We had one of the most unique lectures today that I have ever had in my life.... ever. Unlike any class that I have ever been in, out of all of my years of going to class in medical school, undergrad, and highschool. It was a class on how to write a death certificate. I'm not even joking. An entire hour devoted to how to fill out a death certificate and figure out the cause of death. Oh, and don't forget to check to see if the guy is dead and pronounce death, I almost forgot.
So needless to say, it was quite odd. I thought we were supposed to be learning about how to be do-gooders and to save people and help the world and hand out lollypops to crying babies, not learning about how to throw in the towel.
In all seriousness, I'm sure it's a good skill to have, but to be honest I would have probably just liked to have learned this one on the job. I kind of felt like I was in that class in elementary school when they were teaching you how to write a check becuase it is such an IMPORTANT life lesson to have, but the only thing you are concerned with is the kid sitting next to you picking his nose, or whether or not your mom gave you a snack-pack for lunch. Did you have that class in the 3rd grade? I certainly did. You know what, I'm still not 100% sure at how to write a check. Who uses checks nowadays, anyways?
Please don't take this the wrong way, but it is super important that you know how to do this properly for legal reasons. Being a responsible do-gooder doctor includes providing an accurate death certificate for your patient.
ReplyDeleteOr you could just be being sarcastic about your class.
Anyways.
Lisa, you are right. It is important to know how to write a death certificate. It was just a little odd is all. I don't think anyone in my class, myself included, is expecting any of our patients to die... ever.
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