summertime and the NICU
It's August already? The summer is flying by, and I have a feeling that intern year will make the whole year fly by... except on call, when time seems to move in slow motion!
So where have I been and what have I been up to? Friday was my glorious day off, in which I did some fun shopping and some routine errands. Saturday, typical rounding, got out of the hospital by 1pm. On call Sunday and post call today, and it was quite a busy day/night. I got minimal sleep, but was surprisingly alert today! I'm chalking it up to the extra coffee before rounds :)
I now present the Week 1 NICU Awards...
Youngest baby award goes to:
24wk premie born to a woman status post MVA and being thrown from a vehicle.
Least acute, but cutest baby award goes to:
Term infant, slightly small for gestational age with elevated bands, mom GBS(+) - therefore needing sepsis workup and hangin' out in the NICU because the Transitional nursery was full.
Funniest way to be born preterm:
This award is tied between 2 sets of twins born preterm after a footling breech presentation of Twin A. Get it? Literally being "kicked out of the womb" by their twin. Ha ha!
(ok, I admit, not that funny and mostly a result of a week immersion into NICU culture)
Scariest call:
From OB at 2AM with a G4P1 woman with a 31wk gestation, hydrops, Rh sensitization, polyhydramnios with decels, contemplating emergency c/s.
Freak out time. We set up the OR just in case, but thank god it didn't go 'til morning when the fellow and attending were back in house. Whew!
And now for my rant on the computer order entry system that is so archaic that it seems to have been developed in the 1980's...
I seriously spend hours putting in my daily orders for patients. Soo, so, so inefficient. Instead of just ordering say, titrate total fluids to 120cc/kg/day, one must navigate an endless maze through a DOS type format...
My patient list >> Name >> Proceed to orders >> Order sets >> Pediatrics >> NICU standard orders >> Dietary orders >> Err >> I/O's >> Type order >> F10 >> Review >> Enter ... you get the picture. It gets worse when looking for labs, meds, or godforbid some random, obscure testing. Die stupid order entry, die!
Ok, I'm done now.
Tomorrow I have my continuity clinic in the afternoon and it's my turn to give a little talk to the other residents in clinic. The topic: toilet training. Heh, should be interesting. I found a good article in Peds in Review and spent a few minutes after my post-call nap putting together a nice little handout. Go me!
Alright people, time for bed.
So where have I been and what have I been up to? Friday was my glorious day off, in which I did some fun shopping and some routine errands. Saturday, typical rounding, got out of the hospital by 1pm. On call Sunday and post call today, and it was quite a busy day/night. I got minimal sleep, but was surprisingly alert today! I'm chalking it up to the extra coffee before rounds :)
I now present the Week 1 NICU Awards...
Youngest baby award goes to:
24wk premie born to a woman status post MVA and being thrown from a vehicle.
Least acute, but cutest baby award goes to:
Term infant, slightly small for gestational age with elevated bands, mom GBS(+) - therefore needing sepsis workup and hangin' out in the NICU because the Transitional nursery was full.
Funniest way to be born preterm:
This award is tied between 2 sets of twins born preterm after a footling breech presentation of Twin A. Get it? Literally being "kicked out of the womb" by their twin. Ha ha!
(ok, I admit, not that funny and mostly a result of a week immersion into NICU culture)
Scariest call:
From OB at 2AM with a G4P1 woman with a 31wk gestation, hydrops, Rh sensitization, polyhydramnios with decels, contemplating emergency c/s.
Freak out time. We set up the OR just in case, but thank god it didn't go 'til morning when the fellow and attending were back in house. Whew!
And now for my rant on the computer order entry system that is so archaic that it seems to have been developed in the 1980's...
I seriously spend hours putting in my daily orders for patients. Soo, so, so inefficient. Instead of just ordering say, titrate total fluids to 120cc/kg/day, one must navigate an endless maze through a DOS type format...
My patient list >> Name >> Proceed to orders >> Order sets >> Pediatrics >> NICU standard orders >> Dietary orders >> Err >> I/O's >> Type order >> F10 >> Review >> Enter ... you get the picture. It gets worse when looking for labs, meds, or godforbid some random, obscure testing. Die stupid order entry, die!
Ok, I'm done now.
Tomorrow I have my continuity clinic in the afternoon and it's my turn to give a little talk to the other residents in clinic. The topic: toilet training. Heh, should be interesting. I found a good article in Peds in Review and spent a few minutes after my post-call nap putting together a nice little handout. Go me!
Alright people, time for bed.