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If Scrubs has taught me anything, it's that internship is hard, and the way to survive it is to try to have a laugh. So I'm starting this blog in order to write about internship, and hopefully find humour in the life I'll be leading. For the sake of privacy, any names I use in this blog will be made up, though the people will of course be real.

For those of you unversed in Sydney medical jargon, here is a glossary, which I will add to as I go along. If you catch me using a word or acronym you don't understand, please point it out in a comment and I'll add it to the glossary.

GiMP: A medical student or graduate from the University of Sydney Graduate Medical Program (GMP = GiMP when said out loud.) Generally, these are the oldest medical students and graduates, because as the name implies, the GMP only takes students who have already graduated from university with a Bachelor's degree or even higher qualification. The GMP is a four-year degree, and as such is shorter than any of the undergraduate programs. As a result, GiMPs tend to be deficient in certain areas of medical knowledge, such as pharmacology and anatomy. On the other hand, because of their age and life experience, as well as the interview process required to get into the program, they are generally somewhat better at communicating with patients and practicing medicine in a humane and ethical manner. (There, I actually managed to write that with a straight face.)

Newcastle: A city to the north of Sydney, which has a university and medical program. Theirs is a five-year undergraduate degree, so if you want to become a doctor in the shortest possible amount of time, you apply for Newcastle straight out of high school. Some of the Newcastle inetrns are as young as 22.

Rehab: Just in case there's some confusion about this - if I use the word rehab, I don't usually mean the Amy Winehouse variety. Rehab refers to any service that helps a patient to regain their previous level of functioning after an illness or injury. For example, if Grandma breaks her hip, she will need to spend time in a rehab facility in order to regain strength and movement in that hip. Drug and alcohol rehab might come up occasionally, but I'm unlikely to have much to do with Mental Health until next year.

RMO: Resident Medical Officer (or possibly Registered Medical Officer, I'm actually not quite sure!) In any case, this acronym refers to all juniour doctors, including interns and residents.

Usyd: University of Sydney

UNSW: University of New South Wales. Medicine at UNSW is a six-year undergraduate course. At the time the current cohort of interns were applying for the course, the only requirement for getting in was a UAI of 99.7 or something similarly ridiculius. As a result, these tend to be the nerdiest medical students and graduates.