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…
Ventricular assist devices (VADs) can support the right (RVAD) and left (LVAD) ventricles and were initially utilized as mechanical circulatory support devices for bridge-to-transplant (BTT) in heart failure. Modern continuous flow VADs are also being used for destination therapy (DT) for those who are not candidates for cardiac transplantation or are too ill to…
The intensive care unit (ICU) is where the hospital’s most critically ill patients receive care. When you’re the resident in charge of stabilizing crashing patients, rapidly escalating care, responding to emergent codes around the hospital, and working with the nurses to get through the night hour-by-hour, things can get stressful.…
I’ll never get tired of new rotations making me feel like a chicken with its head cut off. After roughly 5 hours of EPIC EMR training (why must we keep doingggg thissss), my classmate and I proceeded to the ICU to meet up with our attending and fellows.
I’m officially finished with my MD Anderson ICU rotation and looking forward to my next rotation on the cardiac transplant and ventricular assist device ICU service at Texas Heart Institute. Working with critically ill cancer patients showed me the importance of prioritizing problems, many of which aren’t even medical in…
“Push FAST, GO!” I heard our ICU attending say as we hurled our patient’s stretcher down the hall towards a vacant ICU bed. “PEA arrest – as soon as we stop, someone needs to jump on the bed and start chest compressions!”
This weekend, I ran most of the medical ICU and had flashbacks to ICU rotations from my intern year. It’s a field I was considering from the get-go, but this weekend reinvigorated my interest in pursuing a critical care fellowship.
I’m kicking off my third year of residency (“CA-2” in anesthesia world) working at MD Anderson Cancer Center, one of the top two cancer institutes in the country! As a medical student at Baylor Med, we had limited opportunities to work there; however, as a resident, we do an ICU…