Lessons from My Houseman Year - 4

Lesson 4 - Be Ignorant, not Stupid

Not knowing how to insert a chest tube is being ignorant.

Inserting a chest tube when you don’t really know how to do it is being stupid.

Despite what your seniors tell you, nobody started the first day of housemanship knowing the correct dosage of every drug and having done every single procedure at least twice.

Ask.

Ask to be taught. Ask to be shown. Ask to be taken through.

At the end of the day, it’s better to be called 'stupid' by your registrar (when you were really just ignorant) than to be called 'stupid' by the judge.

Because he would be right then.