feature article

Marriage in Medical School: A Memoir (So Far)

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During my senior year of college, I asked my girlfriend to marry me. We had been together for almost three years and planned to get married the following summer, since we were both graduating in the spring. The timing seemed perfect to start our new life together. There was just one minor problem: in the fall, I was planning to begin medical school.
While engaged, we dealt with a mixture of apprehension and excitement about marriage. The typical questions asked by engaged couples–questions like, “Where will we live? What will our source of income be? How will we make time to see family? How will our relationship change?”–were the same questions we asked, except with the additional uncertainty of medical school. We had learned how to juggle our relationship with the demands of college, but we were unsure about how it would change while I dealt with the great challenge of medical school. (Neither of us were oblivious to the “horror stories” surrounding medical school and its required time commitment).

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Of Capacity and Communication

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I am about 45 minutes from the end of my night float shift, that dangerous hour all residents learn to wait through with baited breath, when my pager goes off. Pushing the button to silent its insistent beep, I read the text: “STAT 4-9876.” I am slightly bemused. STAT pages in psychiatry are few and far between. If one of the patients on the psych floor has had an MI, stroke, or something else that necessitates an immediate response, I may be the last to find out, as the nurse will often call a code and bring a medicine team running before letting me know what is going on. Even a consult for a suicidal patient on a medicine floor, considered a psychiatric emergency, doesn’t exactly necessitate the same sort of urgency as anaphylaxis or an acute abdomen. I like pondering and deliberation, making me naturally suited for psychiatry. Rather than engendering excitement, the word STAT makes my blood run a little cold. Besides, I typically assume that if someone is paging me, urgency is implied, and I return the call immediately; the two year old inside me smarts at being told to hurry up.

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Stepping Into the Medical Field and Out of Your Comfort Zone

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Are you ready to become a doctor? Making the transition from undergraduate to medical school student, and on to being a full time doctor can be exciting and intimidating at the same time. There are many challenges and obstacles you may face along your journey, but what is most important is that you face them with confidence. Read on for tips on how to make stepping outside your comfort zone a little more comfortable.
Build Strong Relationships With Your Professors
Start out in the classroom. When you are still studying, whether you are an undergraduate or already in medical school, classes should be much more than simply showing up and doing the work. Take time to get to know your professors, if the size of your university/class allows. They have vast amounts of knowledge and experience, and most likely they are more than happy to share that with you!

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