Halfway Done With First Acute Pain Rotation
What a beautiful day in Houston! I’m halfway done with my first acute pain rotation and really enjoying my time back at the #1 cancer hospital in the country – MD Anderson Cancer Center. :-)
Category: Residency
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Fellowship Applications Begin – Critical Care Anesthesiology
The San Francisco Match (SF Match) opened up for critical care anesthesiology earlier this week ($50 fee), so I’ve scrambled nonstop to finish my applications ASAP. Compared to the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) and Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS), fellowship applications are much less centralized.
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Academic Institutions Are For Teaching
It irks me when nurses, attendings, and more senior residents from various specialties complain about having to cater to a junior resident or medical student’s intellectual or procedural ineptitude. Please wake up and realize where you are – academic institutions are for teaching.
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Last Shift Of Obstetric Anesthesia As A CA-2!
I’m tired… like really tired. I’ve been working over two weeks without a true day off. I’ve got one more call shift beginning this afternoon before I’m officially done with obstetric anesthesia as a CA-2. More importantly – three days off! :-D
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World Anesthesia Day!
Before the 1840s, the advancement of surgery was hampered by a lack of anatomical knowledge, poor aseptic techniques, and especially a lack of safe, reproducible anesthetic techniques. Beyond remedies like alcohol and opium, patients had very little in the way of anesthesia prior to surgery. In 1842, pioneers William Clark…
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Finished With Neuroanesthesia As A CA-2 – Back To Obstetrics
I finished my CA-2 rotation in neuroanesthesia last week and am back on the labor and delivery (L&D) wing providing parturients with labor analgesia (epidurals, spinals, combined spinal-epidurals). This time, I’m a more senior resident and helping coordinate the overall work flow among the junior residents. Fortunately every single one…
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“Anesthesia Is More Complicated Than I Thought”
Anesthesiology has a notorious reputation about being a “lifestyle” specialty where providers simply throw in a breathing tube, switch on some gas, and then pull up a chair and play on their tablets while waiting for the surgery to finish. Admittedly, when I first got started with medicine, I shared…
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Barriers To Care
One of my favorite things about anesthesiology and critical care is the freedom I have to provide quality patient care. PACU and ICU nurses are top notch, pharmacists are always available with every medication I could possibly need, and as a provider, I’m given so much autonomy with very little…
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Swallow Your Pride – Remember The Patient
Training institutions face an interesting dilemma in allowing relatively inexperienced trainees to practice their skills while trying to provide safe and effective patient care. Attending physicians have mentioned feedback from trainees along the lines of “Dr. X took the procedure away from me!” This conveniently leaves out any unsuccessful attempts made…
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What Drugs Are Used In General Anesthesia?
After consenting my patients for general anesthesia, I’m occasionally asked what drugs will be used during surgery. Without going into too much detail, I refer to our agents by general classes: volatiles, narcotics, muscle relaxants, hypnotics, and reversals. The more medically-inclined patients will often ask for specific names too. Here are…