Last Friday, my ER shift was slooooooooooooooooo.....w. I think there were a max of 18 kids on the list for the day (list = kids on their way, in the waiting room, or in an actual room being treated). Yesterday, the hospital gods got back at me by placing no fewer than 45 kids on the board at any one time. While this doesn't automatically increase my workload per se, since my duties really only include sitting and watching for kids to come up on the list with a complaint that might fit the studies we're doing currently, it sure did make things much more hectic. First of all, more kids overall means more kids with the right symptoms, which of course means more getting up, finding the doctor, talking to the doctor and/or nurse to see if they qualify, and finally heading back to my room because no one with abdominal pain is ever actually getting worked up for appendicitis.
In addition to the "normal" duties, I'm also helping another doctor with a more specific project where I get to give surveys to parents to see how they liked their ER experience. That in and of itself doesn't sound so horrible, except that it involves a lot more than you think--finding kids with appropriate diagnoses, finding all of their doctors to see if they're going home or getting admitted, randomizing, getting all the paperwork together, giving them the survey (which of course includes explaining it), filing all the paperwork, etc.
It used to be that ER shifts were basically study hall to sit around and get work done. Not so much any more. At least it's interesting, though--I do get to actually see and do more this way.
After running around like a chicken with my head cut off during the ER shift, I left early and headed straight for my new clinic. Background info: at my school, there are 4 clinics run by second-years (with physician preceptors, of course) that serve the indigent population for free in exchange for allowing us to tinker around and practice being doctors on you. We figure out who gets to work in which clinic and when by a lottery, which happened last spring. My lottery number was unfortunately very high, so I didn't get the clinic I wanted, and ended up being signed up for the very last rotation available in the spring. Sunday night, however, a friend of mine who helps direct the clinic I *really* wanted in the first place (because it serves a lot more kids) called me up to tell me that a spot had opened in her clinic starting Monday and would I like to work there instead for the next 8 weeks?
Obviously, I couldn't say no...so now I get to work in the clinic I wanted each Monday for the next 7 weeks (with weeks off for tests). And while this is all well and good, going straight from the ER to the clinic, where I remained form 6-9:30, made for a very, very long day even if I did see some rather interesting people. Highlights included a teenage girl for a checkup, a teenage guy for a physical, and an older gentleman who had bad allergies.
Now, unfortunately, I'm stuck today and tomorrow playing mad dash to catch up on all the work I should've gotten done yesterday, but didn't. Maybe I'll come up for air sometime in the next few days.
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