Day in the Life: Review Clinic + Field Trip

I haven't written one of these in a while, now that I'm on my home service and the days are pretty routine. This afternoon was a bit different though, so I thought I'd share.

7:40 am - Walked to work. Smoky out from the BC forest fires.

8 am - In the radiation oncology review clinic this morning. This is a once-a-week clinic where we see patients who are currently undergoing radiotherapy. They're quick visits, to check in on how they're doing and assess for side effects.

We've started electronically charting for these review visits (versus dictating as we do the rest of the time). They brought in these wheely computers to facilitate that; they're also great for bringing into the exam rooms to show folks their scans and radiation plans.

Since the staff I'm working with is on lung triage this week, we saw a couple of urgent consults between our regular patients. Normally there's no rush to start radiation, but these were palliative treatments in unwell patients, so we got a move on.

After we saw the patients they went to the CT simulation scanner to get imaged for radiation planning, and I worked on their radiation plans while the staff and visiting resident saw the rest of the patients.

11:45 am - Done clinic a little early and reviewing dictations.

12:15 pm - Another patient showed up. I went back to see her.

12:30 pm - At my desk for lunch, emails, and another radiation plan.

2 pm - Since we didn't have our usual Friday afternoon academic half-day lectures, our PGY-5 arranged for us to tour Wellspring. Wellspring is a non-profit organization that runs 11 centres across the country to support patients with cancer. Built entirely on donations, Wellspring Edmonton just opened this year. It's a great space; bright and spacious, with a home-y rather than hospital feel.

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The director of the centre was kind enough to show us around and tell us about their programs. It was nice to hear about their impassioned volunteers, many of whom have had their own experience with cancer. They also have a choir, the Wellspring Singers, which I'd love to hear. Here's a great recent article by the Edmonton Sun.

4 pm - Back at work, trying to put some thought into writing a long-overdue case report.

chocolate, always

5 pm - I'm on in-house call tonight, so went up to the ward to get the pager. Things looked good -- the charge nurse gave me a gummy worm in exchange for an insulin order. But then someone pulled their iv out and I got blood on my clothes, sigh. Anyhow, fingers crossed for a quiet night!