When I was in medical school, I had a middle aged attending who used to sing during rounds.
No, really.
OK, she didn't belt out "I Will Survive" at the top of her lungs, but during our sit down rounds, she would frequently start (loudly) singing a little tune as she wrote her orders or flipped through the chart. Something along the lines of, "La la la!"
What I found interesting about this is that there's NO WAY she was singing all through med school and residency. If a med student started singing like that during rounds.... well, I don't know what would happen, because nothing even close to that ever happened.
So I couldn't help but wonder: at what point in her career did she decide it was OK to start singing in front of her team? Did she do it as soon as she became an attending, since the music inside her was crying to break free? Or was it a more gradual evolution of humming giving way into actual loud singing?
Maybe she sings to drown out the voices in her head.
ReplyDeleteI think it's one of those "I'm an attending now dammit and I can do whatever I want" things, in the same way that some of your classmates are nice people while you're completing your studies, but suddenly their inner jerk reveals itself as soon as you're into residency.
ReplyDeleteThe head of Surgery at our institution carries a harmonica... and uses it. In public. :)
ReplyDeleteWe have a likely 70-something year old attending who pins giant stuffed animals to his stethoscope and is constantly singing show tunes. I love that man.
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