I have finally made it to fourth year of medical school and sadly I have found medicine to be somewhat disenfranchising. Because of electronic medical record keeping I will become one of the highest paid tempests in the country. There is almost a 1:3 ratio time spent with my patients to typing and charting. I understand the value in good notes but even the notes are bogged down by useless inserts, tables, legal commentary, and templates ROS. I don't know which is harder trying to translate a doctors hand writing or sift through pages of useless data and billing info. Then comes my training, they have shortened my hours, hurray I guess but now I have to learn as much as my predecessors in almost half the time! Now all of our procedures are becoming more and more dependant on advanced imaging that may not be available in many settings therefore docs will not learn how to do specific procedures by hand. It's no wonder we are cranking out some poor doctors. I also find it sad that the most crucial physicians (primary care) work the longest hours, are responsible for the largest scope of practice, are paid the least, and do not command much respect from the medical field. Residents appearently still have to take out loans during residency!! When will I ever make enough money just to pay back what I owe? 
Ugh. As of this moment I am waiting for residency interview invitations. Nervous as can be, I will admit I was not stellar in school but I did okay. All I want is to have good training so that I can provide great care to rural residents. I want the ability to travel abroad and make a difference, to be that doc that hits his call light when there is a medical emergency on a plane. I want to be challenged everyday and feel as though I am making a difference in other peoples' lives. But at the moment I feel like I didn't use the angles/tactics I should have to get to where I needed to go. I picked hard assignments for their learning potential rather than their grading reputation. I feel as though I have taken every opportunity to learn as much as I can and I feel more and more like a "real doctor" everyday but still fighting an uphill battle. But enough of the "I's".
This has been a hard year but a fun one. I discovered drop in soccer at Seattle Central with a bunch of international guys and the Huskies are doing great this year. My Patriots and Seahawks are doing well too. With interview season coming up I will get to travel around a bit. Lidia and are no more, which ends a great and sad chapter of my life.
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