Dusting off the white coat

Back to waking up early. Back to the polyester straight-jacket. Back to the floors.

Today was the first day of my cardiology elective, which actually was something of a surprise for a unique reason. Up until Sunday night at 10:30 I thought I had another week left of sports medicine...and so did my last preceptor. Just to make sure he was correct, I looked at my schedule to see if it matched his palm pilot calendar. It didn't. I had no idea where I was supposed to go in the morning or what time I was expected to show up. I played it safe and decided to go to medical education at 8am. Lucky for me I was correct. Big thanks goes out to my medical school, which told the hospital not to worry about sending out a welcome letter telling students where and when to show up on the first day of the clerkship because "they would take care of it."

After getting my pager, signing 3 different HIPPA forms, and getting the customary tour, I met up with the attending and the resident I'll be working with. Instead of a general cardiologist, I've been assigned to a electrophysiologist (cardiologist specializing in the conduction system of the heart), which means I'll be spending more time with procedures that as of now are completely over my head.

The main reason I took this elective was to get some quality time reading EKG's, which has always been something I've tried to improve upon. I'm sure I'll get plenty of chances...which I may come to regret as I'm getting grilled on strip after strip. More thoughts to come as I get my bearings.

Comments

[Noah Raizman]

Have fun with electrophys. Not nearly as cool as sports medicine, but then again I'm going into ortho.

As for EKG's, there's so much subtlety - it's awesome. I remember getting curious about the diagnosis of MI in the setting of a left bundle branch block, and just reading through the literature gave me a vastly improved sense of how electrophysiology works. I really suggest doing something similar.

Now, though, I've forgotten everything. 58yo diabetic smoker with 3hrs of chest pain radiating to the left arm? Put a plate in it. Maybe a few screws or a k-wire...

:)
N.