Wednesday, February 16, 2011

culture clash

I'm glad the culture is the way it is in the U.S. it doesn't always make sense, but then again, I'm biased. there is more argument here, less personal space. Rounds and check out are a little loud in the morning. Patients barge in during rounds and during other patient's clinic visit to ask questions. I think we had 15 people in one smallish 6 by 10 foot clinic room. They take a 2 hour lunch break. Sounds cool, but I'd rather gulp down some caffeine and get my stuff done early and go home on time. There is more of a class/hierarchy system in the hospital. There's a lot of barging and shoving in the subway during rush hours, although I'm pretty sure it's like that many times in NYC too. the retirement age is 55, although I'm pretty sure they will have to change that at some time in the near future. There was some talk about making it mandatory for kids to take care of their parents. There's a heavy emphasize on textures in food and I didn't realize that a chicken/pig/cow had all these textures depending on which part you ate. Patients and physicians (along with all other health care providers) should be extremely happy in the U.S.; we have a pretty decent system setup, partially due to trial and error, and still full of errors that will require a lot of patching in the near future.

I still love being here and having the opportunity to come, but I miss my bed/non-smog air/ability to drink water from the tap/ and car.

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