Radi-Holiday

This week, I started a two-week radiology elective at UH. I had wanted to do it at CCF, but the radiologists there only let people do rads for four weeks. I can't do four weeks since I have to start my next core block of rotations in two weeks. This was probably a blessing in disguise, because radiology has to be the most boring rotation I have ever done.

Picture this: we come in at 8 AM each morning for an hour-long conference that mainly consists of people throwing films up and droning on about them. The room is nice and warm and dark. Actually, so are the rooms where the radiologists read the slides. Some of the residents enjoy teaching, but many basically ignore us. So I've been spending most of my mornings either reading or dozing off, depending on my inclination.

At noon, there is a second conference, similar to the first. By then, I am usually too hungry to doze off, so I read my radiology case book. This is not a required book. I just bought it on my own so that I could hopefully learn something about radiology. After lunch, all of the med students clear out. That is the best part of each day.

So far, I have rotated through ultrasound, chest imaging, ER/bone, nuclear medicine (by far the most interesting), and CT. But overall, the interesting : boring ratio is way too low for this rotation to be of much use. It's not just me who feels this way--one of the other med students dropped the rotation altogether a couple of days ago.

Besides boring me to death, this rotation is totally disrupting my circadian rhythm. After I've been dozing off in a dark room all morning, it's not so easy to fall asleep at a reasonable hour that night!