A busy day

This post is a journal of my day today. Hopefully it shows how busy life can be on wards. This busyness is why I haven't written lately. Sometimes there's no stomach for writing about medicine when you do it all day.

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Got up at 5:55.

Ate breakfast. Showered. left the house at 6:25.

Parked the car at the VA hospital at 6:45.

Chart reviewed my patient. I had 3 patients yesterday but 2 of them went home. Nice.

Saw my patient at 7. He was scheduled to go home today.

Noticed he was moving his abdominal muscles to breath. Asked if he was short of breath. He said he was OK.

Went back to the team room.

Thought some more. Realized I shouldn't be lazy -- need to go back and check the patients oxygen saturation.

It was 90%.

We started him on nebs, oxygen, and a diuretic. He didn't go home today.

Had rounds at 9.

At 10:30 our attending let me and another student go watch an endoscopic retrograde cholangio pancreatography (ERCP) that one of our patients was getting. Also got to see a colonoscopy. It was pretty cool. But IR is way cooler than GI.

Went to grand rounds at Baylor at 12:15. Picked up Subway on the way.

Went to class at 1:30. Every Thursday medical students have lecture from 1:30 - 4:30.

Most students got to go home after class. Our team is night call tonight. Went back to the hospital.

Saw a new patient at 5:15.

COPD exacerbation. Fairly straightforward, but a complicated history. Our attending and resident want really detailed notes. Finished writing it at 7:40.

Left the hospital. Got gas. Rodeo traffic slowed me down.

Got home at 8:20. Including travel time it's a 14 hour day.

Ate some frozen burritos and hard boiled eggs. Talked to my wife over web cam. Other random stuff.

Wrote this post.

Going to bed at 10. Need to get up at 5 tomorrow and get to the hospital early.

No time to study today. Rats. My medicine shelf exam is in 2 weeks. I've read 500 pages of a study aid and done 1,000 UWORLD study questions. Still have about 250 left and I'd like to repeat all the ones I missed.



I am a medical student at BCM and all thoughts are my own. I am not a doctor at the time of writing this. I respect patient privacy and comply with HIPPA. Please read the disclaimer.

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