Big Bad Chief Rant

Welcome to my last year in residency (now 1/2 year!) and to Chiefdom as well. Being Chief is about as fun as sticking a needle in your eye. I'd say since June, most of my free time has been spent poring over just one month's schedule. And I still have to do the conference schedule, arrange lecturers and assign text reading. Yikes.

Then there are the day-to-day problems . X person calling in sick and spending hours on the phone trying to reach people to cover. (This sick call business is getting really old and we've had multiple issues over the Christmas period). Y and Z people didn't show up to their outside rotations and there goes more hours speaking with administration. Once I was called during one of my fellowship interviews to handle this stuff so I had to keep apologizing for answering my phone. Went on until 10:30 at night! Sometimes I think for a bunch of doctors who are supposed to be logical and be able to handle problems by themselves, they can be worse than the general population.

Now it's interview season and we're short one program director, we're short attendings and so for the last month my time has been sucked into giving interviews or tours. Good thing I like meeting new people, but it means I can't really plan on things or do anything else like mini ski trips or whatever. Cramping my style, man!!!

It's not so bad, I do enjoy being able to effect "policy" and being an "authority" (DOWN WITH AUTHORITY MAN!), and we do get paid a small stipend. But it's definitely no holiday and I've lost a lot of my free time.

Fortunately I got through all my fellowship interviews in October / November (which was really hectic!). These days last forever, some of them from 9-5! I think I did about 7 interviews which was less than other people, and it was exhausting. I subsequently got URI sick for a month! They're pretty laid back just like regular ER interviews for residency but wow, I'd forgotten how tiring it all is. I don't think being chief really has that much bearing on your competitiveness for fellowship. It helps, but it's not going to seal a deal. I have a pretty good CV in terms of "extracurriculars" which is definitely not as extensive now as it was in medical school. Still, every little bit counts I guess. All my work has paid off, though ... I'm going to Yale for my Ultrasound Fellowship! Time to celebrate!!!