My Pulm/ICU Elective
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Brooklyn, NY​
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Elective rotation #2 - 3 weeks
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Services: ICU
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Arrive to ICU around 8am and begin to look in the chart to review the patients. You can pick a patient and then you work with the resident assigned to the patient in terms of procedures needing to be done, labs ordered, etc. You work on the H&P to present to the attending when he arrives (between 10-11am). Rounds begin after we review the imaging of all the patients and then we stay after to help the residents with procedures such as ABGs, extubations, BALs until dismissal. ​
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Every Monday morning around 7am, the Pulm fellow would do ventilator rounds to make sure the settings were correct for each patient and would also teach the residents and students.
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Tools: Stethoscope, notebook, pen, penlight
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Resources: I used Step up to Medicine to review ventilator settings and Pulmonology
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Useful Phone Apps: Epocrates (helps with drug names, indications, dosing), UptoDate (information)
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Overall thoughts: Although not interested in IM, I thoroughly enjoy this rotation and highly recommend it for anyone interested in EM. I learned how to perform ABGs as well as observed other procedures such as BALs. I also learned about the different types of ventilators and how to read them. Reading Step up to Medicine was helpful when learning the criteria for admission into the ICU as well as when to extubate a patient. The attendings were knowledgeable and the residents were always willing to let students assist them. I was also able to obtain a LOR from the Assistant Program Director (APD) who was the preceptor for this rotation.