doctoring with air quotes

So the time has finally come and I'm now being busy and "doctoring" little kids. :) I'm starting off on an inpatient service that has general peds along with a few subspecialties like GI, cardiology, infectious disease, and ENT. It's actually really fun but SUPER challenging. I'm going into my second call night tomorrow, which means I will be at the hospital, admitting new patients, as well as covering the rest of my team's patients, for a total of 30 hours, with little to no sleep. It's nerve-wrecking, to say the least. But what can you do?

The newest challenge, on top of being a doctor now, is my role as a "teacher." I've been assigned a third-year medical student and it's really eerie because I feel like I was just one, a few weeks ago. I guess in reality, it's been more than a few weeks, but I still feel inadequate to role-model and impart clinical pearls. I'm trying hard to be a good resident and a good teacher, but it's tough trying to balance everything.

I never knew what a blessing it would be that I matched where I matched... because I love all the people I work with and I'm in a familiar environment, both of which makes this otherwise stressful situation, a little bit more tolerable. I see my co-interns who are also starting off in this new role, and they are totally overwhelmed. I feel lucky that I already have a decent support system here and that I'm making this painful transition as smoothly as possible... (not that there's anything smooth about this at all).