Swing, Hula and the Dance of the RRC

February is normally an easy month to hate. Persistently cold, bleak, it's the dregs of winter. However, just when I was prepared to give February its usual due this one pleasantly surprised me.

First off, despite being q4 I managed a wonderful Valentine's Day, post-call but alert and oriented and feeling just dandy to swing the night away to the Mood Swings, an all female swing band out of Seattle in which one of my great friends, JB, plays. Picture at left from the dance.


Additionally, we had our all TFM retreat. This is a required event for all residents, faculty and other staff including their significant others and families. Unfortunately my significant other wasn't able to make it. Another co-resident also was stag so the two of us shared a room and managed to make the most of the weekend. The weekend involved a few required meetings including the "State of the Residency Address" where the hot topic was the recent Residency Review Committee (RRC) review. The RRC is an accreditation committee that, like JCAHO or OSHA, picks apart a system, looks over it from top to bottom, inside and out, and compares it to a check list of requirements. Once its pending arrival is announced, everyone scrambles and runs around in a blind panic like roly poly bugs after their rock has been lifted. At the end (and here I'll change my metaphor) the RRC sits on a big throne while the residency director, supplicated at its feet, accepts a sentence of death or life, or, sometimes, probation. The Director then returns to his or her residency and shares the news. Thus was our Saturday morning. Our program seems to do very well in all aspects except one: Work hour rules. Or, perhaps, we fail by being honest in our work hour reporting. Apparently only 13% or so (a vaguely remember number from one of the meetings) of US residencies report work hour violations. Our level of violations was much, much higher. (The question asked was "in the last three months have you ever violated rule X"). I think our residents answered honestly and other residents have not. And, as a result of this, we may get a little ding for our violations. Or not. Who knows? The RRC has yet to give us their rulings. For those unclear on the hour rules, you can click the above for a Wiki entry, or the ACGME's cache of wordy PDF's. But, in short, the ones we struggle with is 1) no shift longer than 30 hours and 2) 10 hours off between shifts. Raise your hand, residents, if you haven't broken one or both of those in the last three months! ...I thought so.

Aside from the State of the Residency Address we also had unstructured fun time which included this year a Talent Show! Each class performed an act. Each was a surprise. The first year class (interns) dressed up in their concert best and played Ode to Joy on recorders. The second year class performed a sock puppet show to the yodeling song from The Sound of Music (and did all their own singing!). Our class performed a song I wrote called "The Pager Song" - I played ukulele and kazoo and two of my classmates danced the Hula while a fourth played percussion and manipulated props. The rest of our class made their pagers go off at certain points of the song. The acts were judged a la American Idol with four judges each picking us apart ruthlessly. And... we won! But the competition was stiff. There were some musical numbers from faculty and an impressive Gilbert and Sullivan performance as well. Hopefully, I will have video to share on here soon! At left is a picture of me preparing the song on call.

Lastly, this has been a gorgeous February in Seattle. Spring has Sprung! There are daffodils and tulips, cherry blossoms and so much more! So while the East has been slammed with snow we are getting showered in sunshine and flower petals. No bones about it, the Pacific Northwest is the most beautiful place on earth. (My photos of the blooms aren't uploaded from my camera yet so I took this one from the CHS blog's haiku comparing the flower petals to snow. Jealous, NY-ers?).

Tomorrow I start Cardiology. Hopefully a lighter month, however I do have several patients ready to deliver soon so I imagine sleep may not be something I will get much of. The month does end with a mini vacation to San Fran for Passover where Karin will finally get to meet my wonderful and somewhat crazy (but in that good way, of course) mother's side of the family.

And count this! As of today 122 days left: One more inpatient month, 8 more calls, three more back-up stints, probably 60 or so continuity clinics, a pesky board exam and I can call myself done with indentured servitude! Happy Dance with me tonight!: Swing or Hula - your choice!