What is the life of an intern, striving to become a doctor, like?!

What is the life of an intern, striving to become a doctor, like?

I need the experienced ones help on this one. I know the general knowledge stuff already, like you're always on call, never get any sleep, work at least twelve-hour shifts everyday, and never spend any time with your family. But what is the schedule exactly? If it varies, someone give me an example. I'd like to become a doctor (general) and work in a hospital, and I know that an internship of one year goes along with that. So what can I expect, other than what I listed above?

In general, television shows about intern/resident life are at best, highly inaccurate.

If you can find an old TLC documentary series called "Resident Life," that is probably the most accurate depiction of what medical training is like.

Also, be aware that internship only refers to the first year after medical school; the subsequent years of training are called residency. The only practical importance is that you can change programs after your internship year; otherwise, there is one standard curriculum and requirement set throughout all of residency.

In general, residency training starts out with the most general medical care and the longest hours. As training progresses, you move into more specialized care and shorter hours. This progression varies from program to program, and you also have some choice in which rotations you want to do (within limits).

Typically, the first year is done primarily on inpatient (hospital) medicine. Hours are typically 8-10 hours a day, with 1-2 days off each week. You are typically on call every 3-5 days, and the following day will be a day off, which starts after rounds and signouts around 10 - 11 AM. On call you will typically only get 1-2 hours of continuous sleep overnight. The busiest time of day is typically the early morning, when the attending physicians are present and want to see the patients together, called rounds. This will typically last 2-3 hours, and you are expected to have seen the patients ahead of time and looked up information. After rounds, any follow up issues are dealt with and you typically have time to look up articles, read and ***** and moan to each other.

Note that it is highly unlikely that you will have any sex during your intern year. Typically 50% of marriages will fail during the first 2 years of residency. Likewise, relationships will often fail or be problematic, and intraresidency relationships rarely succeed. In addition, relationships between interns and residents are discouraged, since senior residents supervise the more junior residents. More seriously, relationships between residents and attendings is considered a conflict of interest, and is routinely grounds for suspension from programs for both.

Other rotations typically done the first year are ER and outpatient (clinic) medicine. On ER, days are typically 12 hour shifts, 4-5 days a week with no call. On outpatient medicine, days are typically 8-10 hours weekdays--some programs have you take call on outpatient medicine, some don't.