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driving in residency?

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Robin Hood Newbie

Robin Hood

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Driving is bad for the environment. BMW, bus metro walk :). If your city doesn't offer those services then your city isn't green enough and you should leave.

 

I prefer polluting the environment than arriving late to school/work and the consequences it entails.

 

PS: I know you‘re kidding, atleast in part.

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Julie Newbie

Julie

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It depends on where you live, but I think at least having a licence is really useful. In Ottawa during clerkship, a girl in our class didn't have one. She was doing fine until the bus strike in January (tons of big snowstorms that winter btw, so not biking weather), when it started to cost her 2 cabs/day just to get to work, not to mention groceries, etc. She got her licence that winter I think. I was in pre-clerkship at the time and bought a car that spring also, after having gone through the bus strike.

 

Where I'm doing my family med residency now, I think it can't be done without a car. There's about 100 000 ppl in my town, so not that big, but I wouldn't say it's in the middle of nowhere either. The trouble is you often have to go round on your patients at the hospital before you get to the clinic for 8:30-9am for your workday, and the hospital & clinics are on opposite ends of town (ie at least an hour walk away). You can bus it, but the buses are on strike now, and you just really don't have time to wait for a bus (or a cab) anyway, you'd be late. (unless you start rounding at 4:30, but your patients might not like that!) And with the amount of snow we usually get in the winter here, again I don't think biking would be realistic.

 

You may be able to choose a program where you don't need a driver's licence, but it may be limiting your options and it'd be too bad to miss out on a great residency program because you don't want to get a licence. Doing without buying a car, if the program that interests you the most doesn't require one, is good, but I think you should get a licence if you can, so that you can change your mind or rent a car for a few weeks as needed. There may be rural rotations, you may get sick - mono or something - which would make you less energetic to bike, or you just may decide you no longer have the time to prolong your commute. And it will be that much more annoying to start taking a driver's course while in residency if you decide you need one!

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thebouque Newbie

thebouque

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Where I'm doing my family med residency now, I think it can't be done without a car.

 

It's true. It is well known that no family medicine program requires a car. Family medicine is more socially sensitive than any other program so they make sure that their resident can BMW to their family med office.

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Birdy Newbie

Birdy

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It's true. It is well known that no family medicine program requires a car. Family medicine is more socially sensitive than any other program so they make sure that their resident can BMW to their family med office.

 

That is demonstrably false.

 

The Dalhousie-run family medicine program here on PEI includes a great deal of time at rural clinics as well as time spent at Prince County Hospital, which is in Summerside, about 45-60 minutes (depends on the weather) by car from the QEH, where the residents spend the majority of their time.

 

There is no way to bike, metro, or walk between the two in any reasonable amount of time. There's no metro between the two, and most of the bus routes in Charlottetown have nearly no availability outside of business and early evening hours.

 

If someone is doing residency here, a car is required, there's no question about it.

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Apixaban85 Newbie

Apixaban85

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BMW=Bus, metro, and walking.

Walking is good, but the way transit companies talk about how the bus and the metro are better for the environment makes me skeptic. Come on, the only thing companies care about is profit.

 

Well think about it logically right. In one TTC bus you can comfortably fit about 55 people. Now, imagine if those same 55 people would choose to drive 55 cars instead. The pollution output of 55 cars is much greater than the output of 1 bus.Trains are even more efficient in this regard since they have a large electrical component to their means of transportation.

 

Of course the transportation companies will make money from this, but it also saves you money in the same regard since it is cheaper to get around with metro/bus assuming your transportation system is adequate than it is with a car. The big advantage of a car is of course convenience, speed, and on-demand transport

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peachy Newbie

peachy

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Back to the OP's question: can you survive in residency without a car (like with cabs)?
I didn't have a car for my first year of residency, and I survived fine. I took a lot of cabs (pretty much daily, often multiple times a day), which still turned out to be cheaper than owning a car (when you take into account lease, insurance, parking, gas, maintenance...). On the other hand, I'm much happier having a car now, with the increased convenience and being able to run out to shop, visit other cities, etc, whenever I want.

 

It's more convenient to have a car in most cities, with the exception of big cities (like Toronto) where there are good public transit systems. But you'll survive anywhere without a car. If you had a seizure on your first day of residency, and couldn't drive for the next six months, you'd manage somehow. It may be nice to have a car, but you can always manage without it.

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KaraNari Newbie

KaraNari

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I guess I just don't really know where to start - I don't have family nearby and I don't think I know anyone who would be able to teach me to drive. I could get my G1 and take a driver's ed course but I don't know how I would get enough practice to be comfortable driving by clerkship or pass the G1 exit test.

 

Don't be too stressed! I had my learners for over 5 years and I just got my G2 on the 17th! (And I am 22!) My parents didn't really want to teach me because "I should have done it when I was 16" so I got my boyfriend and his dad to teach me. I drove my boyfriends car for about 2 weeks after work, and for 3 days I practised parallel parking behind any vehicle with enough space. I took my test and aced it, it is very simple!

 

If you can drive inside the lines on the road and do basic parking things (like three point turn, parallel park, know how to park on a hill - but you don't actually do it) then you should ace it!

 

Good luck! :)

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smthg Newbie

smthg

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And if your city doesn't have hills in which you can park, you don't have to :) From my friends' experiences, you don't even have to parallel park at my service center and there's next to no hills in my city, especially where the test center is!

 

The best you can do for your exam is ask people who got tested specifically at the test center you'll go to (if you can). There's only one for my whole city, so everyone got a variation on the same circuit :P AND driving schools make you do all the circuits they know about too :)

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greengrassgrows Newbie

greengrassgrows

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I believe that's only if you bring a stick shift in for the test. If you drive an automatic that makes that test kinda pointless.

 

False. The point of hill parking is to turn your wheel a specific direction regardless of whether your car is automatic or standard. That way if you forget the parking brake or the brakes fail (highly unlikely but whatever) your car won't roll into traffic.

 

The rule I learned was UCLA: Uphill Curb Left Always. Any other situation involving a hill you turn your wheel right (i.e. uphill no curb, downhill curb, downhill no curb).

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peachy Newbie

peachy

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I guess I just don't really know where to start - I don't have family nearby and I don't think I know anyone who would be able to teach me to drive. I could get my G1 and take a driver's ed course but I don't know how I would get enough practice to be comfortable driving by clerkship or pass the G1 exit test.
If you can afford it, "Young Drivers" in-car lessons are best for this situation, imho. Do the test with them -- they register it for you, take you to it in the same car you've been doing your lessons in, and review the route with you beforehand.
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ldnk Newbie

ldnk

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I don't go to UWO, so I wouldn't know, but it's medical school. I don't think you can expect to get by without a vehicle. I mean you could probably get by, but I feel like it would make your life much harder.

 

On surgery and OBGYN I had to be AT the hospital by 430am and 5am respectively, and there's no bus service at that time. I had short call on a few rotations that ended at midnight. Plus getting up an hour earlier to take the bus and taking an hour extra to get home = less sleep and time off, and those are precious things in med school and residency.

 

You can do it, but as you said, it would make your life very difficult.

 

Ways to make a car-less clerkship work include:

 

1 - Living close to the hospital you work at. In a lot of cities that doesn't work because there are multiple locations, but if you know where a large proportion of your rotations would be, living closer makes it easier

 

2 - Own a bike. At least for the spring, summer, fall months it is a viable transportation method

 

3 - On-call = In house

 

4 - Get used to getting up at like 4AM it to morning pre-rounds

 

As for the driving experience/car issues - it's pretty straightforward. A simple search on line can help you find the easiest locations to take the test too. There are some places where it is a guaranteed pass (and others where it isn't of course).

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Robin Hood Newbie

Robin Hood

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if you don't mind me asking....why can't you drive? If the law permits it.... it can't be that serious? Have you gotten a second opinion on this?

 

I redid an optometric exam, and my strongest eye has an acuity of 6/15 with my glasses, and the law says that you can't drive with a visual acuity below 6/15. two things: either the ophtalmologist I saw in 2008 is dumb, or something changed in my eyes.

I'm waiting for a letter from the SAAQ.

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Jochi1543 Newbie

Jochi1543

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Does somebody know if ADHD is compatible with driving?

 

Depends on how bad it is. My bf has ADHD and there are few things I hate more than being in the car with him when he's driving. He is always like a split second away from running a red light or crashing into something because he's always distracted. I purposely try and avoid talking to him when he's driving because I know he's incapable of talking and paying attention to the road. That said, he has yet to get into an accident. But I'd hate to, say, put my (imaginary) baby in the car with him or something, lol.

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Robin Hood Newbie

Robin Hood

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Depends on how bad it is. My bf has ADHD and there are few things I hate more than being in the car with him when he's driving. He is always like a split second away from running a red light or crashing into something because he's always distracted. I purposely try and avoid talking to him when he's driving because I know he's incapable of talking and paying attention to the road. That said, he has yet to get into an accident. But I'd hate to, say, put my (imaginary) baby in the car with him or something, lol.

 

Does he take his medication before driving? (if he has)

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