I'm actually shaking, I'm... Aaah, I'm so nervous!
I wish you guys could feel how fast my pulse is right now. I'm scared to push button. Okay, I'm gonna push refresh now.
Hey guys. I'm Siobhan, a 3rd-year medical resident.
Today is a huge day, I'm so nervous. This is match day.
So all across Canada in a couple of minutes,
internal medicine residents are going to find out what they match to, what
specialty they are gonna be doing. What they're gonna be doing for the rest of their lives in medicine.
So it's been 11 years. 11 Years of training and doing my undergraduate, medical school.
Now I've done 2 years of residency, I'm in my 3rd year of internal medicine residency. Personally I discovered that I love
rheumatology and that's what I want to do. Rheumatology is a specialty within internal medicine
that deals with
inflammation and usually autoimmune diseases.
There's a huge range of things that you see.
So what I love about rheumatology is that there's this diagnostic challenge, trying to figure out the actual diagnosis.
In addition to that you have really cool treatment options and then on top of that you get to follow patients
over years to build a relationship and try to help alleviate suffering in
patients who are dealing with pretty severe chronic illnesses. And you get to see a huge range, you get to see elderly patients, young
patients, even pregnant women.
You'll see them critically ill in the ICU,
relatively healthy in the outpatient
population and you can do a whole lot. Giving medications, giving injections into a joint
and yeah...
I think it's fascinating and it would be an honor to
dedicate a career to this. And I just recently went through the interview period where I was flying all across Canada
interviewing, telling them why I really want to become a rheumatologist.
And at the end of it, there's a ranking order.
So I get to rank which schools I want to attend. 1 to whatever,
however many you want to rank. Then the schools rank the applicants and
then there's this algorithm and that's done by CaRMS. So this special algorithm, someone told me it won a Nobel Prize,
which will tell you where you matched.
So this is a binding contract.
I'm gonna get a message telling me where I'm gonna be for the next 2 years and you can't dispute it. That's it.
So you don't get to find out ''did I make it in to all the universities'' and then choose which one.
The algorithms are supposed to make the best match between schools and candidates.
Oh my gosh, I'm so nervous. So in just a couple of minutes I am gonna find out.
So you might be thinking ''what happens if I didn't match anywhere?'' and that's... That's the fear, right?!
What happens is the school that you're currently at
will let you do a 4th year of internal medicine and you still get to work as an independent
internal medicine physician. So it's not the end of the world and I really really like internal medicine, so I know I'd be happy.
My dream is to become a rheumatologist, but
it will be fine no matter what happens.
Okay, so I have just logged in.
But okay, aaaah! I don't know. Okay, we still two minutes technically, so I don't know if it's gonna be up yet,
but I'm gonna push the button just in case.
It's actually nerve-racking, you know... Have you ever been like on those roller coasters when it's just like
going up and up and up and you're starting to feel like really anxious and nervous and it feels like it's too high and you
kind of want to get off the ride. Like that's the way I'm feeling right now.
Like I'm scared of the drop, that drop feeling. Oh man...
Okay.
Okay, I'm actually shaking. Aaah... I'm so nervous, okay.
I wish you guys could feel
how fast my pulse is right now.
This is more nerve-wracking than going on stage and performing with the violin, because at least in that situation
I know that I have more control. This is like, oh my gosh, it's... It's midnight... It's noon. Midnight. It's noon. It's noon.
Okay, I'm scared to push the button. Okay, I'm gonna push refresh now.
Aaaah!
Oh my gosh! Okay guys, I am going to become a rheumatologist. Hahahaha.
And I got my first choice school, I'm gonna be here at McMaster for another 2 years in rheumatology.
I'm so excited!
Oh my gosh!
This is the best news.
My heart... Aaaaah! Oh my gosh.
Okay, I think I should pause this. I need to call my parents, I need to call Mark.
This is... Hahaha.
This is amazing. It's just this moment.
I do wanna hold on to it.
Okay, I'll talk to you guys soon.
This is amazing. This is so good.
It's so exciting honestly. I just FaceTimed my parents, Mark.
I've been texting with some of my friends, but I'm always nervous to ask people in case someone didn't match, because
you just... You just want everyone to do their best.
Anyway, so I can't believe I have to go to a lecture now, it seems crazy. But we have a match party tonight,
where we're all gonna get to see each other and have a bit of a party.
So I'm looking forward to sort of letting loose and having a celebration after so much stress and so much build-up so...
This is very exciting.
Yeah. Wow!
Finally know what I'm doing for the next 2 years.
It's awesome. It's awesome. You guys are going to learn a whole lot about rheumatology in the next 2 years. I'll tell you that.