Good Luck

This week began the marathon of resident dinners. This year Bret's program are interviewing 70 candidates on 7 days for 4 spots. The night before each interview day the residents invite the candidates out for a casual dinner. We take the kids, we answer questions about the program, the attendings, the area, etc, and we get an opportunity to know them as well.

It's funny but even though I'm not a candidate I know a lot about the programs. I also worked in HR at the hospital so I know a lot about the hospital benefits, how the education expense fund works, vacation/holiday time, the apartments that the hospital owns, etc, etc. Probably most importantly is that I can remember more about the candidates than Bret can. Even just talking about the ones we talked to and liked helps him put a face to a name to a personality. As we are entering the second half of his third year I have to admit that I am thrilled to be getting much closer to the end then these poor soon to be interns. They will survive and it is sort of a rite of passage.

At the end of the night when they are thanking all of us I always think to myself "good luck" cause in a lot of ways it is luck that helps to match these candidates to the right program and vice a versa.