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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Coming back to Ben Taub Hospital is like coming home. Awesome cases, wonderful attendings, and having the privilege of working alongside incredible colleagues from all specialities really makes my time here enjoyable. I just finished my first week of neuroanesthesia and finally enjoyed a day off after two straight weeks between…
Here’s the EPIC EMR template I made for rounding in the VAD/transplant ICU. The formatting is off (bold, centered, etc), but the shortlinks are still there for the problem list, problem list, recent vitals, VAD data, ins/outs, recent labs, scheduled medications, and infusion medications. Hope this helps at least one person! :-)
Tomorrow is my last day on the VAD and transplant ICU service and concludes my ICU requirements as a resident. I intentionally front-loaded my ICU rotations this year to rule in/out a critical care fellowship, and I’m happy to say that I’ll definitely be applying this winter. I’ve always been fascinated…
I’m beginning my last week on the cardiac transplant and VAD ICU rotation – one week from finishing all of my required ICU rotations as a resident! It’s shaping up to be my most draining week too with two calls plus weekend coverage and a census riddled with ECMO, Impellas, and…
Whether it’s an outpatient clinic visit or a prolonged hospital stay in the intensive care unit (ICU), patients who have been deemed to have decision-making capacity have the right to refuse treatment. A physician often assesses four criteria in determining capacity: