I know I said that my next entry would begin telling the story of how I got started in medicine but a couple small "happenings" recently occurred which themselves are "blog-worthy".
I began taking call for my group New Year's Eve which means I'm responsible for patients of my partner's currently in the hospital. I get a call by one of the hospital nurses regarding a patient seen by my partner earlier that day with chest pain and hypotension (low blood pressure). She also tells me that he is a Jehovah's Witness and refuses any blood products to treat his anemia, that she was told not to do ECG's on him and that he and his family want to address his code status. At this point in the evening, my partner has yet to call me to give me a "sign out" and tell me about the patients I am assuming care for. He is also not available by home phone, cell phone or pager. He has "checked out" and I'm left trying to make decisions on a potentially very sick individual whom I know nothing about!
When nurses in the hospital end and start their shifts, they go thru a very detailed "report" so that the nurse coming on duty knows everything of importance about the patient they will be caring for. This is standard practice. Well folks, I'm sorry to report that your doctors do not routinely share information with each other in this manner, even if they are responsible for critically ill people!
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