The Global Health Track at North Colorado Family Medicine Residency. This is a blog of the experiences of residents while they are on their away elective to help them process and help faculty assess their experiences.
Friday, May 4, 2018
And just like that, I have reached my last day at LDL. This week, I have gotten to see a few repeat patients and it has been fun to have some continuity in my short time here. Both were newly diagnosed CHF patients that are undergoing diuresis and it has been so satisfying to see how much better they are doing with just a week or 2 of treatment. As I reflect on my time, I remain so impressed by the work that I see the long term missionaries doing here. I would have a day where I frequently got interrupted and would be annoyed, then I would go interrupt my preceptor, who would be interrupted about 4 more times during my interruption and just take it in stride. More and more patients are accessing the hospital from outside of the local area because they don't trust the care elsewhere, or the cost is too high. These providers continue to prioritize their local patients, but they remain patient focused when they turn people away or when they make exceptions for outside patients. At their hearts, they want to serve their community the best they can. I am impressed by the skills of the different providers. It has been especially inspiring to watch the teamwork that occurs when more acute issues come up. I have seen firsthand how everyone comes to code blues and rapid responses, all troubleshooting together. I have been a part of 2 complicated deliveries where people rallied to create both neonatal and maternal teams. Yesterday, a patient around 35 weeks went to section. She had been admitted for several days of monitoring because she initially presented with maternal fever and fetal tachycardia in the 200s that converted with maternal dioxin. She was induced after her NSTs showed late decelerations with contractions and her temperature again began to rise after discontinuing antibiotics. When she developed persistent fetal tachycardia with minimal variability, she went to section. I was there to help with the baby's initial resuscitation along with 1 family medicine and 1 ER doctor. With the baby stable, I went to finally share lab results with a clinic patient that had been waiting for a couple of hours. While there, I heard calls for the pediatrician and figured something had happened. As I wrapped up with my patient, I was approached by one of the nurses to help with another clinic patient whose provider was in the same cesarean delivery. I was able to pop my head in and discuss the patient with him, then begin to work on her counseling and medications before she headed back up the mountains. When her appointment was completed, we went back to see the baby. I watched the pediatrician guide the family medicine doctor on his umbilical line placement. I heard the ER doctor confirm the appropriate dosage for the medication. I watched the nurse run to the pharmacy to evaluate which IV antiarrhythmics we had in stock. The tech came in to perform the chest x-ray to check line placement. The baby had initially received adenosine, but the heart rate remained in the 250s. The 2 family medicine doctors, pediatrician, and ER doctor discussed what medications we should try next and at what doses. It was decided to repeat adenosine because the umbilical line was initially too distal. The dose was also increased. The baby converted immediately. The decisions and treatments happened as a team and were wonderfully successful. I am not sure if international medical mission work is something that I envision for my life fulltime, but it has given me an opportunity to see how important it is for the long term missionaries to have providers that can come to help lighten the load when a long term member leaves on furlough. It has been a pleasure to be a temporary team member here.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment