Week 1: Summer Camp?

Well, aside from the fact that I've gone to sleep one night this week at 7:00 pm, and another at 9:00 pm (This coming from someone who never went to bed through five years of college earlier than midnight), it's been an exhausting "summer camp" at Mayo Medical for the first week.

With a whirlwind week of orientation after orientation, panel after panel, and tour after tour I think I've just started to realize that a whole third of Block I: Leadership has already evaporated and the didatic Block II is only two weeks away! But that's not to say that Mayo hasn't been treating us well.

I mean starting from Day 1 when we received our new and shiny Macbook's to a locker full of gadgetry that would even make Batman proud (see picture), we've had fun integrating into the Mayo way of life around here. Courtesy of Mayo Medical School we've all become AMA members, received four-year Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center passes, dined multiple occasions this week alone including a welcome picnic, and even a riverboat cruise in Red Wing on the Mississippi Wednesday night until 10:30 pm! Now you can see why sleep seems to be sparse this week,

We've also been assigned to our mentors this week and showed them for a morning. I've been paired with an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Huddleston - a lifer from Mayo Medical to Mayo staff - who uniquely could portray a glimpse to the future in my 20 years, as I probably embody a portrait of the past to him. From our first meeting I can tell that he is an awesome teacher and amazing person and I look forward to working with him for a year if not longer. He's already shown me some of the amazing healthcare systems engineering that Mayo uniquely employs that amazes me about the efficiency of this place administratively run exclusively by physicians!

Along with all this orientation we've also started delving into discussion about leadership training, about healthcare systems and reform, and before this block's out we'll have our Basic Life Support certification, spent a night in the hospital as a patient, and spent a day as eldery people in simulation as well. Well, the week may be over but week two starts all too soon tomorrow, so it's off to bed for me tonight! Look for posts weekly as this adventure of medical school continues!