A Typical Week for Kathryn Clary, MD
Monday
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Morning & Afternoon: Mornings start with coffee and breakfast! As a second year, my pre-charting time is more succinct compared to intern year, but I still look over patients in the morning before coming in. My days look different depending on the service I’m on at the time, but generally mornings are busier (rounding, seeing patients, updating plans) and afternoons are a bit slower (time to sit down, breathe, and get some work done). Lunch is provided every day during the week, and noon conference has resumed in-person, so it’s a great time to exhale, see your co-residents and learn about a particular topic.
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Evening: Handoff to the night team is at 7pm. Once at home, I enjoy time with my husband and pets. We try to go on a walk most nights of the week, free of phones and other distractions, to catch up and spend quality time together.
Tuesday
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Morning & Afternoon: Coffee, breakfast, chart review, and then to the hospital for signout at 7am. Mornings and afternoons typically look the same each day and are spent rounding, teaching and learning. Psych Academic Half-Day happens on Tuesdays. We have lectures on various topics as well as a processing group. Processing group provides the time and space to debrief with co-residents on experiences during the week.
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Evening: I go on a walk around Duke East Campus, eat dinner with my husband and play board games.
Wednesday
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Morning & Afternoon: Coffee, breakfast, chart review, and then to the hospital for signout at 7am. Mornings and afternoons typically look the same each day and are spent rounding, teaching and learning. Noon conference, lunch, and then back to meet up with the team to run the list, see patients and write notes.
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Evening: In the summer months when it stays light out for longer, my husband and I spend time gardening (this year, we grew tomatoes and peppers; we tried to grow broccoli but apparently it does not thrive in hot weather).
Thursday
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Morning & Afternoon: During ambulatory blocks, I’m scheduled for my continuity clinic (Duke Outpatient Clinic) on Thursdays. At the DOC, the clinic day is broken up by lunch and a chalk-talk. At the DOC, the residents and attendings pause at lunch time to meet in a clinic conference room, eat lunch together and discuss a topic relevant to outpatient medicine. The rest of the afternoon is spent with patients during clinic visits.
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Evening: Clinic wraps up around 4:30 or 5pm, and the rest of my day is spent relaxing with my husband and our pets, and trying to get some exercise in.
Friday
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Morning & Afternoon: Coffee, breakfast, chart review and then to the hospital for signout at 7am. Mornings and afternoons typically look the same each day and are spent rounding, teaching and learning. Noon conference, lunch, and then back to meet up with the team to run the list, see patients and write notes.
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Evening: Durham has awesome restaurants and breweries, so usually my husband and I will go and meet up with friends from either the medicine or psychiatry class for beers, food and live music!
Weekend
If you're on an ambulatory block, you will have weekends off! We walk to grab coffee and pastries. Our favorite pastry shop is Loaf in downtown Durham. The Durham Farmers’ Market is also open on Saturday mornings. One of our favorite stands is Piri, which has a red lentil coconut curry soup that is fantastic. During inpatient blocks, I will have either Saturday or Sunday off.
Estimated average number of work hours per week: 50 (clinic weeks), 80 (inpatient medicine)
I chose Duke because ...
… I connected with every faculty member and resident with whom I spoke. I could immediately tell that this was a cool group of people, all from different backgrounds, all with interesting perspectives. I knew I wanted to get to know them.
My favorite thing about Durham is ...
… the optimism. People here believe in the goodness of people. They welcome newcomers. They embrace different. It’s warm here.
My favorite thing about Duke is ...
... the sense of family.
My advice to prospective residents is ...
… take a few moments at the conclusion of your interview day to jot down your feelings in that moment. Note your energy level, your self-confidence, the amount of time spent laughing, whether you felt hesitant asking questions, your sense of belonging and your desire to meet up and grab dinner with your interviewers and your potential future co-residents.
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