Helping your wife understand what a preceptorship is

So, today I came home from preceptorship drained and exhausted. I don't know what the difference between drained and exhausted is. Anyway, Rachel was still making dinner and I got on the floor with Jackson and began playing a card game with him. Rachel naturally asked me how my day went, and all I could think about was my preceptorship.

Today, for preceptorship I got drilled time and time again by the family medicine doctor I was working with. He had me go into patients' rooms alone, interview them, try to think about what they might have, and organize all my thoughts and notes in the precise manner that the doctor wanted. I found it extremely difficult and intellectually taxing. He continued to tell me how I could shorten my response, where I needed to elaborate, or how I could be more efficient. After he told me what I should fix, he told me to type it up and he went to see the patient himself. He did this a few times that day. I found myself in an intense study mode trying to remember the best way to present information, remember the kinds of questions I should ask, think about the many types of diseases it could be etc. etc.

So, once I was home, it was difficult for me to explain this to Rachel because she was continually trying to make dinner, Jackson wanted to play soccer and cards, I needed to set the table and we never had some focused time to talk. So, I came up with an analogy/example of what preceptorship is like. I think all you wives of Medical Students will understand quickly:

What a Preceptorship is like: a kitchen analogy
Trying to ask the patients the right questions, organize the data, and present in the perfect manner is like:
having someone come into your kitchen, throw everything out of the fridge, freezer, and cupboards, and you have to ask them what they wanted to make. But, the problem is they don't know what they want to make! All they know is that they have all of these ingredients everywhere in different places all over the ground, and not in the order you need. You are then supposed to see what ingredients you recognize and that it is a recipe that you vaguely know. Then, you are supposed to rearrange all of the liquids and solids and powders and spices together in the precise order. Then, a head chef walks into your kitchen and you are supposed to present to him the ingredients in such a manner and organization that you lead him to the recipe before you are even done presenting. On top of that, you are supposed to tell him incognito, 10 to 20 other recipes that it is not, by eliminating or telling him the ingredients you don't have. And that is how I would describe a preceptorship.

So, a long story long, I now know how to describe a preceptorship to my wife. Some fun facts on top of that example are that there are thousands of recipes, and we are supposed to know the recipes simply by knowing one or two key ingredients. It may sound easy but the problem is that when we see a patient we don't even know what types of ingredients they have. Through appropriate questions and doing the right labs, hopefully, we can learn the recipe that patient has.… And then tell our head physician what we think… And most likely we are wrong anyway. Yet, I believe that one day I will learn more than I know now.

That is all for tonight.