I just finished up my M4 internal medicine rotation (which is what I want to do with my life). It was an exhausting month, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I learned so much about so many things, not just disease processes, but also the interdisciplinary aspect and business side of medicine. I had a fantastic team- Team Green! I had a great resident and intern. They were very supportive and took the time to teach us. I was partnered up with another M4 who has been one of my dearest friends throughout med school, and he always had my back-although he never brought snicker or chex mix. It was a fun month.
It is hard to describe to you the bittersweet feeling of the last day of a long, hard rotation. On one hand, I was so glad I was going to be able to sleep past 5:30. I was looking forward to eating breakfast with my husband again. On the other hand, I spent 30 days with these 3 team members. 315 hours. Do you lnow how well you get to know someone working almost 12 hours a day with 3 other people from headquarters the size of a broom closet? You get pretty close. You know their spouse's name, their kids' names and what sports they play, what they drive, what they would drive if price was no object, how they like their mugshots burger, their aspirations, their fears, their struggles, their hope, and their faith. Then after 30 days is up, as my partner would say, "you just throw them deuces and say peace". That is really how it is... we work until everything is done... we shake hands... Wish each other good luck... and leave. Then the next day, you move on to the next month's rotation and start over with a new team.
Just a little side note... I'm so glad to know that UMC has amazing internal medicine residents and that I don't have to worry about team dynamics and being stuck with a rough crew when starting a new month. Every one at UMC in internal medicine seems to have plugged in to the team mentality. There is not "Well I'm done, I'm going home," it is everyone helping everyone get their work done-because we all desire to get home at a decent hour. In my expereince no one gets stuck with a heavy work load alone. The team has got your back.
So... The reason for my post:
My favorite patient of the month is a lady who has been at the hospital for 8 months. She has not been outside those hospital walls since last winter (can you imagine?). The hospital walls have become her prison. I'm going to call her Sassy.
I came on to the medicine service at the beginning of the month and I had heard from those that were participating in Sassy's care how difficult and demanding she could be.
I went in to see her the morning on the first day of the month with those comments looming in the back of my mind. The idea of her that I had formed in my mind from other's comments had caused me to have a flippant attitude concerning her. She is constantly complaining of itching and pain around her PEG tube. She has a trach and it is difficult to understand her when she talks. She had been laying in the bed since February, not really participating in PT/OT. She has been labeled as a “rock” and thought of as someone who would stay her until she died. She was doing well and was still here due to placement issues. There was not a lot that we were doing for her. So I took her complaints with a grain of salt for the most part. It was when she stopped complaining that people would get worried.
I don’t know what caused me to change my attitude towards her. Maybe it was seeing her everyday and God moving my heart to feel miserable FOR her. Whatever the reason, I began to listen to her, spend extra time in the room with her, pop in her room serveral times a day, and attempted to meet her every need-whether it was moving her pillow around, putting her back scratcher within reach, or covering up her toes. Whatever she asked, I attempted to do it. She was exhausting me in the beginning, but after mixing in a little “tough love” when it was appropriate, she and I developed an understanding. I expressed to her that I was working as hard as I could to get her well and get her home to her family, and I told her that I needed her to work with me, to work with the nurses, and most important, I needed her to work with her OT and PTs. When I mentioned going home to her and that it was not an impossibility, her eyes lit up. I honestly think she thought she was sicker than she really was. It was like she thought that UMC was going to be her new home. After this little talk, she was a much better patient- not perfect, but much more motivated. The end of the month came. I told her good bye and passed her care on to one of the M3 ladies that I knew would be sweet and give her that tough love she needed.
I look back and cringe at the approach I took with her the first week. I let other opinions creep in and affect my judgement before I had time to form my own opinion. I wasted a week with this lady. In the last three weeks of the month, Sassy and I bonded. We can now communicate without her saying a word. I can read thoughts by her by her facial expressions (which is why I call her Sassy in this post) and I have learned to read her lips when she needs to voice a concern. She has been participating in OT/PT and is now able to stand up and take a few side-shuffle steps. She prefers to sit in a chair during the day instead of laying in the bed all day long. She started eating a soft mechanical diet the day before I left. Before then she had been getting tube feeds through a tube in her stomach, called a PEG tube. She had a set back near the end of the month and was sent to the MICU and she still wanted the therapists to do therapy in the ICU every day. She is a different woman from Sept. 1st. She has hope. She is motivated. She is trying to get home.
She was sitting up in a backless chair eating greens and cornbread the day I left. I never thought greens and cornbread could make me tear up- but I sure did when I saw Sassy sitting up, eating, and grinning that sassy little grin she has.
Pin It A few pictures as always:
These are all from last weekend at the deer camp...We had a blast as you can see!
It is hard to describe to you the bittersweet feeling of the last day of a long, hard rotation. On one hand, I was so glad I was going to be able to sleep past 5:30. I was looking forward to eating breakfast with my husband again. On the other hand, I spent 30 days with these 3 team members. 315 hours. Do you lnow how well you get to know someone working almost 12 hours a day with 3 other people from headquarters the size of a broom closet? You get pretty close. You know their spouse's name, their kids' names and what sports they play, what they drive, what they would drive if price was no object, how they like their mugshots burger, their aspirations, their fears, their struggles, their hope, and their faith. Then after 30 days is up, as my partner would say, "you just throw them deuces and say peace". That is really how it is... we work until everything is done... we shake hands... Wish each other good luck... and leave. Then the next day, you move on to the next month's rotation and start over with a new team.
Just a little side note... I'm so glad to know that UMC has amazing internal medicine residents and that I don't have to worry about team dynamics and being stuck with a rough crew when starting a new month. Every one at UMC in internal medicine seems to have plugged in to the team mentality. There is not "Well I'm done, I'm going home," it is everyone helping everyone get their work done-because we all desire to get home at a decent hour. In my expereince no one gets stuck with a heavy work load alone. The team has got your back.
So... The reason for my post:
My favorite patient of the month is a lady who has been at the hospital for 8 months. She has not been outside those hospital walls since last winter (can you imagine?). The hospital walls have become her prison. I'm going to call her Sassy.
I came on to the medicine service at the beginning of the month and I had heard from those that were participating in Sassy's care how difficult and demanding she could be.
I went in to see her the morning on the first day of the month with those comments looming in the back of my mind. The idea of her that I had formed in my mind from other's comments had caused me to have a flippant attitude concerning her. She is constantly complaining of itching and pain around her PEG tube. She has a trach and it is difficult to understand her when she talks. She had been laying in the bed since February, not really participating in PT/OT. She has been labeled as a “rock” and thought of as someone who would stay her until she died. She was doing well and was still here due to placement issues. There was not a lot that we were doing for her. So I took her complaints with a grain of salt for the most part. It was when she stopped complaining that people would get worried.
I don’t know what caused me to change my attitude towards her. Maybe it was seeing her everyday and God moving my heart to feel miserable FOR her. Whatever the reason, I began to listen to her, spend extra time in the room with her, pop in her room serveral times a day, and attempted to meet her every need-whether it was moving her pillow around, putting her back scratcher within reach, or covering up her toes. Whatever she asked, I attempted to do it. She was exhausting me in the beginning, but after mixing in a little “tough love” when it was appropriate, she and I developed an understanding. I expressed to her that I was working as hard as I could to get her well and get her home to her family, and I told her that I needed her to work with me, to work with the nurses, and most important, I needed her to work with her OT and PTs. When I mentioned going home to her and that it was not an impossibility, her eyes lit up. I honestly think she thought she was sicker than she really was. It was like she thought that UMC was going to be her new home. After this little talk, she was a much better patient- not perfect, but much more motivated. The end of the month came. I told her good bye and passed her care on to one of the M3 ladies that I knew would be sweet and give her that tough love she needed.
I look back and cringe at the approach I took with her the first week. I let other opinions creep in and affect my judgement before I had time to form my own opinion. I wasted a week with this lady. In the last three weeks of the month, Sassy and I bonded. We can now communicate without her saying a word. I can read thoughts by her by her facial expressions (which is why I call her Sassy in this post) and I have learned to read her lips when she needs to voice a concern. She has been participating in OT/PT and is now able to stand up and take a few side-shuffle steps. She prefers to sit in a chair during the day instead of laying in the bed all day long. She started eating a soft mechanical diet the day before I left. Before then she had been getting tube feeds through a tube in her stomach, called a PEG tube. She had a set back near the end of the month and was sent to the MICU and she still wanted the therapists to do therapy in the ICU every day. She is a different woman from Sept. 1st. She has hope. She is motivated. She is trying to get home.
She was sitting up in a backless chair eating greens and cornbread the day I left. I never thought greens and cornbread could make me tear up- but I sure did when I saw Sassy sitting up, eating, and grinning that sassy little grin she has.
Pin It A few pictures as always:
These are all from last weekend at the deer camp...We had a blast as you can see!
