A week in the life at Mission Hospital

I have now been working for real for about 2 weeks, and am starting to get the feel of things. It is certainly a different pace here than in Dallas. Clinic actually seems fairly similar - although we only see about 12 patients a day, it is just me and the NP (Brad) who see patients.

I take call every 3rd week from Monday through Sunday, and I am it - Mommy calls, ER calls, Floor calls - you name it. Actually it isn't as bad as it sounds (at least not so far). I typically get 3-5 calls a night, and the routine kids (sickle cell pain, F&N, etc) get admitted from the ER by either the ER docs or Family practice residents (which basically means that I dictate my orders to them). The floor nurses are very good, and very experienced - better than all but a few residents I have known.

During my call week, I cover the inpatient unit, which typically has between 3 and 6 inpatients - I am student/resident/fellow and attending all in one, so 5 or 6 patients can easily fill up most of a day. I also do all of the procedures during that week (the sedation is handled by the PICU, and I just show up, do my job and leave - everyone gets propofol). We are almost ready to open up a brand new sedation suite right across the hall from clinic, which will make it easier.

During the 2 weeks that I am not on call, I cover the clinic 6 days, with 2 days off, and 2 "administrative" days. Believe it or not, the clinic actually has a scheduling system, and patients actually show up at their appointed time (almost always within 15 minutes of their appointment).

Thats all for now - I will take some pictures of the clinic, and some of the people here for my next update.

I miss all of you in Dallas - I will see some of you at ASH in December, and I have not been able to confirm that I will be at COG in Dallas in March.

Bye for now.

Doug