Trauma Team, STAT!
Today I finished up my last shift with Nicole Bernal, a 4th year general surgery resident and the Trauma Chief at SLU Hospital for the past six months. Nicole was kind enough to let me shadow her during the month of December and again this month after returning from a two month stent at St. John’s–a hospital off of I-64/270.
This was more than a shadowing expereince–she treated me like an intern, which was pretty awesome and scary. I was in my SLU-issued scrubs armed with a trauma pager, phone, and stethoscope. I was as official as I could get without the M.D. behind my name.
When she was in-house I was in-house, be it a 12-hour shift or a 24-hour shift. The day would start at 6 a.m. when we would get the sign-out from the night team. At 7 a.m. we would start rounding on all the patients. I had my patient list and I would go fill out the progress note, record any labs that were drawn, and check on any radiology films. I would then meet with her and we would go over any pertinent findings and get everything ready for Grand Rounds with the Attending physician.
When a trauma came, my pager went off and I headed to the ER. It was difficult working in the exact same setting with my co-workers in the ER but being in a different role. I wasn’t the ER tech in the trauma anymore. She let me examine Level II traumas and get their history. I filled out the H&P form and wrote admission orders for the floor or ICU.
But I didn’t just do paperwork. I was able to get some procedures done as well. I assisted with at least 10 chest tubes (placed one of them), some intubations, reductions of fractures, FAST Ultrasound exams, splinting, some resuscitation….and I got to practice suturing as well.
I also got to go to the OR on cases. I saw three ex-laps, a left lower extremity fasciotomy, craniotomy and lobectomy, triple-A repair. The OR cases were really interesting and it was a great way to see real anatomy.
One of the things I like the most was that she spent a lot of time reviewing CTs and Xrays and showing me how to read them….and then asking me what I saw on new films as we reviewed them.
When there was nothing to do and we were caught up with everything, I crashed in a call room. And, of course, I would sleep for 30-45 minutes (if I was lucky) and the pager would go off. My favorite was this…and this is how it went out over the pager “TRAUMA TEAM STAT: 26 y/o M GSWx3 Homeboy dropoff”
This is pretty much how I looked after one night in the ER after six traumas:
I think my eyes were a little more glossed over and blood shot because I was so tired though.
It was an awesome expereince….one that challenged me physically, mentally, and emotionally. She taught me a lot. If anything the experience of being on the trauma team has only strengthened my desire to be a doctor.
It’s gonna be sad going to work this weekend as a tech again. Oh well, I’ll survive it.
al said:
Mar 31, 07 at 12:34 pmI’ll be honest, I’m a little jealous. That pgy-4 sounds awesome though. Hell, you probably got to do more procedures than some m3s do on their surgery rotations.
About the surgery shadowing, it was definitely something that I got excited about last summer. Granted, with HH and the VA being community hospitals, I didn’t get to see any trauma or the more acute cases that an academic hospital like SLU gets. Definitely no shootings, aaas, craniotomies, and the laparatomies I saw were bowel resections. It was still cool enough to me though. I’m thinking about surgery: like the procedures and the autonomy, but the hours are kind of a turn off. As of right now, I’d have to say that either em or some sort of surgery would be my front runners. Who knows though, guess I’ll wait to see what m3 brings.
Are you still looking to do Loyola’s SMP? Or are you doing something else this year? Either way, you’ve got shittons more clinical experience than I had when I applied and it’ll serve you really well when interviews roll your way.