You know when you walk into the locker room to find a rack of fully stocked scrubs, it’s going to be a good day— and what a surprise, it was indeed a GREAT day. Not a particularly busy or interesting day but I really felt like a valuable part of the patient care team. I made follow-up phone calls to check on patients, became pals with a gentleman who owns his own bowling league, and even had time at the end of my shift to hang out with two of my favorite nurses…. but WHOAH I’m getting a little ahead of myself here.
No, I am not saving lives as a surgeon (YET!), but I am an intern at St. Francis Medical Center, an opportunity I am afforded as a Trojan Health Volunteer (THV). This organization, which is set up through USC’s JEP (Joint Educational Project), is something really unique that I have been involved with for the past year and a half. The program at St. Francis specifically is so great because interns are allowed to rotate to a new floor every 3 months and work their way up to the more prestigious and exciting floors in the hospital. I am currently about to start my 5th rotation in the Surgery Center where I will get the opportunity to watch surgical procedures— YES YOU HEARD THAT RIGHT. Okay… I’ll stop screaming now, but in case you couldn’t tell, I’m a tad bit excited. Soon I will actually be able to stand in the Operating Room and watch medical magic unfold before my very eyes. Just call me Meredith Grey. But really— one day I hope it’ll be my name I hear on the PA system: “Paging Dr. Corley to the OR.”