*Beep* *Beep* *Beep* as the alarm on my iPhone goes off at 4:30 in the morning.
I made a promise to myself the night before that I would not let residency takeover being able to take care of myself and that I would wake up early first thing in the morning to work out.
Well… as that alarm was going off I instantly regretted setting it up that early and clicked “Ignore.” I figured I will try to workout later in the evening. Well… one thing I forgot was to setup another alarm so that I would wake up in time to get to work. Next thing you know i’m waking up 6am.
I get up super fast and instantly get ready at lightning speed. I always leave home about an hour before I start work just in case traffic gets bad as I live in busy Fort Lauderdale, where traffic is the norm.
Just before leaving home I take a look at my kitchen cabinet for something to eat and realize I haven’t had time to go grocery shopping and there was nothing to eat. I guess it was just going to be coffee again for breakfast this week. I take a look in the mirror to ensure I am not looking too crazy and realize my white coat looks a bit wrinkled. I take a look at my watch and shrug my shoulders. No time to iron …only time to get moving.
As I’m driving to the hospital it suddenly hits me that I am staffing an evening shift tonight so “bye bye” to my plan of working out today. As I enter the hospital I head to my desk in the pharmacy and start working up my patients. This month I am in oncology, last month I was in critical care where I had to be at the hospital much earlier around 6 am to workup my patients before rounds.
Whenever I workup a patient, I work them up like they were my own family. I look at trends in labs and vitals, I look at their medications and medication administration record. I check for drug interactions, renal dose adjustments and whether certain medications are still necessary or possibly needed. I write all my notes and questions for each patient then head over to meet the attending physician and medical residents for rounding.
One thing I appreciate about where I am currently doing my residency is the team based care and collaborative leadership of all healthcare professionals. The physicians always ask me for my input and advice and I can’t help but to feel all warm and fuzzy inside, knowing I am making a difference. I remember one of the residents telling me one day, “we appreciate having pharmacy around, you are all so helpful and we need you guys.”
Rounds go on for about 3-4 hours depending on the attending of course, but usually around the second hour I regret ONLY having coffee for breakfast. The time the attending says “thank you we are done for the day” is the happiest time of the day for me because I know lunch is next.
After eating lunch I check dozens of my new emails, check my calendar for due dates of assignments and projects, respond to drug information questions, help the oncology pharmacists with verifying chemo especially when things get busy… then next thing you know “CODE BLUE in the LOBBY” is pronounced on the hospital speaker-com. I quickly stop what I am doing and go respond to the code. I personally like to take on the role of preparing the medications in the code cart as the nurses and physicians focus on chest compressions, analyzing the patient’s heart rhythm and more.
After the blur of the code… I realize I haven’t used the bathroom all-day and rush towards the bathroom. Afterwards I wash my hands, take a deep breath and continue on towards my day. I head back to the pharmacy engage in more learning while also trying to work on my endless list of projects.
Once the clock hits 3:55PM I head towards inpatient pharmacy to begin my staffing shift till 9 PM. During my shift there were 3 transplant surgeries and several emergencies for critical medications in the ED.
After my shift I head to my car like a zombie looking forward to hitting my bed and resting for another busy day filled of learning and making a difference in patients lives.
Residency is not easy but the experience I have every single day and the clinical interventions I make every single day are absolutely priceless and I wouldn’t change a thing.
P.S. 5 more months till I am done! Who’s counting?