Getting rid of Florida toads

2003-03-31 - 4:54 p.m.

I have homework tonight, so I probably won't be able to write an entry later. And I don't have much time now. I expect to be interrupted at any moment.

Today was my first day of my new rotation. I'm doing med safety now. First thing this morning my new preceptor popped by the residents' desk where I was hanging out and said, "Hey, we're going to go get coffee. Wanna come?" In an attempt to make a positive impression on the next person to be evaluating me I said, "Sure!" and went with her and her husband to the La Bou across the street. For the sake of time and money, I just got a regular coffee. I'm not a coffee drinker. Usually when I go out to coffee I get something like a mocha. But one of the good things about coffee is that it's hot so you're not expected to gulp it down anyway.

Today was also the last day of my chiefdom. Only three more months left in this residency and now it's Slick's turn to be chief. As my last act as chief I decided to clean up the residents' area. We get our trash cans emptied, but I don't think housekeeping does anything else in pharmacy administration. I cleaned up about ten pounds of dust and other substances which I'll just call "dirt." Now the area is so sparkly!

And I did my ward inspection today. I put it off til the last minute. Well, I did try to do it last week, remember? It's not my fault the pharmacy isn't open early in the morning. While I was in the clinic they were having a problem with a coumadin patient. She was bleeding all over the place. I don't know what started the bleeding, she was bleeding when I got there. She was hispanic and English was obviously not her first language. Apparently she had her INR checked two weeks ago and it was almost 5 but then she never changed her dose as she was instructed to do by the coumadin clinic. So imagine an INR of 5 plus two more weeks of supratherapeutic dosing. Yikes. I didn't stick around long enough to find out what her current INR was.