Not so bad

Well, the first day of my most dreaded rotation is over and I am still alive. Tired, but alive. Luckily, the rotation will be more Adult Internal Medicine and less Pharmacokinetics. I started at around 7 with a short orientation to the rotation and expectations, then 1 1/2 hour computer training, then got to round with the physicians and residents for about a half-hour, then another hour of orientation. After that, I got the chance to review the patients assigned to my medical team. The number of patients can range from about 3-5 to about 16-18. Luckily, I only had 7 patients, and 2-3 will be gone by tomorrow. However, my team is on-call tomorrow, so I expect to gain several more patients. Thursday will definitely be rough. But at least I get out early Thursday and am off for the weekend and get to go to Tennessee to visit the family and hit the lake!

I pretty much spent most of my afternoon reading my patients charts and getting to know them and whats going on with their care. Then, for about 2 hours, the PharmD resident, my preceptor, and I met and discussed our patients and their drug treatments & monitoring that is needed. My patients range from those with MRSA staph infections and Urinary tract infections to end stage kidney disease and HIV. When I go in tomorrow morning, I will have to review the charts to see what transpired overnight. Then, around 9, I will meet up with the medical team to round with the physicians and visit the patients. Who knows what I’ll be doing in the afternoon. The first day wasn’t too bad at all. I expect to carry long hours, but I think I will learn a ton of information this month. I need a fast-paced, information rotation, because the last two were surely lacking! I will keep you posted!