A big thank you to my extended family!

When I was graduating from medical school in India and moving for residency to the United States, one of the things that I thought I would really miss would be the amazing connections I was able to establish with the nurses and ancillary staff I worked with. They cared about whether I had eaten something on call or not; helped me find scarce supplies in overcrowded wards; gave me insightful lessons on patient management or procedures using their years of wisdom; let me know how proud they were of me and they blessed me to become an awesome physician.Throughout medical school; I had seen some wonderful residents have that relationship with the staff and I knew when I grew up I wanted that to be a part of each day at work for me.

During internship I was able to transition into a new healthcare system with a few minor hiccups. The staff I worked with, the nurses, social workers, unit secretaries, cleaning crew, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, nursing assistants were all so welcoming and ready to help a young intern learn the ropes. They made me feel at home. As I moved to another city and a new hospital to start my residency I was once again happy to find an extended family. Every single day at work, these people made me feel special, made me believe more than ever that I could be the best physician that I wanted to be. They worked with me through easy and difficult situations. I can't imagine stabilizing patients without all the nurses chipping in whether it was their patient or not, averting rapid responses, creating beds in step-down units, running around to get labs and meds, lending a hand for transporting patients to urgent scans or being the first responders when patients or families were not happy and bridging communication gaps and alerting me when communication needed to be bolstered. I miss them all. The NSU nurses played a huge role in helping me find my calling. As my first rotation in Neurology, no other rotation could have made for a more formidable first rotation. They were patient with me, they helped me learn the system, they taught me stuff that no textbook or journal could have, their work ethic put any signs of fatigue in me to shame. I loved working with each and everyone of them. Even when I was not in the unit, I would go hang out in the unit just because I found it to be the most comforting place in the hospital. Of course, the fact that the little break room in the middle of the unit would always have giant cookies, cupcakes, chocolate, coffee and great conversations were just added bonuses.

When it was time to move again, I couldn't help but feel sad. I was not going to see these amazing people for a long time. These people who inspired by taking pride in their jobs and brought hope and smiles as they cared for patients each day. But all the kindness and caring they shared with me made the transition easy and I was able to find another extension of my family as I started fellowship. This year has taught me a lot about myself. The first year of this fellowship has been intense both academically and philosophically and I am feeling a little introspective now as I start my second year. The nurses, unit secretaries, nurse assistants, physician assistants, respiratory therapists, cleaning crew, radiology technicians, eeg technicians, transfer center operators I am working with are a joy to work with. Through resuscitating crashing patients, running around like their lives depended on it to gather medications or blood products, to saying joyful farewells to patients who are getting transferred to the floor or rehab; to participating in some of the most difficult family discussions I have had to date..it almost feels like we have stories of triumph and tribulations together. Their work ethic is inspiring and the way they have all handled daily encounters with life and death is humbling. Their smiles, hugs, tear-filled eyes, drive and hard-work makes it a blessed experience coming to work each day.

As I write this piece, many vivid memories come to my mind, my heart is filled with gratitude and I want to say thank you to each and everyone of them. Just like any family that stays together, we have our disagreements, we have our differences, sometimes we take each other for granted, sometimes we just piss each other off but just like any family that stays together, every single time when someone needs us we have rallied together and given it our all. I feel we don't appreciate members in our families enough and don't say thank you enough. So, this blog post is a little thank you note and a little reminder that you all mean a lot to me as my extended family at work and make work fun and inspiring no matter how challenging the situations we face might be. I feel very lucky and want to thank God for giving me the privilege to work with such amazing people who believe in me :)