Psych Ward

I promise, I'll write about Puerto Rico soon, but now my patients are on my mind. I'm about 3 hours of rounding and group sessions away from finishing my first week of my four week psychiatry rotation. I am working in the chemical dependency - dual diagnosis (addiction + psychiatric diagnosis) ward,, and I have seen so much in the past few days! Patients who refuse to accept that they are addicts / alcoholics, patients recovering from addiction and as their detox progresses, they feel their depression or bipolar disorder coming out. Anger management issues that can only be calmed by smoking marijuana. The patients are so fascinating; I do not want to do psychiatry for the rest of my life, but I am shocked by how much I am enjoying it. My attending is a bit of a grump, but I kind of like him - he's very clear as to what he wants, and not afraid to say if we're not presenting the way he wants us to. I'm fine with that; he's not mean about it, and I know what to do in the future when I present a new patient to him. It's a really easy schedule - mornings only on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Morning rounds and outpatient clinic on Monday afternoons, and Wednesday rounds and then lectures on Wednesday afternoon. I'm only a week in, and I'm sure I won't be this happy every day for the next year, but I am SO GLAD that I am finally back in med school!  

links: technorati