Night shift

Tonight is my 4th shift at Maimo in the ED, starting at 11pm and going until 7am. I have another night shift tomorrow, 7pm-7am. Over the last couple of days, several non medical friends have asked me how I can do this?? How can I shift from day shifts to nights shifts and then back to days?? Well, its not easy especially when I am the type of person that loves a schedule (to bed at the same time, to rise at the same time). Fortunately, the people that make my schedule are generous....they schedule a few nights and then give me a day off. And, it helps that the place I work at currently is very, very, VERY busy! I know for certain that from the time my shift starts until it ends I will be on my feet doing everything and anything and that always makes the time fly. In fact, its not during my shift that I am tired, its immediately after as I slog to the subway and fall asleep at the station waiting for the train....then snooze on the subway to Atlantic/Pacific where I transfer to the Q....and then snooze some more until my stop :) As long as I am busy, I am perfectly content and awake. If I was working overnights with little/nothing to do, well then I would not be choosing emergency medicine as my future career.

Over the last 3 shifts I have seen many things to numerous to name. So I will just concentrate on one case, which occurred wednesday. An 80+ year gentleman was brought in from the nursing home after falling out of his wheelchair. Unfortunately, he has dementia and it was difficult to obtain any pertinent info as to how the accident happened. A CT scan of the head was ordered to rule out a bleed in the brain. In addition, he had 2 large lacerations, one on his scalp and one on his right forearm....and the best part...I got to do all the suturing and stapling :) The scalp wound was simple, with clean edges which only needed 6 staples. The arm laceration was a different story. It was very complicated, jagged edges, and deep. So, my chief resident suggested placing vertical mattress sutures which I had never attempted before. So, I pulled up the internet, did some reading, watched as my chief put the first suture in, and then, I was on my own to finish. I placed 3 more vertical mat. sutures and then 3 interrupted sub-cutaneous sutures. It took me almost 40 minutes because I was trying desperately to make it look pretty, and anyone that has attempted to suture 80+ year old skin knows how impossible that task is. The best part, both my chief resident and attending looked at my work and said I did a beautiful job!!! In addition to the great compliments that totally went to my head (LOL), I learned a new suturing technique which I know will come in handy in the future!!

As I said, I have many more stories but not enough time or patience to type tonight. I hope on Sunday I will have the energy to type some more. I hope everyone has a great night!!

Happy Independence Day!!

Happy July 4th to all!!! While friends and family back home are grilling hamburgers/hot dogs, boating on the lake, hanging out on the back deck......I will be eating Brunch at noon....maybe going to Jones Beach....and definitely skipping the fireworks on the Hudson!! I have come to the conclusion that there are just too many people down here in NYC, and on a holiday weekend it is very wise to participate in low key events!!

So, I am done w/Peds emergency at Lincoln. Overall, it was a great rotation. I saw alot of fever, or "My child felt warm and no I don't have a $4.99 thermometer at home but I did just get my nails done for $40" LOL. I also had the opportunity to sew some lacerations....a few scalps....a forearm, but the best was the adult lac I closed. What?? Adult you ask?? Well, here is the story:

I was working on Sunday when a peds trauma came in, 8 y.o. boy was hit by a bicycle while standing on a fire hydrant and he fell. Luckily, the only trauma was to his face, a 2 cm laceration that transected the lower portion of his right nostril from his face. So, the oral maxillary surgeon had to come in and sew it back on and I got to watch!! :) After that, the surgeon says "Student, follow me" and away I go to the adult side where he has 5 people w/broken jaws anxiously awaiting him, and 1 guy who was jumped last night at the bar. He turns to me and says "Can you please sew up that guy" and I say ABSOLUTELY!!! The young man spoke very little english, but I find out that he went out to the bar, got really drunk, was jumped by 4 guys, had a bottle broken over his head, returned home around 3am, passed out, awoke at 4pm in a pool of blood, came to ED. The surgeon was called because the cut was just above the eye, through the eyebrow, about 6-7 cm in length. I was instructed to place 3 internal stitches first, to bring the wound edges closer, and then to sew it up. Then the surgeon left to attend to the jaws. So, about 23 sutures later, I was done. And it was AMAZING!!! The surgeon came and looked at my work and said it was excellent!! By this time it was 8pm, and my shift had been over for 2 hours already....so I packed up my stuff from the peds ED and strutted out of the hospital feeling like a rockstar!!! Then, I headed to Professor Thom's for True Blood, and blabbed my entire story of the day to my friends who were amazed and awed :) Actually, they are medical students too...so there reaction was much more subdued because like all 4th year medical students, they have been there and done that. But still....overall it was an awesome experience for me!!!

What have I been doing since my rotation ended on Tuesday. Well, my application for residency!! I bought my $90 token on Tuesday for use on July 1st...the official day of ERAS opening. ERAS is the service me use to send programs our application. I started filling out some of the tabs of my application. I have until Sept. 1st to complete it...on that day it gets released to the hounds (programs that I am applying to). My biggest challenge right now is completing my personal statement which has been a work in progress since January. I have imposed a deadline of August 1st for the final draft, lets hope I can do it!! I am thinking of employing a secret weapon in my quest to finish this damn statement...of course, I can't tell you what because then it wouldn't be a secret :)

Tueday starts my next rotation, adult Emergency at Maimonides in Brooklyn. I am so excited for this rotation to start....4 weeks is going to fly by!!! Hopefully, I have some good stories and I keep up with the blogging this month!

Well I hope everyone has a great day with family and friends! And I just want to give a big thank you to all of the men and women, present and past, who have put on a uniform and defended this country!! I am very grateful to them and everyday I am proud to say that I am an american!!! Everyone have a happy and SAFE 4th of July!!!