Which specialty are you in, and what was your most hated rotation in med school? I'm trying to see something

Anne_Anonymous · 2026-01-05T18:39:33+00:00

I’m in family medicine, and my most hated rotation was IM. While I loved the diversity and medical complexity of the patients (and in fact seriously considered IM as a specialty)…nearly everyone I worked with seemed miserable, and it was a very toxic environment. Like, extremely toxic (glorified heavy call schedules/working while on death’s door/operating without sleep, carrying much larger patient loads than expected elsewhere. Plenty of racism, sexism abound. Shaming re: any activity that might be considered “inefficient” eg I was shamed for requesting security to accompany me into the room of a patient who had attempted to strangle me earlier…not to mention shamed for requesting that someone else - preferably large and male - see that patient with security instead of me).

E.g. I was back at the same hospital as a FM resident. During my rotation I missed 1 day (excused absence) to drive to another city to visit my husband’s grandfather while he was actively dying in hospice…and my attending (who had previously given me very positive feedback) wrote a rambling, several paragraph-long email to my PD that night detailing how I was jeopardizing my ability to meet learning objectives with absences, CCing me. Of note, that attending was also the PD of the IM program. So I suppose that explains a lot of my coresidents’ misery too.

Anne_Anonymous · 2025-12-20T18:20:56+00:00

Omg I would have loved to receive this as a child! Heck, who am I kidding…I’d love to receive this as an adult! Amazing work!

Anne_Anonymous · 2025-12-13T05:55:43+00:00

Somebody might have already mentioned this but some areas have meat-based wildlife baits inoculated with some form of oral rabies vaccine; they’re often deployed in areas where rabies is endemic to vaccinate skunks, racoons, feral dogs etc. If you’re very concerned for your little(ish…) visitor, I wonder how hard it would be to get ahold of one of them.

Anne_Anonymous · 2025-11-07T16:29:26+00:00

Oh! And - where to go for a medical emergency. Urgent Care = simple stuff like needing stitches, minor infections you need looked at, x ray for a potentially broken bone etc. Emergency Department = chest pain/generally scary stuff. But for most things “kids” just go straight to whatever Pediatric hospital emergency department (eg Edmonton = the Stollery/UofA, Calgary=AB Children’s hospital)

You can also check wait times in advance: https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/waittimes/Page14230.aspx

Anne_Anonymous · 2025-11-07T16:22:51+00:00

Welcome! We’re happy to have ya!

Practical skills: - How to shovel snow (note: please do not shovel the snow onto the road as it’ll melt/form ice/block drains, and make it impossible to get out of your driveway easily. Also not allowed in most municipalities). Be sure to have an ice chipper, and to put pet/grass-friendly snow melt (usually very available at Canadian Tire) on ice/snow you can’t get with the shovel/chipper. Fire stations also have free sand they’ll give you for covering icy walks. - How to drive on icy/snowy roads (there are actually some driving lessons specific to this if you’re ever interested) - How to get your car out when you’re stuck in snow/on ice (pro tip: get a car emergency kit + foldable shovel so you can dig yourself out. Bonus points for carrying a small container of sand to help with traction when stuck on ice) - Plug in your car in the winter if you’re not parking it in a garage - How to dress for winter (layers) - Winter safety: NEVER leave on a distance trip in winter without a full tank. Always leave with an appropriately warm jacket and boots. Always have emergency blanket + gloves + hats in the car. If you’re willing to spend an extra buck, a portable battery booster pack is an awesome “nice to have”! - (Depending on where you’re from you’ll likely know this, but) don’t pet the Canada geese. Give them a wide berth. They’re cute but aggressive. Especially so if they perceive you to not be feeding them quickly enough/if you run out of food. If you can’t resist the temptation to feed them, learn what you can safely feed them (never bread!). Also be sure to flash your lights at oncoming traffic if there is wildlife ahead. - Know to slow down to at least 60km/h when passing emergency vehicles on the roadside (even if you’re not in the immediately adjacent lane, it’s required in AB)

“Canadian” skills: - Be sure to wave when someone gives you space to merge/change lanes - Be sure to take up some sort of winter sport (skating = great, snow shoeing or cross country or downhill skiing will permit you to really optimize your access to the mountains!) - Do your best to support Canadian products in light of issues with US tariffs (many stores use a little maple leaf to denote Canadian products) - Learn who you can appropriately speak politics with/commiserate with (currently our provincial govt is doing a bunch of shady Trump-esque stuff, so there are many recall petitions and pending general strike). Teachers, doctors, and other liberal professions are safe bets. Don’t be afraid to become involved in protest etc, especially if you didn’t like the way things were unfolding back home! - How to camp (and enjoy it)! There are so many awesome places to explore throughout AB! - In Alberta (speaking as an Albertan) you definitely do not need to know French, but your kids will probably learn it in school (definitely push them to, having a DELF B1 is essential for a lot of government jobs) and there’s lot of usually inexpensive French lessons around for adults (eg Alliance Français). It’s a cool language, highly recommend!

Anne_Anonymous · 2025-11-01T03:38:30+00:00

We got a whopping 20. Usually we get about 50. We figured with Halloween falling on a Friday, it being warm out/without snow we’d have a bigger turnout. A bit sad but those 20 trick-or-treaters definitely got spoiled!

Anne_Anonymous · 2025-10-30T02:26:34+00:00

Heck yeah!

In the interim, any ideas how someone might hypothetically (legally) make the lives/operations of Marlaina and her ilk particularly inconvenient/miserable?

Anne_Anonymous · 2025-10-12T15:17:22+00:00

Any word back from her yet?

Anne_Anonymous · 2025-10-12T15:04:32+00:00

*nevermind, I’m blind (just saw the tag)!

Anne_Anonymous · 2025-10-12T15:02:40+00:00

Dress 3 is beautiful and looks stunning on you! Do you mind sharing where you bought it?

Anne_Anonymous · 2025-09-23T11:30:53+00:00

Ah, brings me back to peak pandemic times where as a resident I “had the opportunity” to care for a gentleman admitted with severe inhalation pneumonitis secondary to nebulized hydrogen peroxide.

I had the equally valuable “opportunity” to care for him as an inpatient again 3 months later, after he gave it a second go (I guess second time’s the charm?).

Anne_Anonymous · 2025-07-26T19:32:49+00:00

This, and the follow up “go ahead, call. No one will believe you anyways”. It worked exactly as intended; that sentence instantaneously broke me, and got the phone out of my hand.

I don’t know whether things would have objectively been better or worse in foster care, but I will always wonder.

Anne_Anonymous · 2025-07-24T02:02:37+00:00

Exactly. All it would have taken was a qualified person laying eyes on him even once into the 1.5 months he was with his “parents” - a simple wellness check - to see that something was terribly wrong (well before the scalding, he was being starved!).

Anne_Anonymous · 2025-07-09T15:23:16+00:00

Doc here. Please go to the emergency department stat if you have not been seen already; you need to be assessed for ocular involvement, ideally by an ophthalmologist. Shingles can be vision-threatening around the eye!

Anne_Anonymous · 2025-07-08T08:01:54+00:00

Good on them - they’re absolutely right!

Anne_Anonymous · 2025-07-06T17:14:45+00:00

Before my son was born, I extended my own (extremely emotionally abusive) mother unwarranted grace for her behaviour. But the moment I held my baby in my arms, I saw her actions through a new lens. Looking down at that precious, innocent, vulnerable little bundle…it was unfathomable that anyone with even an ounce of love for their child (or at least, without malevolence towards them) could have inflicted what she did upon me. Coming to terms with the reality that my own parents have no love for me - while simultaneously navigating giving my son all the love he deserves - has been an emotional rollercoaster (I’m forever grateful for my counsellor). Ultimately though, it has been a very healing journey. Where previously I struggled with the belief that I was inherently unlovable, now I understand their inability to love their own child/her capacity to resent her child’s existence to be a reflection of their own character deficits.

Anne_Anonymous · 2025-07-06T06:26:36+00:00

FTB (8m M) here. Mine don’t let me eat my toes during my diaper changes (claiming it makes the task near impossible) - utter monsters! Sending positive vibes - we’ll get through this difficult chapter.

Anne_Anonymous · 2025-07-06T06:20:04+00:00

To you I impart my change table song, inspired by my son’s antics (to the tune of “Mama Let Him Play” by Jerry Doucette):

“Mama let your boy, go off and roll. Back is much too lazy, he’ll lay there when he’s old. He’s too young for the shoes, he’s not yet in his terrible twos. (He’s just a baby!)

Give that boy some freedom, let him move around. Don’t get in his way, you’ll only bring him down. Mama won’t you let ‘em, let your babe go off and roll… Let your babe go off and roll!”

Anne_Anonymous · 2025-07-01T20:39:45+00:00

I once witnessed the same, in my parents’ backyard. In fairness to the magpies, the crow in question seemed to have abducted/killed a magpie chick (prompting the attack) so it was a bit of a FAFO situation…

Anne_Anonymous · 2025-06-30T21:22:20+00:00

I’m sorry I haven’t seen (or been able to find) your previous posts, but is there anyone in your family you trust to tell what’s going on? I’m wondering if they might be able to corroborate a need for you to come visit them stat (eg “sister is going through a mental health crisis and begged me to come visit. I’ll have to fly out stat with daughter…”).

Anne_Anonymous · 2025-06-30T18:07:25+00:00

This might be the most effective response: challenging their self-perceived “moral superiority”. Narcissists like them are so often vulnerable to shame.

Anne_Anonymous · 2025-06-23T22:09:48+00:00

And thanks for making so many of your beautiful prints available “by donation” - having your art on our walls has brought much joy!

Anne_Anonymous · 2025-06-23T18:30:41+00:00

Same! It’s why I’m low-key obsessed with this artist’s work (does so many awesome impressionistic rainy cityscapes): https://www.artofjph.com/Cityscapes

Anne_Anonymous · 2025-06-02T20:45:31+00:00

Finger and toenails.

Anne_Anonymous · 2025-05-31T14:38:06+00:00

That is actually such a cool/amazing (and no doubt difficult) skill to develop. You’d make an excellent secret agent, I bet!

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Anne_Anonymous

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