Academic Internal Medicine Week 2017 (AIMW)
This past week I had the opportunity to go to Baltimore, MD to attend Academic Internal Medicine Week 2017. It was put on by the Alliance of Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM), an alliance made up of five different organizations:
The last time I participated in an academic conference like this was for the 2015 APDIM Chief Resident’s Meeting. Each year, APDIM invites upcoming Chief Residents for several days of workshops and training. They provide education about the role and a sort of network for those who are interested in it.
This year I attended the CDIM meetings in my role as one of the Associate Clerkship Direct...
Source: JeffreyMD.com - March 28, 2017 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Dr. Jeff Tags: My Life aaim aimw17 cdim education meded medical education work Source Type: blogs
Doctor, Please Explain …
Recently I have been thinking about communication.
In my short career so far, I have realized that there is often a huge chasm between what we (physicians) think we have explained and what patients understand.
As a general rule, I try to take the time needed to talk to patients and answer all their questions. Sometimes I think I do an adequate job. And patients have voice appreciation for it before. I have been thanked for actually taking the time to explain my thought process and my plan. But I’m sure there are other times when I my question-answering leaves something to be desired.
Unfortunately, time is a luxury. Som...
Source: JeffreyMD.com - January 6, 2017 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Dr. Jeff Tags: After Residency Other doctor patient questions physician Source Type: blogs
Parenthood Thus Far
It’s now December. I went back to work in mid October after approximately 6 weeks without a shift. During those six weeks I had the occasional meeting to attend and other administrative responsibilities. But I had no 12 hour shift to fulfill. After feeling like I’ve been going non-stop throughout medical school and residency, it felt weird not to have any clinical duties for so long. At the same time, however, it wasn’t a vacation.
Prior to my 6 weeks off, I thought I would be able to stay at home, take care of the baby, and take time to read. I had hoped to have this time to catch up on much-needed reading. I so...
Source: JeffreyMD.com - December 22, 2016 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Dr. Jeff Tags: After Residency My Life doctor family fatherhood new parent parenthood physician Source Type: blogs
Back To Work
I go back to work this week. It’s the first time I have been on a shift since mid August. My wife and I recently celebrated the birth of our first child, a baby girl. I was fortunate to be able to arrange my schedule in order to accomodate this time off.
It’s odd going back to work after a long time. Part of me welcomes going back. Part of me wants to hang out with this brand new, little human being.
They say that having children changes your priorities and perspectives.
Personally, I think its’ too early for me to say what, if anything, has changed.
Sure, I wish I could spend a ton of time with the little one. B...
Source: JeffreyMD.com - October 9, 2016 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Dr. Jeff Tags: After Residency My Life doctor newborn physician work worklifebalance Source Type: blogs
Are you there?
A longtime reader (and by longtime reader, I mean my mother) of this blog recently commented to me that I haven’t been writing here very much as of late.
As a blogger, I suppose it is good to know that your absence is missed — even if that absence is noted by your mother.
My last post was published prior to this academic year ending. I was wrapping up my year as a Chief Resident. It truly was a good year. I felt that I learned a lot and developed not only as a clinician but an educator and (dare I say it) administrator too.
Am I still here? Do I still exist? Well the answer is yes, obviously. I have been left in the...
Source: JeffreyMD.com - September 6, 2016 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Dr. Jeff Tags: After Residency My Life career decisions life after residency medicine physician Source Type: blogs
The End Is Coming
The end is near.
As I type this we are speeding through the month of June.
On June 30, my year as one of the Internal Medicine Chief Residents will come to a close.
Before this year began, I remember hearing a former chief resident fondly look back on his own time as chief resident years ago. He told me that was the best year of his career.
I don’t know if that nostalgic statement was supposed to be encouraging. It probably was.
Right now I hope that this year will not go down as the best year of my career.
I’ve had fun. I’ve had headaches. I’ve learned a lot — both clinically and in other pro...
Source: JeffreyMD.com - June 19, 2016 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Dr. Jeff Tags: Chief Residency My Life jobs transitions work Source Type: blogs
Thanks For Nothing, Thanks For Everything
Thanks.
It’s can be a powerful sentiment — as in gratitude for the ultimate gift or a heavy sacrifice.
But it can also be empty — as in a “thanks for nothing.”
I remember taking care of a patient midway through my residency. We had tried many different things, but eventually he succumbed to the disease and passed away in the hospital. I don’t remember what the patient looked like. I don’t remember his name. I don’t remember the disease.
What I do remember was that we tried. We tried to make him better, but in the end we did not meet this goal. As the futility of our efforts ...
Source: JeffreyMD.com - March 25, 2016 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Dr. Jeff Tags: My Life Residency death dying patients Source Type: blogs
About 3 Months Left
There’s about 3 months to go in this academic year.
That means I will be a Chief Resident for only another 3 months. My contract is coming to an end. The incoming Chief Residents have already been chosen and announced.
It some ways I feel like I know what a lame duck president must feel like.
The year has gone by faster than I could have anticipated. It’s been a period of satisfaction, personal & professional growth, and frustration. There have been ups and downs. Joys and disappointments.
My fellow residents who graduated from residency last year — well those who went on to work “real”...
Source: JeffreyMD.com - March 25, 2016 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Dr. Jeff Tags: Chief Residency My Life chief resident doctor jobs medicine physician Source Type: blogs
Attending Status
What’s in a title?
My ID badge now says “Attending Physician.”
I guess that’s my title now.
Last month I worked two hospitalist shifts. A week later I followed it up with 7 MOD shifts.
As a hospitalist I was responsible for my entire set of patients. I did get to work with one resident who was spending the month doing a hospitalist elective.
During the MOD shifts, I was the attending on one of our Internal Medicine teaching teams. I had a senior resident and two interns.
It is definitely a new feeling to have “the last say.” All my previous experiences on inpatient medicine had been as a re...
Source: JeffreyMD.com - October 13, 2015 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Dr. Jeff Tags: Chief Residency My Life attending attending status doctor medicine physician Source Type: blogs
Chief Residency
It has begun.
On June 30 I officially ended my Internal Medicine Residency. Well, maybe I should say that I completed it.
On July 1 I walked up to my brand new office. As I stood in front of my door, with key in hand, I read the new nameplate on the door. It was awkward.
Residency ended without much fanfare or closure. My program, for whatever reason, does not have a “graduation” ceremony. They did have a “graduation banquet” in May but I was on a pre-planned family vacation during that time. Maybe that’s why I felt like I lacked any real resolution to the residency phase of life.
So far there has been anxiety...
Source: JeffreyMD.com - July 26, 2015 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Dr. Jeff Tags: Chief Residency My Life job jobs medicine physicianlife residentlife Source Type: blogs
An “A” for Effort
We’ve all heard of getting an “A” for effort. At least it was an “A,” right?
But how meaningful is that grade if you still fail?
I remember a patient I shall refer to as David.
I didn’t know David very well at all. He was a patient in the Medical Intenstive Care Unit (MICU). He was not on my team. In fact, I didn’t really have a team. I was cross-covering the patients who were already admitted for a strech of 6 nights.
At the start of each shift, the primary team would hand me a list and “sign out” their patients to me. They would tell me about pertinent, active issues. They would also try and anticpate ...
Source: JeffreyMD.com - April 22, 2015 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Dr. Jeff Tags: My Life Residency death doctor dying effort icu micu patients resident life Source Type: blogs
Helpless
I can remember a string of particularly busy nights. I was on the ICU service — sort of.
During our training, we have one month where we are assigned to “MICU NF.” The month has been described to me by previous residents as the worst month of your entire residency. There are two 3rd-year Internal Medicine residents assigned each month. They alternate weeks as the senior resident admitting patients to the medical intensive care unit (MICU). On the week you are not admitting at night, you spend your days in clinic. On the week when you are admitting at night, you spend 5 straight nights working. The last t...
Source: JeffreyMD.com - March 18, 2015 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Dr. Jeff Tags: My Life Residency doctor dying medicine patients sepsis shock Source Type: blogs
The Silence
The following is a post I wrote in medical school that I never published.
*****
“C’mon,” my resident called out to me, “Let’s go do something.”
“Ok,” I replied as I half-jogged to catch up with her.
It was a slow night in Labor & Delivery. I wasn’t doing much. Most of the patients I saw that night during Night Float (shift from 5:30 PM – 7:00 AM) were patients in triage with various complaints. Most were women who had been feeling contractions that day. I think most were sent home that night because they weren’t yet in labor. (Labor is defined as contr...
Source: JeffreyMD.com - February 24, 2015 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Dr. Jeff Tags: Medical School My Life bad news death dying ob/gyn patients Source Type: blogs
Stomach Pain: It Continues – Part II
Part I can be found by clicking here: Stomach Pain: It Starts – Part I.
*****
We sat quietly waiting in the waiting room. Again, we found ourselves in an odd position of being on the patient end of things. Allison, my wife, is a registered nurse. At the time she was working as an RN on a cardiac unit and I was at the end of my second year of Internal Medicine residency. Also, before this GI appointment, Allison had made a 2nd visit to the LLUMC ED. On that second visit they had decided to admit her to the Family Medicine service since her primary doctor was from the Family Medicine service. They did what they could but ...
Source: JeffreyMD.com - February 23, 2015 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Dr. Jeff Tags: My Life abdominal pain EGD esophagogastroduodenoscopy gastroenterology HIDA scan stomach pain thewife Source Type: blogs
On Teaching
The following is something I wrote in 2009 while still a medical student:
Teaching is a hard thing. By teaching I don’t mean explaining or instructing. Take, for example, teaching basketball to someone. Telling someone the rules of the game is not, to me, teaching them how to play basketball. Explaining what the rules mean and how and when they apply is not teaching either. Teaching involves more. It is showing someone how to dribble the ball, demonstrating the correct form, and then helping the student develop these skills. Teaching is not merely conveying knowledge. It is imparting excellence — or, at the ve...
Source: JeffreyMD.com - February 23, 2015 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Dr. Jeff Tags: Medical School My Life Other Residency education learning lifelong learning medicine teaching Source Type: blogs
