Surgery Week 7, Begin TRAUMA TEAM

So my last two weeks of surgery and I end with Trauma Team. This is interesting because my team happens to be the very people I took most of my night call with. Recall, Night Call/Float is the surgery team that covers everything surgical from consults to trauma codes to floor duties .

First things, first our attending is this bad-ass doctor who goes by his initials. For the sake of anonymity , I'll say it sounds like B.A. which he pretty much is. This guy is one of those pointers. The point to a nurse and say, yo, what's up... I mean... he's an older guy.. i don't know 50s and balding but his white coat says Trauma/Critical Care .. and his coffee smells amazing.This is what he drinks: http://us.myflavia.com/home/index.jsp

His only downside, he's easily distracted or gets sucked into some side conversation. There wasn't one day where rounds didn't take more than 2-3 hrs. The problem is , Trauma team can't continuously round because if a code gets called or an operation needs to be done or chest tubes/lines placed... then things get hairy.

Let's talk about rounding. This is the first time I've rounded with a full team (Me, Intern, 2nd year Resident, 4th year Resident, NP, and PA Student sometimes AND B.A.) on every patient and trauma has a bunch of patients under our care 20+

I feel like we're a little gang. We're all decked out in white coats and we hit floors in our little pack. Some of us scurry head to gather charts like nobody's business. Then we stick them in a little cart and roll out, literally. Basically, B.A. leads the pack and we enter the room. THE TRAUMA TEAM... it just sounds cool. I mean.. the TRAUMA team thinks you're read to go home.. THE TRAUMA TEAM.... even when i'm rounding on my own or checking a patient.. I tell them I'm the student on THE TRAUMA TEAM. The bulk of our patients are ortho type deals and we're just dealing with pain management, airway control, volume resuscitation... the basics. I remember one time , a nurse was saying that the "Trauma team" was coming to see some patient, and I was like... I am on the Trauma Team.... = Bad Ass

Nothing really exciting happened, just random things here and there. Today, we got a code at 745am.... which really cut into morning rounds...

It was unremarkable, just some methheads, shooting each other up. After that I just chilled until rounds, then I assisted with random floor stuff since we were missing our intern . I got to assist on two chest tube insertions which was kinda cool.

Some quote-ables from B.A.:

"Suck on that" (he was explaining that the patient can have ice)
" If it's big enough, I'd like to tap it" (referring to doing an IR percutaneous drainage of some abdominal fluid)

Update on 9th floor nurse - saw her only once this week, I guess having only one or two patients up there .. ... oh well But she's not really the apple of my eye currently, there's someone else...

That's it for now avid readers... a little relaxation and some major cramming for my Surgery Shelf Exam next week.

God Bless and remember to honor friendships and that chivalry is not dead.