{"id":2579,"date":"2018-11-06T13:01:27","date_gmt":"2018-11-06T18:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/?p=2579"},"modified":"2018-11-06T13:01:27","modified_gmt":"2018-11-06T18:01:27","slug":"making-the-most-of-the-holidays-as-a-resident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/general-medicine\/index.php\/2018\/11\/making-the-most-of-the-holidays-as-a-resident\/","title":{"rendered":"Making the Most of the Holidays as a Resident"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ellen<\/a>

Ellen Poulose Redger, MD, is a Chief Resident at Stony Brook University Hospital in Stony Brook, NY<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s that time of the year again \u2014 Halloween has passed (and with it, the best excuse for an adult to dress up in costume), and the winter holidays are just around the corner. I was in a store on November 1st<\/sup>, and Christmas decorations were being put up.\u00a0 Already.\u00a0 Whether or not you happen to celebrate a particular holiday, this time of the year is associated with friends and family and togetherness.\u00a0For many residents, though, it might be the first time that they spend many (if not all) of the holidays away from family and friends they grew up with.\u00a0We all make new friends (and some would say, family) in residency and beyond, but there is also something about being home for the holidays.<\/p>\n

\"roasted<\/a>As a kid, I lived within 45 minutes of all four of my grandparents and was lucky enough to have them all around until 2010. Many Thanksgivings were spent at my dad\u2019s parents\u2019 house, where aunts and uncles and family friends and really, anyone, came to have an American Thanksgiving and then a second round of Indian food.\u00a0It was a tradition that started in the 1970s when my grandparents, immigrants to the U.S., wanted their children to grow up with a true \u201cAmerican\u201d Thanksgiving \u2014 turkey and trimmings, pies, and enough food for four times as many people as were actually in attendance.\u00a0Christmas for us was not as stereotypical. Both of my parents are physicians, so Christmas happened sometime around the 25th<\/sup> of December, whenever they could both be off and awake at the same time, and the focus was not on gifts (although we did receive them).\u00a0The focus for Christmas was being together.<\/p>\n

Holiday celebrations during residency<\/h2>\n

Fast forward to residency, when my husband and I moved\u00a0literally halfway across the country (Kansas to New York). Our first year in NY, I worked Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, New Year\u2019s Eve, and New Year\u2019s Day \u2014 somehow, I managed to have actual Christmas Day off.\u00a0[I\u2019m sure he worked at least one of those, too, but while the urology service slims down for the holidays, the various medical services I\u2019ve been on over the years do not.]\u00a0My \"\"<\/a>second and third years weren\u2019t quite as bad, but in a two-physician household, you can bet that on most holidays, at least one of us is working.\u00a0That\u2019s how it goes \u2014 patients will always be sick and in the hospital \u2014 it\u2019s part of being a physician.<\/p>\n

Being away from our families during the holidays isn\u2019t fun or easy, but my husband and I have learned to make it work.\u00a0We participate in Friendsgiving (coincidentally the afternoon\/evening after the urology in-service exam), our co-residents have organized \u201cSecret Santa\u201d gift exchanges, and we try to have a Christmas meal with members of our work family. We’ve even experienced our first Hanukkah, where I made very non-kosher lasagna.<\/p>\n

\u201cHolidays for the strays\u201d<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a>About 10 years ago, my parents started hosting \u201cholidays for the strays.\u201d\u00a0This was an open invitation to their colleagues and residents to come over on Thanksgiving or Christmas or some random day near to the holidays to share a meal and spend time together.\u00a0Over the years, this has morphed from a last minute \u201coh, no, these residents are going to be all alone on Christmas\u201d to a fully planned, official headcount, catering-to-various-dietary-restrictions event that everyone looks forward to each year. [In fact, one of the Jewish attendings had his first Christmas dinner last year!]<\/p>\n

When the \u201cstray holidays\u201d first started, my siblings and I understood that it was about bringing people together, but now, as a (chief) resident, I see how it is so much more than that.\u00a0Holidays for the strays is a way to make sure that residents and faculty know they belong to a bigger family than the one they grew up with \u2014 they belong to the family of medical professionals where someone must work 24\/7\/365 to take care of others.\u00a0Holidays for the strays are a way to make sure no one is sitting at home with leftovers or takeout on a day when everyone else is crowded around a table with family and friends. It is a way to get to know your colleagues outside of the hierarchy of the hospital or clinic.\u00a0And most importantly, it is a way to ensure that even for those of us who work most (if not all) holidays, there\u2019s still a table full of family and friends waiting to squeeze you in.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This year, as I made one of the residency class schedules, I notated where various holidays fell (including major Jewish and Muslim holidays) and tried to give the appropriate people days off on the appropriate holidays when it was possible.\u00a0 It was my way to try to ensure that the residents had a chance to pull a chair up to a table and spend time with those they love.<\/p>\n

Maybe I can\u2019t have you all over for my Christmas tenderloin, or bake up a bunch of pies for everyone for Thanksgiving, or share my famous French toast with you for New Year’s brunch, but I can encourage everyone to do something together, even for a few hours on just one of the holidays.\u00a0You can bet that once we finally move on from living in apartments, we\u2019ll be having our own \u201cholidays for the strays.\u201d\u00a0And, for any of my residents reading this, I\u2019ll see you on Thanksgiving \u2014 at the hospital.<\/p>\n

\"NEJM<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s that time of the year again \u2014 Halloween has passed (and with it, the best excuse for an adult to dress up in costume), and the winter holidays are just around the corner. 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