Unlike Ariana Grande, I’m not referring to men. The past two weeks have been rather uneventful. It all seemed rather routine… which is also why I’m starting to itch for a change of scenery.

Svikki MD

My patient census number has grown a bit over the past two weeks. There was a steady turnover of patients, nothing too stressful. There were definitely some characters in the mix but for the most part, the patient panel was nice. I was out on time most of the days. A few evenings, I stayed late helping out in the clinic.

Weight-based everything

I had my first pediatric admission this past Friday. I had gone over to the clinic around 3 PM to help the nurse practitioner with a patient. Then, there were a couple of late walk-ins so I offered to see them. That kept me busy until about 6 PM. On my way back to my hospital office, I ran into one of the nurses. She was telling me that they might have an admission. I inquired what the case was and she told me it was a child. My follow-up question was who the physician on-call was. It was one of the internists. I told her they probably wouldn’t be allowed to admit, Internal medicine takes care of patients 18+ years of age. Family medicine sees all ages.

I made a call to the regional president to ensure that I had pediatric admission privileges. Turns out, I do. So then, I had to make sure I had nurses that felt comfortable with a pediatric patient. Once that was all in place, I went and assessed the patient for myself. The orders took a while to enter because medications and IV fluids for pediatric patients are weight-based. Since I don’t admit pediatric patients often, I double-checked every order.

By the time this was all done, it was 8 PM. I drove home to eat some dinner (Girl Scout cookies are not an appropriate dinner… that’s all I had around in the hospital). The admission History and Physical note was submitted at 10 PM and I was spent.

The late evening Friday acute care admission also won me a weekend of rounding. Luckily, kiddos are usually pretty quick to turn around and the patient was ready to go home by Saturday afternoon. That spared me a trip to the hospital today.

Change of Scenery

I’ve been on this assignment in South Dakota for 5 months now, I have one more to go. A workflow is in place and I know most people at the hospital and all the people in the clinic. The work environment is lovely and my co-workers make my job enjoyable. So, now I feel like I’m ready for a change.

I don’t know how much the pandemic plays into this itch for something new. If life was like the “before times”, I would probably be visiting the local movie theater every weekend (one of my favorite activities during residency besides horseback riding). However, I’m not a bargoer and I hardly eat out, so that wouldn’t be any different. Maybe I’d visit a few more of the local museums and attractions if it weren’t for the pandemic.

The major difference in activities would be traveling. If I could take a trip once or twice a month somewhere, I probably wouldn’t be antsy. With the pandemic and (necessary) restrictions currently still in place, that’s not the most feasible option.

Moving forward, assignments that are 4-6 months will probably be ideal depending on workload and where they are. I’m really trying to go to Hawaii for locums and am willing to go there for a year. People have warned me of island fever, and maybe I’ll regret my current stance, but there are many islands to keep me occupied. I’m willing to take that risk 😉

One thing I love: Sunny days after snowfall. We hardly had any snow on the ground last week and then overnight, several inches of snow came down. However, it’s sunny and lovely out today! I’ve already been on a walk.

One thing I ate: Samoas and Tagalong Girl Scout cookies. As a former Girl Scout, I had to support the cause… and my occasional sweet tooth.

One thing I’m grateful for: Books. I feel there is such a slump in interesting shows to watch. Not that there is a lack of content, just a lack of content that interests me. I bought Bill Gate’s new book How to Avoid a Climate Disaster yesterday and look forward to having it on rotation with my medical and finance books!

mfg