B.L.S**t

Around this time of year, you'll find a lot of interns doing the same thing across the country - starting orientation for their new positions, and re-certifying for Basic Life Support and Advanced Cardiac Life Support training. Our school had us train for both before starting our 3rd year clinical rotations, so this basically serves as a bit of a refresher. Most of the time, it's a waste of time. And mine was too, except that it wasn't in certain ways.

It certainly didn't help that I spent a day flying around the city looking for bookstores which stocked a BLS book, only to find that the course I was scheduled to take was ACLS. So I took frantic notes while at the course, since I am terrible at remembering which drug goes when. Idiotically, I had to be told that you DE-fibrillate someone when they are, in fact, in atrial or ventricular fibrillation. Rocket science, I tell you. We also STILL do not have a schedule, which makes it impossible to plan ahead. Even worse, one of the other guys there told me they will only give it to you 2 months in advance, which makes planning trips or other excursions difficult to do. And PS, as an intern, I am not allowed to pick a vacation time unless I am a) getting married or b) physically pushing out a child. Baahhhhhh.

But I did meet one of the family practice attendings, who was actually very nice and included a lot of great advice for how to interpret things and handle the situations in the real world. I also met a few of my fellow interns, both for surgery and other fields, which was nice. I was definitely put off to find that at least two were smokers, but that's the sort of thing that always shocks naive little-girl me. Sigh. Another benefit from the session: 6 Second ECG Simulator. This little baby lets you test yourself in the safety of your own home, and it's pretty decent at it. Theoretically, I will practice more with it, because the only one I feel comfortable recognizing is asystole (aka, the flatline).

And lastly, my search for the HTC Incredible continues. I checked out a Verizon in the city, only to find that the ENTIRE NEW YORK REGION is utterly sold out, with no idea as to when the newest shipment will arrive. I could order online, but they won't arrive till July, and I wanted some time to make friends with the phone. So I checked in NJ, and Verizon had the same story, but an authorized retailer let me reserve one. Triumphantly, I went to the store this evening, only to find a line a mile long, with no sign of movement. And so, I shall try a third time tomorrow morning.



Incredible, why must you taunt me?