Residency Insight

The Well Equipped Resident's Lab Coat
 

Much like their counterparts in The Special Forces, the Podiatry Resident needs to be prepared for any and all contingencies that may occur. Here are our recommendations for the remainder of 2004...

The shirt and tie are retired for your entire tenure as a resident. No thought is required when you arise in the morning. Simply jump into your scrubs and you are ready to go. The only downside to the scrub outfit is the extra time required to tie and untie during pit stops.

Stethoscope -The conscientious resident always checks for post op atelectasis

Goggles - Proper eyewear for those I & D's with a little extra surprise

Forceps - Facilitates nabbing those elusive foreign bodies, always looks good hanging from a lab coat

Thermometer - My mother felt that oral temperature was never accurate
           
Suture Removal Pack - Suture removal for all occasions

Glucose Tablet and Ammonia Ampule - Get ready for syncope

Semmes-Weinstein Filament - "Proprioceptive sensoriums intact!"

Tractograph - A good resident always knows his PASA

2nd Tractograph - A better resident knows his DASA and PASA

Bandage Scissors - Always have a bandage scissor at the ready. Nurses are never happy to relinquish theirs

Magnifying Glass - Those "ARE" maggots crawling in that wound

Diabetic Exam Equipment - Everything necessary for the hospital diabetic screening program

Personal beeper and on call beeper -"The hospital hot potato"
Pen - Always have a pen and a back up pen. Wise hospital personnel will never lend their pen to anyone
Keys - Access is the name of the game. No reason to go hungry simply because the cafeteria is closed. Visitor and patients should use the ER entrance after 8:00pm. That rule is for everyone else.....You use the front door.

You need all the help you can get, but it gets somewhat cumbersome

Carrying around a couple of journals for downtime reading adds to the problem.

Enter the POCKET PC

One of the biggest space savers for the resident to come along is the PDA or personal data assistant. These were originally designed to house scheduling features to take the place of date books. However, it quickly became apparent that these devices could also hold other information such as reference books. Today there are hundreds of programs available for the PDA proficient physician. Every thing from drug programs such as Epocrates to Lexidrugs to complete textbooks such as the Merck Manual or Harrison's Internal Medicine can be stored and easily accessed from the palm of our hands. Laboratory normals, no problem, just look it up on your Palm. Inoculation schedules for your infant, again, right in the palm of your hand. So much information is available in these tiny devices that they literally replace volumes of textbooks. You want to log that surgery that you just did or keep track of your daily activities, just input the information into the Residency Resources program for your Palm and you are good to go.

It is clear to see the advantages of having a "loaded" Palm-Pilot at your disposal. The prices have come down dramatically in the past few years making it easier for the medical student or resident to obtain one. Also, some residencies in the country provide them for their residents. In the future we will be able to easily transmit patient information from one doctor to another, such as, one resident going off call will be able to quickly transfer in-house patient information to the incoming on-call person. Or as physicians we will be able to keep track of our patient records and record encounters even easier than we do today. The future is certainly bright for Palm software.

Contributing Author - Dr. Brian Doerr

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Jay Lieberman, DPM
Editor - PRESENT
Director of Podiatric Medical Education
Northwest Medical Center
Margate, Florida