So yesterday was my first weekend shift. It was from 12PM-11PM, but I didn't show up until 3PM. Lol, it had completely slipped my mind. I had woken up around 1PM and made breakfast and stuff. As I got out of the shower, I was like, "Holy shit, I was supposed to be at work right now". Needless to say, I got dressed and drove to work.
I was assigned to a new trainer named Lauren. I think she mentioned that she trained Katherine, not entirely too sure on that. Anyhoo, Saturday was a pretty lax day comparatively. I had begun to practice documenting on a notepad and then entering in the computer system. I'm getting the hang of it, but there's still so much to learn about the whole thing. I met a lot of new people on Saturday. I guess it was because that's when most people worked, considering they are around my age but a little older.
The honorable mention of the day was a girl who came in complaining about abdominal pains. The killer here is that she said she was mainly having cold symptoms like runny nose and congestion, but nonchalantly mentions the fact that she hasn't pooped in a week. She also said that was normal for her. O_O Didn't poop for an entire week! Wouldn't you be a little freaked out by that?! I just about lost it. I couldn't get over it...I still can't.
I also think I had drank the most coffee in one day than I ever had in my life. It was three cups. It wasn't because I was tired or anything. Caffeine has minimal effect of me. The coffee just tasted sooo good. In the physician's lounge, scribes are allowed to go in on the weekends because it's not as busy I guess. Anyway, they have coffee machines that have these little one-cup packet thingies that you insert into the machine. I forget the brand name of them, but they taste amazing.
That's pretty much I had to say about Saturday I guess. It's harder to blog about it the day after, I suppose. Anyhoo, until next time.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Busy Day
So thank God I'm still in training cause I was scheduled for a shift from 12PM-11PM today and I would've missed three of my four classes. O_O I left Psychology at 6:40PM and drove to work. I had the same trainer tonight as I did the first day (Katherine), but today we followed a different doctor.
As soon as walk through those double doors, we go to an exam room where a middle-aged man is complaining about an abscess on his butt. Needless to say, he removes his pants and there it was. Not only is there an abscess, but there a massive amount of scar tissue from previous incidents. I guess they didn't go as well. Yikes. It was like the cheeks were abused with a meat tenderizer or something. It was graphic and yet that's not the worst part. The doctor unpacked a bandage from the abscess and pulled out a gauze plug the length of, let's say...a foot long. I was like, "Oh, wow. That's impressive." The doctor replies, "Oh, this is shorter than most packs." Just imagine the long bloody, pus-lined gauze strip coming out of an abscess on the butt-cheek. Yep, that's a keeper. Then, he proceeds to drain the pus out of it. Mmm...just dandy. :-D
Let's move on to a lighter note, shall we? There was a 5-yr. old that came in because he has a "big boo-boo on da fingor" as he had put it. Lol. I love kids. It was actually an infected area where he had gotten a finger prick a couple days before. A red blister had swollen up and collected some pus at the head. Your body loooves to produce pus when an infection occurs. It's just its way of saying, "Here's a lovely reminder that this needs to get checked out." :-D Anyway, the doctor orders a drainage to be done and we retrieve some supplies to do that. We also get another assistant to come in and help restrain the child as we do the procedure. You know kids, screaming and kicking and such. Funny thing is, the whole thing is going absolutely fine when the kid's finger is being washed and numbed. It's only when he sees the doctor pull out the needle to prick the head of the abscess in which the kid proceeds to scream at the top of his fucking lungs. Literally, the puncture takes a fraction of a second and the doctor tells him he's done. Tears were streaming down his face and he immediately shuts up. We give him some Neosporin on the finger and a band-aid and a freakin' cherry popsicle. Yes, a cherry popsicle.
So that was my second night on the job, albeit I was really only there for half the shift. Lol. Only two days have gone by and I've seen the craziest things and they're only to get crazier. Stay tuned, readers of interest. :-D
As soon as walk through those double doors, we go to an exam room where a middle-aged man is complaining about an abscess on his butt. Needless to say, he removes his pants and there it was. Not only is there an abscess, but there a massive amount of scar tissue from previous incidents. I guess they didn't go as well. Yikes. It was like the cheeks were abused with a meat tenderizer or something. It was graphic and yet that's not the worst part. The doctor unpacked a bandage from the abscess and pulled out a gauze plug the length of, let's say...a foot long. I was like, "Oh, wow. That's impressive." The doctor replies, "Oh, this is shorter than most packs." Just imagine the long bloody, pus-lined gauze strip coming out of an abscess on the butt-cheek. Yep, that's a keeper. Then, he proceeds to drain the pus out of it. Mmm...just dandy. :-D
Let's move on to a lighter note, shall we? There was a 5-yr. old that came in because he has a "big boo-boo on da fingor" as he had put it. Lol. I love kids. It was actually an infected area where he had gotten a finger prick a couple days before. A red blister had swollen up and collected some pus at the head. Your body loooves to produce pus when an infection occurs. It's just its way of saying, "Here's a lovely reminder that this needs to get checked out." :-D Anyway, the doctor orders a drainage to be done and we retrieve some supplies to do that. We also get another assistant to come in and help restrain the child as we do the procedure. You know kids, screaming and kicking and such. Funny thing is, the whole thing is going absolutely fine when the kid's finger is being washed and numbed. It's only when he sees the doctor pull out the needle to prick the head of the abscess in which the kid proceeds to scream at the top of his fucking lungs. Literally, the puncture takes a fraction of a second and the doctor tells him he's done. Tears were streaming down his face and he immediately shuts up. We give him some Neosporin on the finger and a band-aid and a freakin' cherry popsicle. Yes, a cherry popsicle.
So that was my second night on the job, albeit I was really only there for half the shift. Lol. Only two days have gone by and I've seen the craziest things and they're only to get crazier. Stay tuned, readers of interest. :-D
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Whew
So today was my first day at job training. My trainer's name was Katherine and she's a cute brunette who's been working at the hospital since last summer. She's really nice and showed me the ropes. I think she's training me again on Wednesday when I go back. Basically, I just followed her around while she followed a physician's assistant around as she did her rounds. My shift started at 2 this afternoon and ended about 10. I was so hungry when I got off. I made some salmon with a side of peas and carrots to go with it and finished it off with a bagel with peanut butter and nutella and an orange for dessert. Sooo hungry. That's probably the only thing I can complain about so far: going for so long without eating. Maybe I'll stock up the fridge with some pre-made wraps so it'll be quick and easy to eat before and after I work.
I gotta tell you, I am exhausted right now. I'm a bout to fall asleep on the keyboard. I'm so glad I did my lab report last night so I didn't have to do to it right now. I would not have been in the right mind to do it correctly.
Anyhoo, to the interesting stuff on the job, I never knew how much high-tech was involved behind the scenes at a hospital. Or maybe it's crazier cause I was right there with it. Anyway, the documentation system is chock-full of colors and labels and codes and abbreviations and everything that means something. I'll have to learn them sooner or later. Lol. It was loads of fun observing the physician's assistant performing all the exams and interacting with the patients. I saw a man's ear get sutured back up after he had snipped a part of it. I also saw police officer's ankle swell up to the size of a softball cause he had sprained. I saw a girl with an abscess (boil) on her butt. That was awkward. Lol.
Pretty good for the first day if I don't say so myself. I work again Wednesday night so hopefully all the knowledge doesn't leak out of my ears for the time being. Until next time.
I gotta tell you, I am exhausted right now. I'm a bout to fall asleep on the keyboard. I'm so glad I did my lab report last night so I didn't have to do to it right now. I would not have been in the right mind to do it correctly.
Anyhoo, to the interesting stuff on the job, I never knew how much high-tech was involved behind the scenes at a hospital. Or maybe it's crazier cause I was right there with it. Anyway, the documentation system is chock-full of colors and labels and codes and abbreviations and everything that means something. I'll have to learn them sooner or later. Lol. It was loads of fun observing the physician's assistant performing all the exams and interacting with the patients. I saw a man's ear get sutured back up after he had snipped a part of it. I also saw police officer's ankle swell up to the size of a softball cause he had sprained. I saw a girl with an abscess (boil) on her butt. That was awkward. Lol.
Pretty good for the first day if I don't say so myself. I work again Wednesday night so hopefully all the knowledge doesn't leak out of my ears for the time being. Until next time.
Monday, March 1, 2010
And So It Begins
Hey, friendly reader. My name is Richard Xiao and you've just stumbled upon my blog. Now, aren't you lucky. Lol. Let's cut to the chase here. I'm 19 years old, a sophomore at the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA, USA. I'm a pre-med Psych major and I plan to become a pediatrician when I finish medical school. If you want to know more about me, you can Facebook me if you'd like. The main reason I started this blog is that I never really had anything to blog about until now.
About a month ago, I applied for a position at a nearby hospital. Well, as of tomorrow, I start my new job as a medical scribe in the ER! If you don't know what that is, I basically follow a physician around and document the patients' charts and any other important information that needs to be noted. It's a fairly new development in the medical field, only about a decade making it into the mainstream. If you want to learn more about it, Wiki it. :-D Anyway, I feel like this is going to be one of the most interesting points of my life and I want to share it with whoever wants to listen (or read that is). So, until the next time I post, I bid you adieu.
About a month ago, I applied for a position at a nearby hospital. Well, as of tomorrow, I start my new job as a medical scribe in the ER! If you don't know what that is, I basically follow a physician around and document the patients' charts and any other important information that needs to be noted. It's a fairly new development in the medical field, only about a decade making it into the mainstream. If you want to learn more about it, Wiki it. :-D Anyway, I feel like this is going to be one of the most interesting points of my life and I want to share it with whoever wants to listen (or read that is). So, until the next time I post, I bid you adieu.
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