Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Telluride hike

Being a 1000ft above the valley makes for some great views! Cool place to hold a Patient Safety Conference.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Doctors as Team Captains

I just finished my first day at the Telluride Patient Safety Roundtable. What a great day! It's been really fun getting to know the other students as well as meeting faculty who have such passions for improving the delivery of health care. 

Reflecting on today's conversation, I saw the connection between doctors and team captains. Doctors wear a lot of hats, we are scientists, surgeons, educators, shared-decision makers, advocates, managers, and team members. On the wards, doctors are in charge of large teams of care, ranging from residents, medical students, fellows, nurses, medical assistants, nutritionists...(the list goes on). It reminds me of being captain of the track team. Not only do I have my 7 events to perform and improve on, but I worry about the goals of the team, each individual teammate, ranging from freshman to seniors, injured, superstars, the 100m sprinter to the pole vaulter to the 10,000m runner. Team dynamics, coaches, trainers are all involved. As team captain you have some power, but you aren't the coach involved in everything, but you have a lot of influence. I wonder how we would approach training doctors if we approached them as team captains in training.

Welcome to Telluride!

I'm in Telluride, CO for the next week for the 7th Annual Patient Safety Roundtable. All of the Patient Safety Scholars arrived last night and we had a group BBQ. This is a snapshot from our Gondola ride that we will be taking everyday to the to Telluride at the bottom! Had a great 2 mile run this morning- I definitely felt the 10,000 feet elevation!

Monday, June 6, 2011

Sunday, June 5, 2011

The ER

After getting to the hospital at 7am Friday morning, I found myself back at the hospital at midnight that night, for my first 8-hour Emergency Medicine shift. Running on adrenaline only, I was perfectly alert all night, because the ER is a fascinating place. I made my way around to almost all the patients, talking with them, asking the nurses to show me things, asking the residents to explain some things. I learned all about patient registration, the supply room, trauma protocol. I was impressed with how streamlined it seemed from the nurses and doctor's perspective. From the patient's perspective the number one complaint was how slow everything seemed to happen. They all wanted to either go home or be admitted to the hospital. I can only imagine how being in "ER limbo" must feel when you're sick and scared that it could be something really bad.

Overall I was very impressed with the professionalism of all the staff in the ER, from the person cleaning the rooms to the attending physician. I had the opportunity to participate in a trauma call, very organized, and thorough. I also cleaned and sutured up some lacerations for the first time (really cool).

Above all though, my favorite part was talking with all of the people and their families, hearing their stories reminds me of why I think that being a doctor is the best job in the world. It fires me up to realize that I have the power to make people's lives better. Even last night, I did my best to listen, educate when I could, and comfort always, and I think I made some people feel better. I was so impressed with all the staff in the ER, and it humbles me to know that I'll have the priveledge of working alongside these people when I head into my clinical rotations full-time in July.