Time to change your links everyone! Undisclosed Location is moving to a new home on the net.

The new address is -----> http://izzy.typepad.com

The move is about 95% complete...meaning that from now on all posts will be made in TypePad and for fresh content you'll have to point your browsers HERE. Blogger has been a great home, but with my .mac subscription dwindling down I had to find a new spot that had all the bells and whistles I needed.

This site will stay up as long as Blogger allows it to, and will serve as a backup in case anything disastrous happens in TypePad. All the archives will remain up for reading since I haven't been able to import all of the old entries yet.

Thanks for reading this long and I hope you enjoy UL's new space on the web.

Izzy

The New Undisclosed Location

Since Tuesday will bring with my first subspecialty experience, today and tomorrow must be days of studying. I need to freshen up on all things cardiology so I can answer at least most of the questions that I'll be pimped on.

It's a bit daunting because I know that I'm terrible at reading and interpreting EKG's. Funny Pretty sad, because I know a big part of being a cardiologist involves knowing them up and down. It's amazing how quickly some docs can look at a strip of squiggly lines on a paper and know exactly what is wrong with a patient's heart. One of these days I hope to get to that level...

...hopefully sooner than later.

Since Tuesday will bring with my first subspecialty experience, today and tomorrow must be days of studying. I need to freshen up on all things cardiology so I can answer at least most of the questions that I'll be pimped on.

It's a bit daunting because I know that I'm terrible at reading and interpreting EKG's. Funny Pretty sad, because I know a big part of being a cardiologist involves knowing them up and down. It's amazing how quickly some docs can look at a strip of squiggly lines on a paper and know exactly what is wrong with a patient's heart. One of these days I hope to get to that level...

...hopefully sooner than later.

I've been playing around with TypePad more and more lately, but in creating some photo albums today I've realized how much I've taken Apple's technology for granted. Posting new photo albums via iPhoto to my .mac homepage was so easy it was almost an afterthought.

It was more of a headache to set up a couple pages in TypePad. Here are the results.

Friday Five

1. Are you going to school this year?
Not really. Technically I'm still in medical school, but we don't have any more classes. I'll be spending these last years in the hospital getting clinical learning and only taking tests at the end of my clerkships.

2. If yes, where are you going (high school, college, etc.)? If no, when did you graduate?
If all goes according to plan I'll be graduating in 2005.

3. What are/were your favorite school subjects?
Call me crazy, but my favorite subjects in HS/university were Government, English/Lit, and Biology.

4. What are/were your least favorite school subjects?
I hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, math classes...with a passion.

5. Have you ever had a favorite teacher? Why was he/she a favorite?
I never had a favorite teacher, just teachers that I really respected because I could see that they were dedicated and passionate in what they did. Especially the teachers that were willing to stay after school and provide tutoring or those who volunteered to lead academic teams/clubs in competition during their free time.

Time is really flying, probably because I'm always busy during the day.

Today was my last day of being on the GenMed 1 team. Now for the next two weeks I'll be doing a cardiology subspecialty and then I'll be on GenMed 2 service until October when my Medicine clerkship is over.

I can honestly say that I've learned a lot, but the interesting part is what I've learned. I've really gotten to know how a hospital works and the roles that different people play...all of the intangibles that you don't learn sitting in the classroom. Like how to handle unruly patients and where different things are both in the charts and in the hospital.

Despite the constant feeling of not knowing enough, I come away with something new every day. All in all, it's a pretty cool time right now.

...now if I could only read EKGs

...and I'm back in the game!

Just got my powerbook back in the mail newly repaired. They replaced the logic board and even had the courtesy to replace the little rubber stickers on the underside of the case.

It's nice to be back on the 'net again. Now back to our regularly scheduled broadcasts.

The box for my powerbook just arrived in the mail today.

Tonight I'll be backing up the important stuff on my HD, removing my installed RAM, and shipping my computer off to Apple to be repaired. The whole process should take about a week, so until then I'll unfortunately be on hiatus. I'll be back writing as soon as the computer gets back.

Talk to ya then everyone...

You gotta love the drug reps.

Because there is a 2 day cardiology convention in town the hospital is now inundated with drug reps. They set up a tent outside in the parking lot to fit all of them and their booths. I went out today after my morning rounds and picked up 2 big bags worth of promotional materials. I've gotten everything from clipboards, coffee mugs, reflex hammers, to a Viagra-branded soap dispenser (not to mention about 40 different pens and 20 or so different pads of paper).

You'd be shocked at how much getting free stuff cheers up doctors. Smiles were everywhere as one after one the white coat procession moved down the line picking up goodies. There were residents there loaded with 3-4 bags who looked like pack mules. Some just have no shame...

Tomorrow I'm hoping to score a free pen light and one of those cool pens that have a lighted tip so I can write in the dark...

...and maybe another Lipitor coffee mug.

I don't what it is, but it seems like everyone is getting sick this summer. The hospital has been at full capacity for the last few days and has had to "cap" its numbers.

As a result, speed is at a premium right now. This doesn't mean that patient care has to suffer because everything is hurried, it just means that with so many patients to see everyday, efficiency is key. This also happens to be one of my weak points.

I usually carry 2 patients as a medical student, which is super light compared to interns who carry anywhere from 5-7 and sometimes more. What I have to do with each patient really isn't that complicated in principle. Looking in the patient's chart I read any progress notes left by the other various doctors monitoring their care, and then I go to the computer and retrieve any updated lab values or radiologic tests. Once I have an idea of how the patient has progressed since I last saw them, I go into their room and do a brief history and physical. I ask them how they are feeling, get any of their complaints and make sure there are no new clinical findings through physical exam. Then I leave the room and write a progress or "SOAP" note on the patient (see 08/12/03 entry), integrating the data I collected from the steps above.

In theory all of this should only take around 20 or so minutes per patient, but I'm usually averaging 30-45 minutes. I guess my speed will come with practice and experience, but right now it's frustrating how slow I'm moving. I'm shooting for 25-30 minutes by the time I finish my clerkship, we'll see how that pans out...