Posted by Lieutenant Commander Drake Marshall (Surgical Chief/ Emergency Medicine) in Post Sim - Mentorship, for Better or Worse

Posted by Captain Dira Myqian (Commanding Officer) in Post Sim - Mentorship, for Better or Worse

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Drake Marshall (Surgical Chief/ Emergency Medicine) in Post Sim - Mentorship, for Better or Worse
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

=/\=I may have accidentally started down that command path we were talking about. I’m mentoring a resident.=/\= Drake was starting to pace nervously. He had never been a teacher or mentor before and he typically avoided high risk versions of new situations.

-Lt Cmdr Drake Marshall

He might not be able to see her smile across the comm, but it likely it came through in her tone. =/\=Funny how that happens, isn’t it? How are you feeling about it?=/\=

Captain Myqian, CO

=/\=Freaked out enough to call you?=/\= Drake was honest. =/\=Did an operation with a resident when the ship was falling apart and the kid was all nerves and he needs help. So we’re gonna build up his skills and confidence. But I really wasn’t planning on having a resident to mentor outside the newbies passing through as surgical residents.=/\=

-Lt Cmdr Drake Marshall

There was a long pause. =/\=Did you want to come up here or should I come down to you. Either is fine with me actually.=/\= She could use and excuse to get out of her office and stop staring at the pile of reports accumulating ever since they had docked properly at the Outpost. But she also knew if she left, it would be awhile before she’d get any other work done. Right now she wanted to support Drake, so however that happened, she would figure out the rest.

Captain Myqian, CO

=/\=Want to visit Sickbay?=/\= Drake chuckled. He checked his computer. Not far from checkout time. Drake sat down behind his desk and tried to relax. Ship falling apart, injuries everywhere, no problem. Responsibility for one person, problem.

-Drake Marshall

=/\=Give me ten.=/\=

Dira finished up what she needed to and made her way down to Deck 5. Since she was expected, she rapped her knuckles on the frame of his door and stepped in.

The captain settled into a chair and crossed her legs at the knee, leaning back. “So, a more experienced resident is different than an intern, but what part of it is freaking you out?” she asked, mirroring his wording.

Captain Myqian, CO

“He’s not a surgical resident who’s been assigned to me. It’s not baked into our job descriptions that I nitpick his technique. He’s a hospitalist. Barely got through his surgical rotation and when we had an emergency… he froze. Kept the patient alive but had no clue how to improvise, work the patient in front of him. At first I figured it can’t hurt the ship to have another well trained set of hands. So I got the all-clear and offered him a part time surgical position. A little rotation with me to build some confidence and skill so the next time the ship blows up, we’ve got a good surgeon on the floor. But then he accepted. Kinda thought he wouldn’t. Just take the good news our patient is alive and say thanks but no thanks. Surgical residents, it’s their job to report to me. Someone just volunteered for it. Go back and tell the me who’d just gotten here that he’s on the path to being a mentor… made me think about our conversation too. About additional training and all that…” He drifted off. He wasn’t the same person he had been. A young jock trying to machismo his trauma away. Suddenly he was older. The mentor doctor with experience and perspective. The effect of twelve years of medical practice, half of it on the Ogawa.

-Drake Marshall

Dia gave him a soft smile. “I think you’re pretty damn lucky, and I know you think so too. How often do we get someone who we can genuinely help who take us up on our offer?” She chuckled. “Ahh, Drake, you have t remember I was a practicing psychiatrist for many years, and I started my residency in the post-War period. All my patients were traumatized and many couldn’t be helped enough to keep their careers. I lost three to self-harm. And I’ll tell you, I nearly packed up and went home after that third one. How the hell was I expected to help anyone? But I did my own therapy and I worked through it. I stuck it out and things got better.”

She sat forward, resting an arm on the desk. “You can correct me if I’m wrong, but I suspect you’re feeling the weight of responsibility. That you are afraid of messing up and making this resident worse off.” Myqian gestured to outside of the office. “Because out there you hold lives in your hands, but it’s their physical bodies. You patch them up and others see them through the aftermath. But as a leader? Well, you don’t that luxury. The mental and emotional well-being of the people you are responsible for becomes your responsibility too. And it is tough. Because you will make mistakes. You won’t get it right every time, and we both know all too well what happens when we make mistakes. And there is really only one answer to this dilemma. Do you know what that is?”

Captain Myqian, CO