The Big House

Finally I am at the big house. My schedule is such that I didn't make it over to Stanford until my fourth month. I am, again, on wards (it is relentless). But I've turned the corner on this stretch; it is now my 4th out of 5 straight call months. Stanford is a big change; while I had to drive half an hour to get to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, I walk to Stanford (though it still takes me twenty minutes); perhaps one of these days off, I'll get myself a bike. Wards here is a straight q4; we take 30 hour overnight call every fourth night. Unfortunately, recent restructuring of the program makes this rotation ridiculously busy. We cap at admitting 12 patients every night, and our service runs close to the maximum of 20 patients all the time. There is a wide variety of patients; although some of course come through the emergency department, others are transfers from hospitals or direct admits from clinic. We see the bread-and-butter alcohol intoxication, failure to thrive, pneumonia, sepsis, but we also get transfers for cancers I've never heard of (spindle cell) or end-stage diseases refractory to management by other hospitals. Although it's a good experience, it's really tiring as patients can be awfully sick.

I'm always running behind on my blogs, and there is so much to write about but so little time. In looking at my schedule, I think I will have to take a week-long break from blogging. Alas, residency comes first. I'll be back next Monday.

Image is in the public domain, from Wikipedia.