Pre-call
I am up too early for my first call. I have a bad cough and after my cold medicine wore off sleep was impossible. Plus, I'm out of the stuff that doesn't make you drowsy so got up extra early to hit up the 24-hour Walgreen's down the road.
First day in clinic wasn't too bad. The computer system is still a bit of a mystery to me (despite the 8 hours of training). It seems like a great system and I'm sure I'll grow to love it but for now it's a bit intimidating and a real barrier to me giving good patient care. We are supposed to be smoothly documenting out patient visits in the room with the patient, maintaining eye contact, nodding sympathetically, asking the probing questions, observing their signs and symptoms, typing away unobtrusively. However, in the rooms of the clinic where I was working, the monitor of the computer - a desktop of gargantuan proportions - was facing the patient. So, in order for me to type and talk simultaneously I would have needed two pairs of eyes, the second pair strategically placed on the back of my head. And I'm guessing that scenario would not have improved patient rapport but only freaked out the poor pregnant lady as she saw blinking from behind my hair.
My rapport was also compromised considerably by the fact I was coughing up a storm. After alienating the patient with my ineptitude at working the computers, I would then start coughing as they were prone on the examination table, gel on their bellies, prepped for ultrasound. I would then excuse myself for the room and they would hear me hacking for a good 5-10 minutes until I came back to apologize in a raspy voice. Okay... this only happened once - the prone on the belly part. But I did have to make a dramatic exit several times. This all fortunately, only happened in the later afternoon. The patients in the morning got to see me a bit healthier.
At the end of the day I walked home in the pouring rain in my white shirt, with a borrowed umbrella, and realized that the day had been perfect. We all fear that first day, when you do everything wrong, embarrass yourself and bumble around like an idiot. I got that out of the way now. And to boot, I was sick, so I can pretend that I have an excuse for it :)
As an aside, I got to examine some pregnant cervices for dilation and perform some prenatal GBS and STD screening and such. A good refresher for today, the big day.
Today: Call. I'll get there between 7 and 8 and we round late, 8:30 AM, since it's Saturday. Then it's 24 hours of Labor and Delivery, likely quite a bit of triage (clinic is closed on weekends and women with all sorts of issues big and small will be coming to us and not to their regular docs), and I'll probably be in some c-sections (but I'm a bit ambivalent about surgery right now as I really just want to get my deliveries in the bag). I'll report on the first day of call at some point (of course without violating HIPPA because I'm that good).
Now to see who frequents the 6th Ave Walgreen's at 6 AM on a Saturday...
First day in clinic wasn't too bad. The computer system is still a bit of a mystery to me (despite the 8 hours of training). It seems like a great system and I'm sure I'll grow to love it but for now it's a bit intimidating and a real barrier to me giving good patient care. We are supposed to be smoothly documenting out patient visits in the room with the patient, maintaining eye contact, nodding sympathetically, asking the probing questions, observing their signs and symptoms, typing away unobtrusively. However, in the rooms of the clinic where I was working, the monitor of the computer - a desktop of gargantuan proportions - was facing the patient. So, in order for me to type and talk simultaneously I would have needed two pairs of eyes, the second pair strategically placed on the back of my head. And I'm guessing that scenario would not have improved patient rapport but only freaked out the poor pregnant lady as she saw blinking from behind my hair.
My rapport was also compromised considerably by the fact I was coughing up a storm. After alienating the patient with my ineptitude at working the computers, I would then start coughing as they were prone on the examination table, gel on their bellies, prepped for ultrasound. I would then excuse myself for the room and they would hear me hacking for a good 5-10 minutes until I came back to apologize in a raspy voice. Okay... this only happened once - the prone on the belly part. But I did have to make a dramatic exit several times. This all fortunately, only happened in the later afternoon. The patients in the morning got to see me a bit healthier.
At the end of the day I walked home in the pouring rain in my white shirt, with a borrowed umbrella, and realized that the day had been perfect. We all fear that first day, when you do everything wrong, embarrass yourself and bumble around like an idiot. I got that out of the way now. And to boot, I was sick, so I can pretend that I have an excuse for it :)
As an aside, I got to examine some pregnant cervices for dilation and perform some prenatal GBS and STD screening and such. A good refresher for today, the big day.
Today: Call. I'll get there between 7 and 8 and we round late, 8:30 AM, since it's Saturday. Then it's 24 hours of Labor and Delivery, likely quite a bit of triage (clinic is closed on weekends and women with all sorts of issues big and small will be coming to us and not to their regular docs), and I'll probably be in some c-sections (but I'm a bit ambivalent about surgery right now as I really just want to get my deliveries in the bag). I'll report on the first day of call at some point (of course without violating HIPPA because I'm that good).
Now to see who frequents the 6th Ave Walgreen's at 6 AM on a Saturday...
posted by Beta at 8:00 PM
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