to the pregnant resident on the admitting team, look out for the one with pictures of her kids on her phone background. It’s nice to be recognized and it’s nice to be part of a larger team.
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