Brand New D.O.

Music to my ears!!! Yes, friends & Romans, it has finally transpired. OMD trounced across the stage in Kirksville, MO, was hooded, took the oath and had the time-honored degree --> “Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine” <-- conveyed upon him…folks, that means, in English, I am now officially a physician!! It was absolutely strange…the other day, when the State Farm office manager manager was filling out my transfer application - go to move all of our insurance from MI to NH - she asked me what my profession was. Honestly, I don’t think it had soaked in…but I got this big-ole cheesy grin when I realized that my answer had to be “Physician”. She quickly noted my smile and inquired…I responded again, “Physician, since this past Saturday”. Talk about an awesome feeling!!!
Right now, I am savoring a Kirin Ichiban, watching my beautiful daughter sleep and trying to be witty about my first OPM posting as a physician - that means I am fading into a more advisory role, hopefully…and less administrative. Giving of myself and hoping others will learn from my successes & failures is one of the things I love and a huge part of what has driven me to build OPM. Finally, now that the EC is taking flight, I will be able to retransition back into the role that I loved to begin with - friend & advisor to the members of OPM.
Honestly, as unbelievably wonderful it is having finally become a physician - it pales by comparision to becoming a father. We all have to keep our priorities straight!
My orientation begins the 20th of this month. 2 days hosp & 2 days surgical orientation & then I hit GI surg service with full aplomb. Occasionally, I wonder if there was a temp or something working the day they signed me on…surely there must have been a boo-boo! Actually, it is both a little unnerving and extremely exciting to move onto the next stage. I just want to do my absolute best for my patients & learn tons!
On an aside…as it benefits OPM too…I was contacted by the AMSA publication The New Physician today. It seems that my dear wife nominated me as an interesting med student who has had a few accomplishments. Long story made short & a preliminary interview later, they contacted me today to inform me that they will be doing a feature article on me & OldPreMeds!!! This will give OPM some major publicity for FREE! I have no idea when it will go to press, but I will be interviewed at length next Monday. Once I learn more, I will pass it along to you all.
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Dave you are a one-man walking advertisement for the value of following your heart. Rock on with your bad self. And congratulations, Dr. Kelley.
joe
ps–that's super cool about the New Physician.

QUOTE (OldManDave @ Jun 12 2003, 04:04 PM)
Music to my ears!!! Yes, friends & Romans, it has finally transpired. OMD trounced across the stage in Kirksville, MO, was hooded, took the oath and had the time-honored degree --> "Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine" <-- conveyed upon him...folks, that means, in English, I am now officially a physician!! It was absolutely strange...the other day, when the State Farm office manager manager was filling out my transfer application - go to move all of our insurance from MI to NH - she asked me what my profession was. Honestly, I don't think it had soaked in...but I got this big-ole cheesy grin when I realized that my answer had to be "Physician". She quickly noted my smile and inquired...I responded again, "Physician, since this past Saturday". Talk about an awesome feeling!!!

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Hey Dave,
Enjoy the feeling for about two more weeks and then being a physican will sink in. You will start internship and put that new DO degree to work. The two times you can actually enjoy medical school: Orientation week and the weeks after you get the MD/DO but before internship starts. Yes, life is good!!
Congratuations on coming over to the "dark side" and let us know how that first night on call goes. smile.gif
Natalie

Congratulations to you, over and over and over!!! You are such an inspiration to us all Dave!!! Let's Give It Up for the new Dr. Kelley!!! Way to Go!!!
Vita

Dave,
Don't let that mean ol Dr. Nat get you down… you will also love being a physician the week you get off after internship. After that it's all down hill! I started getting gray hair duing second year of medical school, and chest hair the second year of residency. Once you can write scripts for your friends and family and you have your own patients to worry about every night you go home; there's the joy.
Best of luck as an intern, and also, indeed, welcome to the dark side!
David

This is just so cool. Congrats.
And congrats to Wendy and Dillon too!
Susan - Chicago/Minneapolis

Dave,
As I said in our phone conversation last night. . . Thanks!! You have been such an inspiration to many of us, and I know that without you and OldPreMeds, my journey into medical school would have been much more convoluted and certainly more difficult!
If anyone deserves to be recognized by New Physician and AMSA, it is certainly you! Now go knock'em dead with your interview next Monday, and have a good time as you begin your journey into internship!!

woohoo! congrats, Dr. Kelley!
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Congrats, Dave…You are an inspiration to so many non-traditional students! You really deserve this!!! Enjoy!!!
kris

It’s wonderful!
Many congratulations Dr. Kelley!

Yesterday, orientation started. We had several informal, chatty talks & a few more substantive, not-quite lecture talks. Every physician who spoke with us emphasized 4 points that are the cornerstone of all of the Dartmouth residency programs: (hope I can recall them all)
1 - Do not ever misrepresent yourself intentionally or accidentally: meaning, if you do not know, do not attempt to “make up” an answer…if you don’t know Ms. Smith’s potassium, say that you don’t.
2 - Under no circumstances at any time are you to feel that you are out there alone. If even the slightest doubt exists, call you Jr, your Sr or even the attending. There are no stupid questions. There has never been anyone who got into trouble by calling too often; but I can guarantee you that you will get into a lot of trouble by not calling when you should have. We do not expect you to already know all of this stuff - if you did, you would not be in training.
3 - Communication is the essence of success. No one, absolutely no one wants to arrive in the morning to be surprised by a patient’s change in status. Communicate w/ your Jr, your Sr and, when appropriate, your attending.
4 - Do not feel stupid or inferior cause you are nervous or apprehensive or uncertain of the correct decisions. As an intern, your primary function is “collector of data”. As you progress, you will gradually learn to process this data into cogent & effective care plans - but that takes time & experience. Our role as attendings, Jr & Sr residents is to facilitate this learning process, but you must take ownership of the process - it is your responsibility to learn what we are teaching you.
Yes, the thought of going out on call those first few times is pretty damned scary! No, I am not the lucky schmuck who gets to pull call on night #1; however, I am third in line! And, I am the lucky SOB who gets to pull the first w/e call day/night - that’s 24+ hours in house.
Right now, as with most programs, there is a huge transition underway to honor the new ACGME work hours restrictions requirements. Dartmouth is one of those programs who truly believes that these new edicts are to the benefit of their residents and intends to abide by them. In that same vein, there is a minimal quantity & quality of experience requisite to turn out quality physicians. So, the trade off appears to be that assure the hours are not exceeded that the intensity of the work while in house will necessarily escalate.
Sounds like fun to me!

CONGRATULATIONS, Dr. KELLY!!!

QUOTE (OldManDave @ Jun 21 2003, 04:45 PM)
Every physician who spoke with us emphasized 4 points that are the cornerstone of all of the Dartmouth residency programs

Wow, that is a really progressive stance, in my view. My biggest beef with practice and training in medicine is that people are censured for admitting ignorance about something, or for openly acknowledging that they are less than completely confident in a course of action. This results in so much unnecessary medical error, and also just perpetuates the ignorance. I've found that - brazen as I am - when I pipe up and say, 'hey, how does that go again with the XYZ?' that, in spite of the disapproving glowers and snickers of derision, the truth is that 9 out of 10 of the other people present (usually the ones snickering and glowering) have no idea either.
Good for Dartmouth!

Even more impressive to me than verbalizing such a policy is the fact that every single resident, including the out-going interns, will substantiate that they practice what they preach.
Furthermore, in all of the post-grad Dartmouth literature it is blatantly stated that it is the policy of Dartmouth that housestaff are here exclusively for educational purposes & not to act in the capacity of fleshing out the attending staff. Every specialty group maintains enough personnel to fulfill the hospital's need & the resident's are there to learn w/o the pressure of simply moving meat.

Wow, Dave! Dartmouth has a terrific attitude when it comes to training its residents. It sounds like a very positive environment to work in! You and Wendy have worked so hard to get where you are…congratulations again!
kris