Month almost over

So my first month as an intern is almost over and I finally have access to patient charts in the ER. But I cannot write anything or order anything. Fine. But I did get to spend some time in the ICU, which is where I will be tomorrow night, next saturday night and then for the entire month of August.

While I was there, it was great. But nothing was really going on at night so it was still no different from being a medical student. Until the nurse paged me. She told me that the patient's blood pressure was still high even after getting medication and wanted to know what I wanted to give him. Well, my heart DROPPED!!!!! Now I really have to make a decision. If I do not give the right medication then the patient can be in bigger problems. But if I give too much they could be in problems also. The nurse hinted that it may be a good idea to give the patient hydralazine. So I looked up the labs and called my resident, which he told me the same thing. And I wrote the order.

The nurses know that we are all brand new doctors and so they are there to have our backs. As long as you are not nasty or rude to them. Which I am not (something that gives non trads an advantage over our traditional counterparts due to our emotional intelligence). Since then, I have decided that I am going to be reviewing the treatment of each emergency for each organ system. So far, so good. The only issue is that I have not been able to put the information to good use, yet.

Since starting, I have seen common medical problems enter the ER. Things that I eventually will take care of either on the floors or in the ICU. I have been able to perform several pelvic exams (with a chaperone of course), put in a couple of nasalgastric tubes, and IVs. But I am looking forward to putting in central lines, intubation, and other stuff life that.

I am looking forward to my time in the ICU. I plan on reviewing my notes on the information I have been reading about. And wondering how I am going to feel when I put in 72 hours a week.

It has been 1 week

So I have been an Intern for a whole week, as stated in the title of today's episode. The cool thing is that when I walk into see patients, I say I am Dr. Lerman, no longer saying Student Doctor Lerman and it is awesome. This whole month I am in the emergency room, which is kind of like an extension of medical school because I cannot chart anything, order anything, and I have to report everything to attending and have to try to follow my patients.

But, I am learning some. And that is the main point of course. I have taken the time that I am not seeing people and using it to read articles and get myself ready to take on the role of a good intern and eventually a good resident and practitioner. Not to mention, I have to get ready to take step 3 of the boards. I plan on taking them in 6 months. So to get ready, I am reading Kaplan's Mastering the Boards and will be signing up for the Q-banks. The more questions I do, the better I will be. I plan on getting a fellowship so I would like to score very well. While I did about 2500 questions to prepare for Step 2, I plan to do at least this many for Step 3. The big difference is that this test is 2 days long. That's right dear readers, you heard me; 2 DAYS!!!! Lord Help Me.

Our last loan check came in, so we no longer have to eat Ramen Noodles and I am going to start getting paid, which is a nice return to the way things ought to be.


   Uptodate: Clinical Reference

Next time, I will talk about my first on call in the ICU!!