So you know how I was all like, “I'll be working night shifts for the first time all of next week!” last week in my previous post? Meaning that this upcoming week would be the week where I would be working night shifts? Well, turns out that I was actually scheduled for nights LAST week.

Lol.

I didn't realize this until I was at the hospital last Monday morning at 5:55 AM, all dressed up with my coffee mug, ready to start my first day in my General Medicine sub-rotation…only to learn from my other two classmates that I was in fact scheduled for nights that week.

After double-checking my schedule (something that I should have done the day prior…), all I could do was burst out in laughter. I couldn't believe that I had made such a ridiculous mistake. Instead of being in my bed enjoying my precious slumber, I was unnecessarily at the hospital at the butt-crack of dawn looking like a damn fool. After I met the intern and shared some laughs with my classmates, I went right back home and crashed on my bed, thanking God that I hadn't drank any of my coffee yet.

Apart from my minor mishap that morning, I had a dope experience with the night team this past week! The atmosphere was relatively more chill than the daytime, and I got to wear scrubs all week as opposed to having to dress up in my shirt/bowtie/khakis combo. Only thing is, I did actually dress up when I came back on Monday night to my ACTUAL shift…only to learn that I had no need to do so. SMH. I was just racking up on L's that day. Nevertheless, it was a great time overall! Throughout the week, all of us on the night team had very interesting conversations about our lives and on what our respective plans are for the future. In regards to what treating patients looked like during the night shift, it was very free-flowing. In the daytime, the structure of the day was pre-rounding, rounding, finishing notes, going to the daily morning report, going to the student lunch conference, checking up on patients, listening to a lecture from an upper-level or attending, studying material for the shelf exam and then going home. However, during the night shift we just observed as the intern, AI (acting intern = fourth-year medical student literally acting like an intern) and resident wrote up notes and answered pages about the patients that they were covering. We would follow them as they visited patients who needed to be checked on and admitted new patients who arrived in the Emergency Department. While following them, we would also ask multiple questions about what they were doing and why they made certain decisions. It was a neat and unique learning experience that was only made better by the great attitudes of the people on the team. And as a critical bonus, I got sooo much good sleep during the week! I was also able to get a lot of studying done and to take care of tasks that I had been pushing off for weeks. With all of that factored in, I have been in a very pleasant mood as of late. 😄

Before wrapping up this post, I suppose I should mention that I got some really good news last week that lifted my spirits even higher! I actually received this news on Monday morning, so I guess I didn't take L's that whole day lol. I got an email that morning stating that I had been selected as one of the National Future Leadership Project Fellows of the Student National Medical Association! Only ten medical students and ten pre-medical students throughout the nation are selected, so it was an absolute honor to have been given this unique opportunity to work with SNMA leadership on the national level and to further hone my leadership capabilities in this program. You know, it's funny how life works…I ran for SNMA chapter president here at Wake last year and lost, I bombed my speech at AMEC a few months ago and, as a result, blew my chance on becoming the Regional Community Service Liaison for Region IV of the SNMA, but yet I was able to acquire this highly selective position on a national level. Patience, perseverance and persistence mannn, I tell you. You just keep shooting your shot and eventually you end up making a basket!

Now that I'm all out of updates for you, I can officially wrap up this post.

Make sure to have a splendid week!

“You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.” – Wayne Gretzky

– Black Man, M.D.