Stuff Learned #I Lost Count
So, now that I have the time to update my stuff learned, I can’t remember anything! Anyway, here’s what I can remember from the last week:
1) How to perform a uvulopalatopharyngoplasty. I already mentioned this, but I just wanted to say how awesome it was! My dad has also had this surgery, which is to treat obstructive sleep apnea. The ENT surgeon was a super nice guy, and a great teacher.
2) It’s a good idea to wear scrubs whenever possible, and always volunteer to scrub in! I’ve now gotten to scrub into way more surgeries than my fellow students because I’m always prepared, and always willing to volunteer!
3) Gun shot wounds can have horrible long-term consequences. Some of the saddest cases I’ve seen have been young folks who suffered gun shot wounds, but then have to deal with the consequences for the rest of their life, including colostomy bags, paraplegia, chronic ulcers, chronic pain, depression, and many other things.
4) How to evaluate a stoma and change a colostomy bag.
5) Working in the ED is so much fun, and I enjoy the variety of patients.
6) How to do a focused physical exam and take a history on someone with likely appendicitis. We get so many of these!
7) The guaiac developer liquid is called “liquid gold” in the ED, because it’s always in demand! (You go, Katrina!)
8 ) Working night call in surgery is fun if you have an awesome group of folks to do it with!
9) How to get the barium liquid stuff (bring the paperwork to radiology and tell the radiologist that you’re not Russian), and how to convince your patients to drink it (ours come in banana and berry flavors) when they need a PO contrast abdominal CT scan.
10) If your patient is an IV drug abuser, and has been injecting himself for years, and has many collapsed veins, believe him when he says he knows which vein to use to draw blood!
My name is Kendra and I am a fourth-year medical student attending
if you are after guaiac liquid, ask the attending doctors – they carry them in their bags!! i couldn’t believe it when one of the nurses told me, but when i went to ask him he opened his briefcase and took out the thing, and said “don’t lose them”. i developed the stool, and gave it back to him and he put it back into his bag safely. i guess you never know when you might need it on the street, in the cafeteria, etc. i heard they are expensive too!