The Event — It’s Time to Clean This House
Let’s ignore the details — for a moment — of what has happened in the city of Ferguson from the day Michael Brown was shot until the decision of the grand jury not to indict Darren Wilson was announced. Let’s compress it into a singular event.
Essentially, that event seems to have thrown open this nation’s closet door. It’s the closet into which we have thrown all our racially charged skeletons for the sake of appearing tidy, clean, and welcoming to guests who may come to visit — or the nosy neighbors who might peer through open windows. It’s a closet that has been stuffed f...
Source: JeffreyMD.com - November 26, 2014 Category: Medical Students Authors: Dr. Jeff Tags: Opinion Other darren wilson ferguson michael brown race relations USA Source Type: blogs
Night Three
It’s now night 3 of 6. Six straight days — er, nights — covering the ICU patients here at one of the local county hospitals. Night 1 was great. Occasional calls here and there from nurses for little things that did not require much brain power. I am also working with an intern. He is covering the non-ICU patients. Night 1 went well for him too. I think I saw him watching tv shows on his iPad during the down time.
Night 2 was definitely busier for the both of us. For me, there was one patient who pretty much required my attention the entire night. And when I finally failed at placing a functional arterial ...
Source: JeffreyMD.com - September 13, 2014 Category: Medical Students Authors: Dr. Jeff Tags: Residency medicine nightshifts Source Type: blogs
County Life
This month is my first of two months rotating at one of the local county medical centers. It is very different than either of the other two hospitals in which we find ourselves.
Traditionally it has been called our “senior capstone” experience — acting as the senior resident at the county.
The patient population is diverse. Sick patients walking daily with strange diagnoses.
At night, we find ourselves mostly on our own covering the ICU patients.
During intern year, my first rotation was here at County.
It is very strange to find myself back, now in the senior resident position.
They say time flies....
Source: JeffreyMD.com - September 7, 2014 Category: Medical Students Authors: Dr. Jeff Tags: My Life Residency county doctor physician senior resident Source Type: blogs
Detroit
Just flew back from Detroit last week after a fellowship interview.
Surprisingly there were no direct flights from ONT (Ontario, CA) or LAX (Los Angeles, CA) to Detroit.
The weather was decent, aside from a half-hour thunderstorm that was accompanied with storm warnings on the local news.
The program was amazing. The faculty seemed welcoming and fellows had positive things to say about their program.
I’ll write more about the process and my thoughts as time goes by — most likely after the match. (Source: JeffreyMD.com)
Source: JeffreyMD.com - August 25, 2014 Category: Medical Students Authors: Dr. Jeff Tags: My Life Residency Source Type: blogs
Time, Indeed, Does Fly
It amazes me how fast life marches on. I feel like I was just a medical student not too long ago. But here I am in my final year of residency. I have almost completed two months. Ten months remain after this. I have my first fellowship interview this coming Tuesday.
It is amazing how one changes over time. I remember when I started medical school. Like 90% of medical students, I briefly entertained the idea of pursuing a surgical specialty at some point. As it came time to apply for residencies I chose Internal Medicine with the intention of going into primary care. I wanted the long-term relationship with my patients. I ...
Source: JeffreyMD.com - August 17, 2014 Category: Medical Students Authors: Dr. Jeff Tags: My Life Residency internal medicine Source Type: blogs
MICU to Heme/Onc — What a Change
After a month of intensity on the MICU, I have switched to the Hematology and Oncology service.
I won’t lie. The first few days after Switch Day I realized that I missed the intensity and the severity we had on an hourly basis with critically ill patients. It was like coming off of an adrenaline rush.
There are few Heme/Onc emergencies that require a response from the team immediately. I have explained to teams requesting a consult that their request was placed quite late in the day after we have completed rounds, and since it is not an urgent matter, we will see the patient in the morning.
I have been consulted on...
Source: JeffreyMD.com - July 11, 2014 Category: Medical Students Authors: Dr. Jeff Tags: Residency cancer doctor Heme/ONC micu physician Source Type: blogs
Again, MICU
This year I was one of the “lucky” residents who were assigned two MICU months and two CCU months.
I am finishing my 2nd year of residency in the MICU. It has been a long and exhausting month. My last call was probably my most emotionally draining one.
The call day had ended and I soon found the MICU empty of other residents. I was the senior left on duty. Around 10 pm, one of the nurses came up to me and told me that an arterial line was no longer functioning properly. The line was needed as the patient was on a couple medications to support her low blood pressure and the arterial line provided an accurate measure o...
Source: JeffreyMD.com - June 23, 2014 Category: Medical Students Authors: Dr. Jeff Tags: My Life Residency death doctor dying micu patients physician Source Type: blogs
Very Sick and Nearly Dead
When caring for patients on an inpatient basis — that is, patients who are admitted to the hospital as opposed to seeing patients in clinic — there are many moments when you must have crucial conversations. For the most part, medical students are shielded from needing to carry out these conversations. As a medical student, I may have asked patients on admission about their code status. However, I never wrote orders based on my conversations. And if a patient stated that they did not want to be resuscitated in the event that their heart stopped or they could not breathe on their own, I always told the intern or ...
Source: JeffreyMD.com - January 16, 2014 Category: Medical Students Authors: Dr. Jeff Tags: My Life Residency conversations crucial conversations death dying patients Source Type: blogs
ASN Kidney Week 2013
Earlier this year Dr. S, the program director for our nephrology fellowship, found me in the hallway. He told me about the annual Kidney Week conference put on by the American Society of Nephrology (ASN). For the past few years they have been offering an increasing number of travel grants to residents and medical students who are interested in the field of nephrology. Fortunately, my program director thougth of me as I am definitely interested in nephrology. He told me if I wanted to try and apply, he would help me with the application process. Apparently, each applicant must be nominated by an ASN member and then provide ...
Source: JeffreyMD.com - November 8, 2013 Category: Medical Students Authors: Dr. Jeff Tags: My Life Residency ASN Kidney Week 2013 Nephrology Source Type: blogs
