Missionary Orthopod in the Making

So on Monday I start the first week of my 3 months of orthopaedics rotations. During the past 2 weeks that I have been on Musculoskeletal Radiology, I have had a lot of time to brush up on my anatomy. I will be rotating with the chair of orthopaedics who I hear is extremely chill in the OR, barely pimping at all. I actually kind of wish it was the opposite, because I want to get used to be pimped everyday. Either way, I have received loads of information on how to excel on these rotations at the overall advice I have received is:

1. Never ever ever complain, or present any body language that looks tired
2. Be nice to everyone, includes nurses, janitors, residency secretaries (especially them), scrub techs, etc.
3. Know your anatomy
4. Make Life easier for the residents so that when you leave they will miss you (i.e.- writing notes, anticipating the residents needs, showing constant initiative)
5. Take as many calls as you can, while not burning yourself out
6. Never ask to go home, ever

I actually have about 30 pages of advice that I copied from orthogate to read up on, but generally what I have above is what I need to do. In addition to that I truly need to call on the help of God to give me strength during these next 3 months. I will be pretty grueling, especially because I will be away from my wife and unborn child for that time. But this is a sacrifice that I need to make, and the effort I put in now will hopefully pay off come March 17, 2011 (Match Day).

It has taken a lot of painstaking work, but my ERAS application finally completed. I should have my Step 2 CK scores back by September 1st which is the first day possible to submit our application. I want to wait until I get word on whether my research paper has  been accepted for publication, but I don’t want to wait too long. I may submit on Sept. 2nd or 3rd just to see if the research confirmation comes around then. The process of writing my personal statement was the most painful experience of it all. To write the first one was actually pretty easy, but then when I emailed it to some residents to ask their opinion, it got chewed up, lol. So I had to revamp some things, but I think now it truly shows the type type of person I am and how unique my experiences in life have been. My goal for writing the PS is to target special ones to certain regions, but changing the last paragraph. I was told that its not necessary, but a nice touch. Once, my match list is submitted, I will post my personal statement.