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24 Hours On Call
TUE 1:19AM Back in the team room, Ryder
looks up patient information and researches a
few conditions on the computer. She is
responsible for all the patients the team is
caring for but delegates certain tasks—like
ordering daily lab tests and filling out paperwork—to the intern. Ryder is also responsible
for supervising work done by the medical
student and the intern; teaching and providing
feedback to both of them; reviewing their
notes and orders; overseeing procedures they
do; preparing and reviewing discharge summaries;
and establishing effective relationships
with her patients and their families, as
well as with other physicians and caregivers.
TUE 2:11AM Laquer and Ryder are still hard at work, writing patient notes. Notes written by medical students don't count
as the only daily progress notes for a patient; the intern must read, correct, and cosign the notes. At the end of each day,
the resident sits down with the entire team to review what's been done and make a preliminary plan for the next day.
TUE 2:47AM Ryder is finally about to
get a little sleep. On her way to bed, she
stopped in the central telemetry unit to
check some cardiac information on one of
her patients. "The tele unit can give 24-
hour data, including trends, and has the
benefit of having the tele nurse let you
know if there was anything specific that
went on," she says. Satisfied that her
patient is okay, she heads for her dormlike
call room, slips off her white coat
(but keeps her scrubs on), and climbs
into bed. She'll be paged if she's needed.
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