Post by hnaggarmd on Jan 24, 2007 7:24:19 GMT -5
I spent the month of January at the VA ICU. It is one ICU that handles medicine, surgery and neurosurgery ICU patients. It has been recently renovated and holds about 25 patients.
Team: attending, a pulmonary/critical care fellow, resident, intern, 1-3 students
Hours: can vary depending on team, but mine were 7:30A-3:30/4:00P
Weekends: again team-dependent, but I was told that I could have off 4 days off a month, so I took off every Sunday and the Wednesday at the end of the rotation. Other students in the past did not work weekends.
No call and no test!!
Experience: Very good. I had a great team. Dr. Brice was my attending and is probably the best one at the VA (there are at least 2 others, Dr. Smith and Dr. Ewald). The only negative about Dr. Brice is that you have to put up with his foul language for a month. He usually gives a short talk after rounds. Rounds are usually pretty quick, anywhere from 30 minutes with 4 patients to 1.5 hours with 9 patients. The other attendings round much, much longer. The fellow was Sam Aziz, who is a 3rd year, and was great. He did a lot of teaching. The resident was Prashanth Sekhar and the intern was Jennifer Peterson, who were all good and very nice. There are opportunities to do procedures, however, most of them go to the intern or resident. Maranda and I got to put in arterial lines and a central line. On most days, Maranda and I were done by 2:30 and sat around until the residents told us to go home. We carried no more than 2 patients.
The service is much smaller than at MCG, which is nice. Being the VA and having a spinal cord injury service, there is the potential for patients to stay in the ICU for a long time. The nursing staff is nice and willing to help you out.
I would recommend this rotation. However, it is very team-dependent. Your experience will be much different if you have Dr. Smith or Dr. Ewald. Dr. Smith is nice, but likes to ask questions about biochem and nutrition, and rounds last about 3 hours. Dr. Ewald's rounds (from what I heard) are very long. You can call the Medicine housestaff office at MCG and find out who the attending/residents will be for your month. I feel much more comfortable in handling patients in the ICU setting.
Team: attending, a pulmonary/critical care fellow, resident, intern, 1-3 students
Hours: can vary depending on team, but mine were 7:30A-3:30/4:00P
Weekends: again team-dependent, but I was told that I could have off 4 days off a month, so I took off every Sunday and the Wednesday at the end of the rotation. Other students in the past did not work weekends.
No call and no test!!
Experience: Very good. I had a great team. Dr. Brice was my attending and is probably the best one at the VA (there are at least 2 others, Dr. Smith and Dr. Ewald). The only negative about Dr. Brice is that you have to put up with his foul language for a month. He usually gives a short talk after rounds. Rounds are usually pretty quick, anywhere from 30 minutes with 4 patients to 1.5 hours with 9 patients. The other attendings round much, much longer. The fellow was Sam Aziz, who is a 3rd year, and was great. He did a lot of teaching. The resident was Prashanth Sekhar and the intern was Jennifer Peterson, who were all good and very nice. There are opportunities to do procedures, however, most of them go to the intern or resident. Maranda and I got to put in arterial lines and a central line. On most days, Maranda and I were done by 2:30 and sat around until the residents told us to go home. We carried no more than 2 patients.
The service is much smaller than at MCG, which is nice. Being the VA and having a spinal cord injury service, there is the potential for patients to stay in the ICU for a long time. The nursing staff is nice and willing to help you out.
I would recommend this rotation. However, it is very team-dependent. Your experience will be much different if you have Dr. Smith or Dr. Ewald. Dr. Smith is nice, but likes to ask questions about biochem and nutrition, and rounds last about 3 hours. Dr. Ewald's rounds (from what I heard) are very long. You can call the Medicine housestaff office at MCG and find out who the attending/residents will be for your month. I feel much more comfortable in handling patients in the ICU setting.