A Day in the Life of Dr. Anderson

         Before I did this internship I had a rough idea of the daily life of a doctor, but I never guessed they did so much. Of course the main thing Dr. Anderson did was hold clinic so that he could see patients, but as simple as this sounds, there is a lot to it. Everyone who comes in has a different history, and a different situation. In order to keep a good relationship with all of his patients he would review their history (if they had one) and get as much information on them before he went into the room. I had a good idea what would happen during the visit, since I have been to the doctor, so that segment wasn’t as new to me. After the patient leaves, Dr. Anderson would go to his “office” to dictate the notes he took and things he discussed with the patient so that everyone who sees this person in the future (including himself) so no information is lost in between visits. On days that were really busy he would end up having to pile all of the patient info on his desk, and spend a while at the end of the day dictating the visits.

        One day a week Anderson is on call for mercy. This could be anything from answering questions a hospitalist has, to going over and giving injections to in-patients who are having joint pain, to going into emergency surgery. On these days the doc still has regular clinic knowing that they may have to leave, but when they do their PA just has to pick up the slack. Eating lunch is also something that has to be squeezed in on these days, and usually it’s a quick bowl of soup or a plate of salad in the lounge during a small amount of downtime.

        There are also days during that week that are surgery days, and Dr. Anderson’s is on Friday. This is a day that is completely filled with surgeries, ranging from 30 minute operations, to more extended operations. Dr. Anderson does almost all of his operations in the ASC (Animas Surgical Center), a wing of mercy that has smaller, less “intense” surgical rooms, and is usually the location of the “easier” operations.

       This is just a simple synopsis of the day in the life of an Orthopedic doctor, but of course this would very depending on the type of doctor and the location of their practice.  

Third Day of the Last Week

I was at San Juan Hand Therapy this morning working with the therapy techs observing their daily work day. The cool thing about this was a patient that had three pens removed on Monday in Dr. Anderson’s clinic came in this morning for therapy, so I was able to make that connection. This also helped me with hand anatomy because that is a large thing they focus on to do their job right. For lunch, Zach and I presented our projects to the RMEC staff along with Dr. Youssef and his close staff. This was a very nerve racking thing to prepare for because of how intimidating the staff was, but once it began, it didn’t end up being that bad. We also got to sit in on a meeting with Dr. Youssef where he was preparing with the research staff for a conference in Australia, and also developing/refining a book chapter they wrote on ALIFs. Watching this conference was amazing to me because I didn’t realize they were involved in so many things. After this we went to the billing department to see what all that entails, and I was stunned by how complicated it all is. One thing that I took away from this is that I would never want to run a private practice on my own.

Second Day of the Last Week

Today was pretty simple. This morning we were with the radiology techs from Mercy all morning seeing what their job entails, and that was interesting at moments. The best part of this was watching a barium swallow. In this procedure the patient swallowed a barium solution, and then was X-Rayed to watch the barium move through the throat, intestines, and stomach, to make sure everything was working well. After lunch I worked on my project to finish up the final details, and this went well because I got all the work I wanted to done.

The Start of the Last Week

I was with Dr. Anderson all day in clinic and while he was one call, and it was pretty eventful from my standpoint. Clinic brought a variety of cases in, from simple post op checkups, to removing pins and popping cysts. There were two patients that came in who had pins placed in their hand, and needed them to be removed. Instead of a long, complicated process to get them out, Dr. Anderson pulled out a pair of sterile vice grips, wiped the area with an alcohol pad, and then pulled the pins out. Generally they came out easily, but one of them brought the patient quite a bit of pain and Dr. Anderson thought this may have been because it got a little bent since he put it in. Also, a patient came in with a ganglion cyst, and was okay with the doc drawing out the fluid in the office, so that’s what happened. The fluid that came out was a jelly like substance, and it was kind of disgusting to be honest. The other pieces of the day consisted of more clinic and some call visits. We visited an older gentleman in inpatient that was having severe gout problems, so Dr. Anderson pulled about 8ccs of fluid off of his knee to be sent for labs, and then injected cortisone into his wrist and his knee. We also had a case in the ER, but this was a simple consultation of how to treat a break in the wrist, and scheduling a follow up appointment at Dr. Anderson’s office.

Day Four of Week Two

This morning I was at Spine Colorado in clinic with Dr. Robert Wallach. Dr. Wallach went through college normally, but in return for “free” med school, he served eight years in the United States Army after he got out of med school. This was the first spine doc I’ve been in clinic with, and it was cool to see how they go about things, especially how nerves can send pain through certain parts of your body because of a particular vertebra that is messed up. In the afternoon I was in clinic with Dr. Robert Goodman at Durango Orthopedics. Dr. Goodman has been practicing for over 25 years, attended Princeton for his undergraduate degree, and med school at Princeton Medical School. The patients today were a mix between pre-op, post-op, and normal orthopedic outpatient, so I was able to kind of see the whole process.

Day Three of Week Two

I was at Durango Family Medicine again today, but I was shadowing Dr. Joe Murphy today. He, like Dr. Kearney, has been practicing for a very long time and proven to be very reliable. I was in clinic with Dr. Murphy most of the day, and the patients we saw had different symptoms/problems than patients yesterday. Having seen inpatient (with Dr. McKinnis), specialty (with Orthopedics), and outpatient with Durango Family has shown me the full range of medicine and how things relate. I have had a great time through the first half of our internship time, and the rest of it looks to hold more of the same, great experiences.

Day Two of Week Two

Today I shadowed Dr. Patrick Kearney in clinic, at Durango family medicine. Dr. Kearney has been practicing for over twenty-five years and has built ranged over four generations in some cases. We saw everything from a nine month old baby for a wellness check to an 85 year old who was “suffering from over exposure to birthday cakes” (getting old). I loved the pediatric cases because I am interested in pediatrics, but the whole day was fun and gave me a really look into what being a doctor of a family practice looks like.  I will be with another doctor at Durango Family tomorrow, and I look forward to it.