Nursing internship

Last week I started my nursing internship. As part of my MD program, we are required to do a number of internships during the summer, the first being nursing. We are also responsible for getting our internships ourselves - we have to find hospitals that are willing to take us on and it’s all our responsibility. 

I think it’s great. I think it’s meant to show doctors how hard nurses work and to respect the work they do.

Doctors can be a bit stuck up and disrespectful or dismissive of nurses and this hopefully will give us a reality check. That said, I had a bunch of nurses be quite disappointed when they learned that I’m in need one and not nursing. One even said “ah, another one to turn their nose up at us when she is done”. I told her that I sincerely hoped not - and was able to win her over later. 

I was able to arrange to do my nursing internship at a local hospital which is an 8 minute bike ride from my home. It was a bit of a trade off though - it’s an orthopaedic hospital so it’s very specialized in terms of what types of problems I’ll be exposed to. But it’s close to home and means I’ll get to spend more time with my kids. 

Last week I was in the trauma ward where patients who suffered a trauma (like broken arm after a fall) or planned procedure (hip replacement) were placed post-op. It was a fairly calm ward so I think a great place to ease me. That said there was a lot of down time where nothing was going on and I found that a bit frustrating (for me - I’m sure the nurses themselves like it).

This week I’m in the ER. I’m hoping it’s a bit more fast paced!

I’ve always had huge respect for nurses and the profession as a whole, and I often get asked why I didn’t go for nursing instead of medicine. I’ll get to that in a minute.

I’m only a quarter of the way into the internship and so far it’s been great. I didn’t expect to LIKE it as much as I do. I mean sure, it’s been interesting and informative but also just FUN! 

However the reasons that I didn’t want to be a nurse are largely to do with flexibility and dependence. And as a result, to be honest, I never really considered it. Eventually, I want to be my own boss. I want to own and run a clinic somewhere. I did do a whole degree in business afterall and I am business minded. 

But that’s something I wouldn’t be able to do as a nurse - I’d forever be dependent on a hospital or doctor to hire me. I’d be stuck on shifts forever. Plus I’ll admit I want to be the one issuing orders instead of just taking them. I like problem solving, like the idea that I’m responsible, that I’m the one ultimately making the decision. And while that does in part scare me, it would also scare me to be told what to do knowing it’s wrong or even just not ideal and not really being able to do much about it. 

Still. I have a ton of respect for nurses and I do hope that I will be able to forge good relationships with the nurses I work with in the future. I’m so grateful to get this experience!