{"id":152339,"date":"2023-03-22T16:43:18","date_gmt":"2023-03-22T15:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=152339"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:42","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:42","slug":"safe-haven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2023\/03\/22\/safe-haven\/","title":{"rendered":"Safe haven"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s beginning to dawn on us that we\u2019re in the last teaching period of the medical internships. You can tell from looking at us that we\u2019ve hardened now. The tiredness that we complained about at the beginning of the internships has crystallised in our steely expressions. On Monday morning, the aroma of coffee around the coffee machine in the learning centre is mixed with a quiet kind of stoicism. Nobody complains.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLevien Willemse<\/a>, \t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPauline Wiersema<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

We\u2019re fearless. A lecturer who doesn\u2019t have the pathogenesis of a disease to hand will be reprimanded. Lecturers and behavioural psychologists can no longer use hackneyed conversation techniques, and they know it. Instead they ask: how would you do this? And they\u2019re rapt with attention as we deftly and creatively worm our way through difficult situations.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re ready. Over the past two years, we\u2019ve learned the ins and outs of countless diseases. The teaching has become a general rehearsal of these diseases, but now it\u2019s condensed. Your own private practice at a GP surgery beckons. Being your own boss, feeling like you\u2019re doing real work\u2026 It sounds fabulous after two years of sitting on a stool, watching, taking it all in.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a sense of peace and self-confidence. Over the past six years, we\u2019ve really been knocked into shape as aspiring doctors. The moment of graduation is finally drawing near.<\/p>\n

But now it\u2019s beginning to dawn on us that we\u2019re in the last teaching period of the medical internships. The teaching periods were good times, with the Education Centre as a safe haven where we could find our feet again after ten weeks of hard labour, rest for a while and share our experiences with fellow students.<\/p>\n

After the GP internship, there\u2019s only the elective internship and senior residency to go \u2013 and then you\u2019ll have finished your studies. The study group will be dissolved and everyone will go their own way. The system will have churned out a batch of new doctors, who need to start working as soon as possible to dig themselves out of student debt.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no party, no big reception at a hospital. You might get a full induction period if you\u2019re lucky, but most medical residency spots are currently drastically understaffed. You\u2019ll need to propose, implement, communicate and manage policies yourself. You\u2019ll also need to prescribe medication, send consultations, complete examination forms and deal with grumpy superiors, stressed-out colleagues, serious shortages, sky-high workloads, emergency situations, night shifts and interns.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll have final responsibility for patients: you can no longer point the finger at someone else now that you\u2019re a doctor yourself.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re afloat in the middle of the ocean, on a home-made dinghy, and a storm is raging around you. You need to learn to keep your head above water.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s starting to dawn on me now that I\u2019m almost a doctor.<\/p>\n\n\t

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