Hello and welcome to My Medical Misadventures: What Have I Done? a weekly blog about my journey through the clinical years of my medical training here in Australia.

On the first day of medical school we were told by the director of the medical school that we would not see him often, but he would see us again on graduation day as ‘drastically changed people from who you are now’. Throughout that first week that theme was repeated over and again; that we would be moulded over the coming years into people capable of living up to the lofty title of ‘Australia’s next generation of medical practitioners’. That sentiment is a reason for this year blog, to chart the change from now all the way through to graduation and see whether all this tuition money is worth it.

For now I am not too sure what form the blog might take, but I intend it to be more about myself and how I react to the things I do and see everyday, rather than specific patients or actual medical knowledge that I may pick. I hope that any readers out there can forgive me that slightly narcissistic tendency, I assure you it more to do with me being petrified of clashing with the hospital’s Patient Privacy policy than just liking to talk about myself.

At the very least, if there is no one in my time interested in what I have to say, perhaps this may be interesting to future generations of archaeologists trying to recreate the events of our times. To that end I will be sure to mention any a zombie or nuclear apocalypse breaks out.

A Note on the Title

The main title should be quite self-explanatory to most, but I decided the subtitle What Have I Done?, because it is a recurrent thought that I have had since starting medical, in many contexts. One the hand the phrase has crossed my mind during exam preparation, cursing myself for signing up for the degree. But I have also whispered it to myself in disbelief as we learn some new or amazing fact, procedure, or learnt about some new expectation that is about to be placed upon us as medical students or practitioners. Finally, it also seemed appropriate for all the countless mistakes I will make along the road to becoming a doctor, because it will be the first thought to cross my mind as I try to fix everything again.

To start with What Have I Done? may sound filled with regret, but I assure you it is whispered with a lot more enthusiasm and sarcasm than anything else, because there is truly nothing else I would rather do than become a doctor. And so with that I invite you dear reader along on my journey to achieving that goal.