1. Berry Berry Good - it's my latest obsession. I've spent $8 on frozen yogurt there in the last week. Today I tried the peanut butter, mint, strawberry & cheesecake (swirled), and plain tart with some strawberries and pineapple on top. (All the flavors were separated by a little bit of room in my cup - I'm not a complete neanderthal) They give you a cup, you run around filling it up, then they charge by the ounce. I want to say it's actual frozen yogurt and not sugary/ice cream stuff but I'm not 100% on that.
2. The fact that psych is almost over. Today my attending (who is triple boarded) asked me why a diabetic patient of his shouldn't have concentrated sweets. Really dude? Really? I was so in shock that I couldn't even blurt out an answer and then he said - "Yeah, I don't know either..." Whoa - talk about making your profession look bad.
3. All the fun flavors at Cups right now. I got the butterscotch blitzen au lait a day or 2 ago and it was fan-freaking-tastic.
4. My schedule/partners/group for Medicine. We start Internal Medicine next week and I couldn't be more excited about my schedule and being (hopefully?) super productive all day. I'm sick of being useless on psych. I'm not loving the q5 call that goes along with medicine :(
5. Recycling old electronics - sounds weird I know. I've just been in a super organizational mood for the last few weeks and it feels good to get rid of some junk. So far I've dropped off 2 huge old computer monitors (from my Mom's house), a printer, and Kris's old laptop at Best Buy. At one store they charged me $10 per item but then gave me a $10 Best Buy gift card in return for each item. At the 2nd Best Buy I went to on a different day they just took the stuff.
6. The fact that my kitchen cabinets are now officially organized. If you've been to my house it's no secret how tiny my kitchen it. I have 2 cabinets for ALL of our food, not including the one above the stove where I keep spices. Up until 2 days ago I just had everything shoved in there all haphazardly and 50% of the time when you opened cabinets something fell out or you couldn't get it shut again. No more my friends. Pictures are to follow because I know you're all just dying to see inside my kitchen cabinets - ha ha.
7. Finally having just the right amount of comfy shoes for trekking around the hospital all day. Here's what I needed to make it work and not feel limited in style options:
a pair of Dansko-ish type clogs to wear with scrubs
2 pairs of boots - 1 black, 1 brown
2 pairs heels - 1 black, 1 brown
flats - lots of 'em. I guess you only need 2 pairs, but I've got quite a few more than that.
Anyway, off to our Psych exit interview. Not real sure what it will entail, but hopefully it won't take too long!
Showing posts with label psych. Show all posts
Showing posts with label psych. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
Runner's Log + Psych VA
25 minutes - probably ~2 miles
The old iPod decided to die 5 minutes into this run and therefore I have no idea of the actual distance run or calories burned. Penelope had fun though. I've been pretty steadily running between 1-3 times a week for the last few months, but I'm beginning to get BORED... I definitely need to switch it up and go somewhere besides my tiny neighborhood.
As for school, I am now in my 4th week of psychiatry. Although they all boast that they are some of the most handsomely compensated doctors I am still not interested. I might have been at first, but that all changed the day a 67 year old lady punched her nurse in the face and then told me I was going to die.
She was "the Chosen One" and we were all despicable and all going to die. No she did not want her Ativan shot and no, she was NOT going to give us a urine sample. Long story short, the police got involved, she got her shot, took a nice long nap, and then got transferred upstairs.
Most of the patients I've seen on psych are either homeless, drug abusers, child molestors, criminals, or sometimes all of the above. They're usually looking for either:
a) a warm place to stay
b) a meal (I was going to say a good meal, but it is hospital food after all)
c) somewhere to hide from the police/gang members/family for a few days
d) more drugs
I don't have that much empathy. I wish I did. I think I used to - but it's all gone now. Now, for happier news:
I spent the last 3 weeks at the ER doing psych. Now I'm in the holiest of holy lands - VA Psych. I was home by 1:00 this afternoon AFTER going shopping at Target on the way there. I was at the VA a total of 2.5 hours. It was a productive 2.5 hours though. I met my attending and his physician's assistant. We ran the list. We rounded on the patients. The PA taught me how to and let me write orders on the patients and told me a few of the more interesting cases from years past. Then I went and hunted down a lady to give me access to the VA computers and that was it! Settling in for a night filled with reading (for fun) and Castle. Woohoo!
The old iPod decided to die 5 minutes into this run and therefore I have no idea of the actual distance run or calories burned. Penelope had fun though. I've been pretty steadily running between 1-3 times a week for the last few months, but I'm beginning to get BORED... I definitely need to switch it up and go somewhere besides my tiny neighborhood.
As for school, I am now in my 4th week of psychiatry. Although they all boast that they are some of the most handsomely compensated doctors I am still not interested. I might have been at first, but that all changed the day a 67 year old lady punched her nurse in the face and then told me I was going to die.
She was "the Chosen One" and we were all despicable and all going to die. No she did not want her Ativan shot and no, she was NOT going to give us a urine sample. Long story short, the police got involved, she got her shot, took a nice long nap, and then got transferred upstairs.
Most of the patients I've seen on psych are either homeless, drug abusers, child molestors, criminals, or sometimes all of the above. They're usually looking for either:
a) a warm place to stay
b) a meal (I was going to say a good meal, but it is hospital food after all)
c) somewhere to hide from the police/gang members/family for a few days
d) more drugs
I don't have that much empathy. I wish I did. I think I used to - but it's all gone now. Now, for happier news:
I spent the last 3 weeks at the ER doing psych. Now I'm in the holiest of holy lands - VA Psych. I was home by 1:00 this afternoon AFTER going shopping at Target on the way there. I was at the VA a total of 2.5 hours. It was a productive 2.5 hours though. I met my attending and his physician's assistant. We ran the list. We rounded on the patients. The PA taught me how to and let me write orders on the patients and told me a few of the more interesting cases from years past. Then I went and hunted down a lady to give me access to the VA computers and that was it! Settling in for a night filled with reading (for fun) and Castle. Woohoo!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Palpable LN
Oy - came down with a rough case of acute rhinosinusitis yesterday which is being controlled pretty well with Aleve-D, my Neti pot, and lots of hot tea and cold water. I'm not sure of the percentage, but I'm inclined to say >90% of rhinosinusitis cases are viral in origin which is why there's no point in going to the doctor for these things (unless you want a shot of decadron) and there's especially no point in asking for antibiotics. Anyway, all that was to say that I've been regularly checking my supraclavicular and cervical (neck) regions for palpable lymph nodes and wouldn't you know it - this afternoon I found 2! I've been skeptical of my LN palpation skills ever since I read Mom's Marijuana by Shapiro. After his diagnosis with lymphoma and subsequent stays in hospitals he commented on how most physicians never palpated with enough pressure to pick up his nodes, but he always knew where they were.
Fell in love with psychiatry today when the resident realized I was sick and immediately sent me home and told me to come back in a day or 2 when I felt better. Hooray for thoughtful residents. I could get used to this...
Fell in love with psychiatry today when the resident realized I was sick and immediately sent me home and told me to come back in a day or 2 when I felt better. Hooray for thoughtful residents. I could get used to this...
Monday, October 12, 2009
Slacker
Whoa - didn't realize it until today but it's nearly been 2 months since I posted. My sister called me out. Told me that I was still stuck in surgery in blogland. I decided that must be remedied immediately!!! So here's a quick rundown of what's been going on lately.
Finished surgery, took the test, class average was a 67 - most definitely the lowest our class average has ever been on any test. Very surprising to me.
Started and finished my family medicine rotation. We do 2 weeks at a big hospital with the family medicine residents and attendings. Then we go off to a "rural" location. Most everyone picks their hometown since they have a free place to stay. I did this and the funniest part to me was that 1/2 way through my 4 weeks, one of my relatives (not telling which one, wouldn't want to have a HIPPA violation!) ended up becoming an inpatient. Not just any inpatient, but a patient on my attending's service. That means I had to go see them every morning and afternoon, get the pertinent info, write the note, etc... It was pretty funny. Here's the breakdown of hours for each part for those of you who want to know what you have to look forward to :)
Big Teaching Hospital: arrive around 6 or 6:30. See 2 patients (no matter how many are on the service, which is AWESOME). Write notes. Go to morning conference at 8. Usually a specialist of some sort would come in and teach for 15 minutes. Then we'd head down to the doctor's lounge and run the list/dry round over delicious breakfast. FREE delicious breakfast. They really know how to treat students and docs over there! Then we'd go on work rounds. Then we'd have class. Then free lunch. Then class. Then home by 3ish. It was pretty relaxed.
"Rural" Medicine: Get to hospital between 6 and 7 depending on how many inpatients we had. My preceptor and I would split up the patients or "divide and conquer" as he liked to say. I'd usually see 2 or 3, write their notes, then he'd look it over and tell me what orders to write. Then he'd sign them. I really enjoyed getting to know the entire staff at the hospital there. It's so different from being at a big teaching hospital where noone really knows each other. Anyway, then we'd go to clinic and see about 15-25 patients from 8:00-4:30 or 5:00. Then it was time to head back to the hospital for afternoon rounds. I usually got home around 6. All in all not a bad experience, but I'm not sure it's for me. Think I would approach burnout very quickly. Not so much from the hours worked, but from the patient population. That's a long story for another day though. Let's just say I'll be okay if I never have to hear about low back pain EVER, EVER again... My preceptor was incredibly nice, liked to quiz, liked to teach, and trusted my work which was exciting and scary all at once. I did most of the admitting H&Ps on new patients coming in and a few of his discharge summaries. He'd usually sign orders before I wrote them after going through a care plan with me. Very strange to write orders and have nurses ask you, seriously, what tests you wanted done, IV fluids, etc...
Now for a fun update - this past weekend the stars and planets must have aligned just right because for once:
1) I had no responsibilities, technically (I guess I could have been studying for well, anything)
2) My husband was able to take off Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday
3) His grandparents just so happened to have rented out a 3 bedroom suite overlooking the Gulf Coast.
Fun times ensued. K's grandparents, 2 brothers and their wives, aunt and uncle all ended up staying for the weekend. There was a huge car show so the girls pretended to be interested for a few hours on Saturday morning. Then we split from the guys and headed to the mall for a good long while. After that we all met back up and headed to the beach to play for a while. There were hardly any waves and the tide was so far out you could walk on all the little sandbars close to the shore. K and I were kind of amazed we were still finding debris from Hurricane Katrina so long after it happened. He found a cool little piece of a 2x4 that was smoothed and rounded like sea glass. Sad :( Anyway, after our romp on the beach the 3 brothers and their wives went to a restaurant overlooking the ocean that we just knew would be awesome, but alas (frylime, that one's for you) that was not the case. However, the margaritas I made back at the condo later were quite tasty. The next morning we had to get up and leave, but we stopped at the outlet mall on the way home and shopped our little hearts out.
This post is getting terribly long, and I've got a killer case of acute sinusitis that reared it's ugly head today. (Thank you to Caden, my 2 year old niece who thought it was funny to wipe her boogers all over me this weekend) Those of you who know me well know how much that almost killed me...
Psych started today and I'm really happy with my partners and rotations. Wahoo!
Finished surgery, took the test, class average was a 67 - most definitely the lowest our class average has ever been on any test. Very surprising to me.
Started and finished my family medicine rotation. We do 2 weeks at a big hospital with the family medicine residents and attendings. Then we go off to a "rural" location. Most everyone picks their hometown since they have a free place to stay. I did this and the funniest part to me was that 1/2 way through my 4 weeks, one of my relatives (not telling which one, wouldn't want to have a HIPPA violation!) ended up becoming an inpatient. Not just any inpatient, but a patient on my attending's service. That means I had to go see them every morning and afternoon, get the pertinent info, write the note, etc... It was pretty funny. Here's the breakdown of hours for each part for those of you who want to know what you have to look forward to :)
Big Teaching Hospital: arrive around 6 or 6:30. See 2 patients (no matter how many are on the service, which is AWESOME). Write notes. Go to morning conference at 8. Usually a specialist of some sort would come in and teach for 15 minutes. Then we'd head down to the doctor's lounge and run the list/dry round over delicious breakfast. FREE delicious breakfast. They really know how to treat students and docs over there! Then we'd go on work rounds. Then we'd have class. Then free lunch. Then class. Then home by 3ish. It was pretty relaxed.
"Rural" Medicine: Get to hospital between 6 and 7 depending on how many inpatients we had. My preceptor and I would split up the patients or "divide and conquer" as he liked to say. I'd usually see 2 or 3, write their notes, then he'd look it over and tell me what orders to write. Then he'd sign them. I really enjoyed getting to know the entire staff at the hospital there. It's so different from being at a big teaching hospital where noone really knows each other. Anyway, then we'd go to clinic and see about 15-25 patients from 8:00-4:30 or 5:00. Then it was time to head back to the hospital for afternoon rounds. I usually got home around 6. All in all not a bad experience, but I'm not sure it's for me. Think I would approach burnout very quickly. Not so much from the hours worked, but from the patient population. That's a long story for another day though. Let's just say I'll be okay if I never have to hear about low back pain EVER, EVER again... My preceptor was incredibly nice, liked to quiz, liked to teach, and trusted my work which was exciting and scary all at once. I did most of the admitting H&Ps on new patients coming in and a few of his discharge summaries. He'd usually sign orders before I wrote them after going through a care plan with me. Very strange to write orders and have nurses ask you, seriously, what tests you wanted done, IV fluids, etc...
Now for a fun update - this past weekend the stars and planets must have aligned just right because for once:
1) I had no responsibilities, technically (I guess I could have been studying for well, anything)
2) My husband was able to take off Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday
3) His grandparents just so happened to have rented out a 3 bedroom suite overlooking the Gulf Coast.
Fun times ensued. K's grandparents, 2 brothers and their wives, aunt and uncle all ended up staying for the weekend. There was a huge car show so the girls pretended to be interested for a few hours on Saturday morning. Then we split from the guys and headed to the mall for a good long while. After that we all met back up and headed to the beach to play for a while. There were hardly any waves and the tide was so far out you could walk on all the little sandbars close to the shore. K and I were kind of amazed we were still finding debris from Hurricane Katrina so long after it happened. He found a cool little piece of a 2x4 that was smoothed and rounded like sea glass. Sad :( Anyway, after our romp on the beach the 3 brothers and their wives went to a restaurant overlooking the ocean that we just knew would be awesome, but alas (frylime, that one's for you) that was not the case. However, the margaritas I made back at the condo later were quite tasty. The next morning we had to get up and leave, but we stopped at the outlet mall on the way home and shopped our little hearts out.
This post is getting terribly long, and I've got a killer case of acute sinusitis that reared it's ugly head today. (Thank you to Caden, my 2 year old niece who thought it was funny to wipe her boogers all over me this weekend) Those of you who know me well know how much that almost killed me...
Psych started today and I'm really happy with my partners and rotations. Wahoo!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Spring Break
Even though we still have 2 more tests this week I'm already on Spring Break. After the pharm test this morning I came home and made a beeline for the bed. I slept until about 2:00 this afternoon. Then Kris and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings for a little lunch. Yum.
He went to run some errands after that and I proceeded to lay in bed for 3 straight hours watching episodes of Desperate Housewives and Medium that I've missed for the last 2 weeks. Then I decided I should get off my lazy butt and do something. I still didn't want to study so I went running instead.
That's about it. Now I'm settling in to finish reviewing psychiatry for the test tomorrow. I was trying to review it earlier, but I was on the couch and Kris was watching some movie called Death Sentence which was pretty good so I ended up watching it instead. Ha ha. Oh well. I should know some of this stuff since I've spent about 20 hours working on 4 quizzes for the class.
On an unrelated note, every time I hear or say the word "psychiatry" or "psychiatrist" I think of Desi Arnez screaming "fee-see-kee-uh-trist!"
He went to run some errands after that and I proceeded to lay in bed for 3 straight hours watching episodes of Desperate Housewives and Medium that I've missed for the last 2 weeks. Then I decided I should get off my lazy butt and do something. I still didn't want to study so I went running instead.
That's about it. Now I'm settling in to finish reviewing psychiatry for the test tomorrow. I was trying to review it earlier, but I was on the couch and Kris was watching some movie called Death Sentence which was pretty good so I ended up watching it instead. Ha ha. Oh well. I should know some of this stuff since I've spent about 20 hours working on 4 quizzes for the class.
On an unrelated note, every time I hear or say the word "psychiatry" or "psychiatrist" I think of Desi Arnez screaming "fee-see-kee-uh-trist!"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)