10:00 am - alarm goes off (I know this might seem like I'm "sleeping in" but my shift ended at 1 am that morning, drove an hour to get home, and went to bed around 3 am). Waking up is not super easy but gotta do what you gotta do.
10:15 am - 11:45 pm - After brushing my teeth and washing my face, I drink my coffee outside on the front porch today because the weather is nice and this is the only sunshine I'll get to see for the day. I then pack my lunch which are a few samosas I bought from the frozen section at Whole Foods, a few snacks including a blueberry greek yogurt, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a kind bar and some grapes, and pasta for dinner. Getting ready is easy as I just throw on some scrubs and put on a little make up to look more awake than I actually am.
11:50 - 12:50 pm - it takes about an hour to get to the ER where my rotation is. Its a nice drive but definitely feels long coming back at night since I work from 1 pm to 1 am.
12:55 pm - I get to the ER and head straight to the lounge to put my food in the fridge before I start my shift. I work with several different PAs on this rotation which is a lot of fun. Every preceptor has his/her strengths and there is so much to learn from the different providers I work with. The attendings also come and get me if they're doing something like a lumbar puncture or have any patients they think would be a great learning experience for me.
1:00 pm - I make my way to the desks where we sit. We have a small 12 bed ED along with two trauma rooms, and 3 fast track rooms. We are not a stroke or trauma center and usually have to transfer patients to other hospitals for stroke, MI, or any other time sensitive emergencies. I meet my preceptor and see that he has already signed up to see a few patients. I got and see a patient with abdominal pain while my preceptor heads in to another patient's room. I then come back out, present my patient to my preceptor, and we discuss what labs or imaging to order. He then goes and sees the patient himself before putting in the orders. During the afternoon, I get to suture a finger laceration, see patients with complains of ankle injury, UTI symptoms, cough/cold symptoms (such an emergency, I know), and a patient in DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis). I come back and chart on the patients I see and document their history, review of systems, physical exam. My preceptor will read over what I've written and will add any other pertinent information before finishing the chart and discharging the patient. I manage to go eat my somosas while we're waiting on labs for our patients and take a bathroom break.
4:30 pm - I finally get a chance to take a little break as we wait on labs for some of our patients and go eat my sandwich really quick. It seems to be a really busy day today and the patients just keep on coming in. For the rest of the evening we see patients with a proximal ulnar and radial fracture which I get to help my preceptor reduce, more abdominal pain, a patient with COPD exacerbation, migraine, flu like symptoms, an forearm abscess, appendicitis. I love getting to do procedures in the ER and all of the preceptors know that, so every time they have a laceration that needs sutures or an abscess that needs to be drained, they come and get me. I have my kind bar and yogurt while I'm documenting because this day doesn't seem to want to slow down and I've got to keep that blood sugar from bottoming out!
9:00 pm - After 7 pm the shift changes and the night staff gets there. We have a doctor who seems to be a magnet for chest pain every time he works and low and behold there are 2 patients who show up with chest pain and are in SVT. The attending comes and grabs me before he goes into the patient's room and I am grilled on the treatment for SVT as we walk to their room. Thankfully I remember the treatment and don't embarrass myself. The next hour is a whirlwind with managing two acute patients and deciding whether to admit them or to transfer them to another hospital.
11:30 pm - There are finally 0 patients the waiting room and the few that we have are being worked up. I finally get the chance to sit down and eat my dinner and chat with my preceptor and ask him any questions I have about the patients we saw today. We see a few more patients that night including a patient with rhabdomyolysis, corneal abrasion, the cutest little baby with fever and cough, and another laceration for me to suture!
1:00 am - Our shift finally comes to an end and we head out the door. I have an hour drive to get home and I listen to some Indian music to keep me awake.
2:00 am - get home, drink a cup of milk because I'm hungry, and hop in the shower.
2:30 am - I have the day off tomorrow which I'm so grateful for. I got to set my own schedule as this rotation so I usually work 2 days and then take at least one day off. I am still so wired from our crazy busy shift so I allow myself to read a few more pages of my book so I can wind down before bed. I'm currently reading The Woman in Cabin 10 and if you like mysteries then you need to read this book.
2:55 am - I want to keep reading but I force myself to stop and go to bed because I can't keep my eyes open anymore.
Day in review
Hours worked: 12
Total patients seen: 24
Patients seen on my own: 19
Next up I have my elective rotation in Dermatology starting May 14th. After that I have Pediatrics and then I'll be done! Graduation is a mere 3 months away and the reality of taking the PANCE is slowly sinking in... Hope you all are having a great day and thank you for reading!You can subscribe via email or find me on Bloglovin' to make sure you never miss a blog post! You can also follow me on Instagram get more frequent updates about my PA school experiences.
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