Today (Wednesday) we had professor rounds, in which professors in many specialties come to round with our teams on especially difficult/confusing patients. It ends up being a LOT of talking/discussing, though, because ... well ... it's medicine! So I fell asleep for most of it. Ugh. But now would be a good time to describe some of the differences in rounds here vs. in the US. If you are not in the medical field, it might be more interesting for you to skip to the pictures below...
At least in the general medicine ward, we start with signout at 8 am. Everyone, from attendings, residents, students, and nurses attends, and signout is given by a nurse; afterwards, some of the residents/students also give brief updates on their patients. We finish by 8:15, and we do rounds with the attending around the table. That takes 45 minutes to 1 hour for 15 - 18 patients. We then do a quick round of bedside rounds with the attending, mostly just asking how they are, doing some reassuring and telling them the plan for the day. Then it's either time to do some work, or go back and talk some more about the patients. It's interesting, because the attending is involved in this whole process, whereas my medstudent friends know that the attending only makes an appearance around 10 am, for attending rounds! Another interesting point is that during the table rounds, the attending does most of the talking, regarding what the plan should be and why, and maybe doing some brief teaching, i.e. on likelihood ratios, why sputum culture is not helpful in cases of community-acquired pneumonia, etc. It's much different from rounds in the States, where the attending asks residents and students for their input and practices the Socratic method. The bedside manner is also somewhat different. The attending takes the front role in talking to the patient, and it's somewhat more of a paternalistic relationship, in which the attending is reassuring the patient, telling him what the course of action will be for the day, etc, rather than involving the patient in the discussion as well. However, when a procedure is to be done, i.e. a bone marrow biopsy, the MDs won't do it until they discuss with and get consent from other family members!
Today, after my morning naps in the professor rounds, I headed to the Beijing University Eye Center to meet with a professor there, who is interested in doing research with us. She was really nice and offered to let me shadow her once a week (probably as much time as I can take away from PUMC without feeling too guilty). I feel a little traitorous, but I kind of want to experience different clinics and see how they differ! It will be interesting, but that means I have to wake up really early this Friday (clinic starts at 8, and it takes just over an hour to get there from my dorm).
And now, for some pictures from tonight, when we went walking to the WangFuJing Snack Street to see what interesting things "on-a-stick" we could find. (Ann, no cheese-on-a-stick was to be found, despite my exhaustive search =P)
Those are scorpions-on-a-stick in the back, and silkworms-on-a-stick below, with stinky tofu at the very bottom of the picture. I had the tofu -- pretty tasty! (And not very smelly, actually).
Close-up of the stinky tofu:
Here we have some sheep-kidney-on-a-stick, sheep-hearts-on-a-stick, and urinary-incontinent-shrimp-on-a-stick.
Starfish, beetles-on-a-stick, and centipedes-on-a-stick:
Some very festive apples:
One more picture from the Great Wall...this time a group picture:
No comments:
Post a Comment