it all boils down to this.

my internal medicine boards are made up of two hundred and forty multiple choice questions.

i know it is necessary for us all to be tested.  to try and distill down out of a partly intangible experience all the bits and pieces that we need to know, on paper and in daily practice.  let me be fair ~ a bulk of medicine is knowing and applying what we know as fact, and evidence based.

but how do you really test someone in the nuances, the subtleties, the art of being a good doctor?  that, my friends, takes a lifetime....and can't be captured in a multiple choice format.  in the end, it will be my patients that decide whether i pass or fail.

so i sit here on this quiet saturday morning, sipping my coffee and answering the last of my study questions, thumbing through the last of a few key concepts that my brain has yet to absorb.  my sweet littles are at the beach with their daddy and grandparents so i can bring closure on a 6 month binge of studying for this test, these 240 questions.  and i laugh to myself over the inherent irony of it all.

the countless hours spent....in the hospital, hovering over patients' bedsides.  the wisdom passed down by seasoned mentors and amazing clinical masters.  the sleepless nights. the piercing cry of my pager.  the hands held, the diagnoses delivered, and the perspective gained that life really is all too short and far too sweet to be taken for granted.

it all boils down to this yet i know there is so much MORE than this.  but here we go...monday morning, 8am. be there or be square.

best of luck to all my colleagues and friends also sitting for their boards this month.  we've come a long way, my friends.  {and have even farther on this great journey to go.}