bitter guy Since the beginning of this year, I've been nursing the idea of writing a graphic novel about medical school. Well, I say "graphic novel" because that's the classy parlance these days--makes people think about books like Maus and Ghost World--but let's face facts here, I'm talking about writing a comic book. I really haven't made any headway at all on these plans, aside from having the idea in the first place and coming up with a decent title (which I'll keep a secret for now in case anything ever comes of this), but in recent days, I've decided that in my illustrated adventures, I should include a character by the name of "Bitter Guy." Bitter Guy is based on...um...no one that you know...and his chief personality trait is that he's really, really, bitter. I will draw him with gritted teeth and clenched fists, and he will have a little black squiggle rising from the top of his head to symbolize his inner rage. I think that drawing a comic about Bitter Guy will ultimately be therapeutic for me, in that I can turn him around and make him funny as opposed to an source of daily anxiety and frustration. And in my world, I can do anything I want with Bitter Guy. I can draw him happy and dancing naked, with a lampshade over his head. I can draw him covered with fuzzy little kittens. Or, I can draw him sleepwalking in front of a freight train. It will all be within my power. The pen is mightier than the sword. But meanwhile, back on planet Earth... Here's an interesting article that just appeared in the Times about national policy being implemented with the intent of regulating the number of resident physician work hours. (Thanks for the e-mail, Jerri!) Imagine, a proposal that says that doctors in training need to get enough rest to do their jobs well, and that they even deserve a few hours a week to live lives out of the hospital! Revolutionary! While I applaud these changes and am thankful that I'll be starting my residency the first year these nationwide mandates will have to take effect, I can tell from now that it's going to be an uphill battle against tradition and The Establishment. Medicine, maybe more than any other field (with the possible exception of the armed forces), is an environment where things are done because that's the way things have always been done, and don't ask too many questions because I have seniority, dammit. I sat in on a meeting today addressing the institution of a night float system on the surgical service, and witnessed a number of attendings, both old and young, spluttering with rage and walking out of the auditorium in protest because apparently, patient care will suffer if the same intern isn't working to take care of them 48 hours straight. After all, that's they way that they were trainined. If they had to do it, we would have to do it, progress and logic be damned. Sure, continuity of care is important, and I don't deny that. But I think in the long run, having a doctor that has enough time to read the literature, enough energy to learn, and enough mental wherewithal to make critical, life-and-death decisions is more important than seeing the same haggard face from sunrise to sunset to sunrise. Also, I like sleeping. xo Michelle |
Thursday . June 13 . 2002 . 8:36pm |
bitter guy Since the beginning of this year, I've been nursing the idea of writing a graphic novel about medical school. Well, I say "graphic novel" because that's the classy parlance these days--makes people think about books like Maus and Ghost World--but let's face facts here, I'm talking about writing a comic book. I really haven't made any headway at all on these plans, aside from having the idea in the first place and coming up with a decent title (which I'll keep a secret for now in case anything ever comes of this), but in recent days, I've decided that in my illustrated adventures, I should include a character by the name of "Bitter Guy." Bitter Guy is based on...um...no one that you know...and his chief personality trait is that he's really, really, bitter. I will draw him with gritted teeth and clenched fists, and he will have a little black squiggle rising from the top of his head to symbolize his inner rage. I think that drawing a comic about Bitter Guy will ultimately be therapeutic for me, in that I can turn him around and make him funny as opposed to an source of daily anxiety and frustration. And in my world, I can do anything I want with Bitter Guy. I can draw him happy and dancing naked, with a lampshade over his head. I can draw him covered with fuzzy little kittens. Or, I can draw him sleepwalking in front of a freight train. It will all be within my power. The pen is mightier than the sword. But meanwhile, back on planet Earth... Here's an interesting article that just appeared in the Times about national policy being implemented with the intent of regulating the number of resident physician work hours. (Thanks for the e-mail, Jerri!) Imagine, a proposal that says that doctors in training need to get enough rest to do their jobs well, and that they even deserve a few hours a week to live lives out of the hospital! Revolutionary! While I applaud these changes and am thankful that I'll be starting my residency the first year these nationwide mandates will have to take effect, I can tell from now that it's going to be an uphill battle against tradition and The Establishment. Medicine, maybe more than any other field (with the possible exception of the armed forces), is an environment where things are done because that's the way things have always been done, and don't ask too many questions because I have seniority, dammit. I sat in on a meeting today addressing the institution of a night float system on the surgical service, and witnessed a number of attendings, both old and young, spluttering with rage and walking out of the auditorium in protest because apparently, patient care will suffer if the same intern isn't working to take care of them 48 hours straight. After all, that's they way that they were trainined. If they had to do it, we would have to do it, progress and logic be damned. Sure, continuity of care is important, and I don't deny that. But I think in the long run, having a doctor that has enough time to read the literature, enough energy to learn, and enough mental wherewithal to make critical, life-and-death decisions is more important than seeing the same haggard face from sunrise to sunset to sunrise. Also, I like sleeping. xo Michelle |
