Settling In

So I have been doing this doctor thing now for a few days, and it is pretty cool. I wake up before 5 am and go to bed before 10 (so those of you who call me after 10, please stop. No offense, I still love you). I run around in the morning seeing patients and talking to nurses and writing down vital signs, labs, physical exam findings, etc., and then I try to figure out what we need to do that day to get the patient better. This usually means figuring out if they need antibiotics, more fluids or less fluids, different medications, or a new tube put into a new part of their body (I never knew their were so many different kinds of tubes). Then we have rounds with the attending which is where I get to present each patient to the team and hope I have the right answers to all their questions. Here is a sample of some of the questions I get asked: "Daines, do we intubate every patient with flail chest?" "Why do we correct hypophosphatemia in our patients?" "When is the onset of Delirium Tremens in a patient withdrawing from alcohol?" I wish I could say that I get all these questions right, but the key is to give a firm, confident answer and hope you at least sound intelligent. After rounds with the attending, the team of residents goes over everything we need to get done, and we split up the tasks and go to work. If new patients are admitted to the SICU, we see and exam the patients and then figure out what they need done. If I am not on call, I can sometimes get out of the hospital by 4 PM. But when the dreaded call day comes, it is ALL NIGHT LONG, ALL NIGHT, ALL NIGHT (that was for you Loofa). So tomorrow is my second call day which means I won't leave the hospital for about 30 hours after I first show up. I hope a couple of the cute nurses are working tomorrow night.