|
SubscriptionsSites I Read
|
|
|
|
| "yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift.. and that's why it is called the present."
| | |
| finally finished my preceptorship. some of the more interesting things i saw were shingles and staph infections. neither are pretty, but surprisingly didn't bother me much. i also got to do a couple of procedures where i removed some skin tags. fun stuff. all in all, good experience, now it's summer time for me!
| | |
| i'm not kidding about asking EVERY patient about chest pains and shortness of breath. if you don't ask, many of them won't tell you. i just talked to another patient who complained of painful urination. guess what? she also had a 1 wk history of heaviness in her chest and a really strong family history of heart disease. that's a trip to the ER
so for all you pre-meds out there, ALWAYS ALWAYS ask about CHEST PAINS and SHORTNESS OF BREATH!!! i cant believe how many people leave it out. seriously if i hadn't asked, i would have completely missed it.
| | |
| alright whats been going on?
watched the doc excise a lesion from a patient's face, which i believe was pre-cancerous. the nurse let me help out, asked me to put on some sterile gloves, and here i am thinking.. what for? i usually just stand and watch. but this time i got to help dab the blood off, and trim the sutures. of course, not as exciting as doing the stitches myself, but i don't trust myself to suture someone's face up quite yet. perhaps on the arm or something would be ok, but i've got to practice some more.
i also saw a patient who i talked to for a good 45 mins or so, i wasn't bothered by it.. but the doc had a schedule to keep and he was waiting for me. i just didnt know what to do. i didn't want to be rude and the patient just had so much to say, i never found a good place to cut him off until the nurse came in and told me "the doctor needs to see you." oops. thankfully my doc is a really nice guy, didn't get on my case, but reminded me i need to try to focus the conversations. 15-20 mins per patient isn't a lot, but of course there are many other patients waiting to be seen.
and once again, i had a patient with all the risk factors for something serious, potentially fatal like a heart attack. this patient actually came in for aches and pains in her neck, back and extremities, but also had a history of intermittent chest pain and shortness of breath. she is also overweight, has a history of hypertension and elevated glucose levels, so it wasn't looking good. did an ECG, which actually looked ok at the moment. nonetheless, we are keeping a close watch on her heart.
it's weird to think.. if i had failed to ask her about chest pains and shortness of breath, she probably wouldn't have mentioned it. well boys and girls, it just goes to show how important it is to ask these questions, regardless of the patient's chief complaints. u can bet i'll be asking every patient about their heart and lungs.
| | |
| update update..
went to a couple of graduations over the weekend, very happy for gf and buddies who graduated, but also sad to see ppl leave.
heard my first heart murmur today! i'm proud to say i picked it up myself and it was later confirmed by the doc. woot! props to all the pharmacy ppl out there. so many drugs to know. im just starting to sort the medications out, but still overwhelming. saw the doc remove a benign 'tumor' from a patient's arm. i put tumor is quotes bc it's actually called something else that i cant seem to remember, but it's still technically correct to say it was a tumor. oh well.
Mondays must be unlucky, another person was sent to the ER. presumable also heart related, but i didn't get any details.
| | |
|
