6:30 am: I desperately hope it’s not my alarm buzzing! I feel like I have just fallen asleep right now. Get up, get ready and rush to the hospital.
7:30 am: I don’t like coffee but I still grab one on my way in. I worked so late last night and I am still rather worn out so I do really need the caffeine boost.
8:00 am: Check on the patients in the hospital; review my charts and lab results. Also write down some notes for my morning rounds.
8:30 am: Morning rounds have officially started. I meet with physicians one on one to go over treatment strategies for individual patients. We discuss our recommendations of the current treatment, make suggestions, adjust dosages where needed and I formulate my list of patients leaving the hospital today: discharge orders should be initiated for all of them.
12:00 pm: 30 minutes for my lunch break. I meet up with a colleague for a quick salad in the doctors’ cafeteria as I am meeting with a patient who is being discharged at 12:30 sharp
12:30 pm: I sit with my patient and go over all his medications and explain to him thoroughly the way they are to be taken at home (I always make sure to spend as much time as the patient needs in these cases. A transplant could have serious consequences if medications are not taken correctly).
2:00 pm: I leave the patient with a feeling of warmth in my heart. He has been with us for over3 months and I have witnessed every stage of his recovery.
2:30 pm: I have all the data needed to update the infectious disease database with this morning’s latest patient outcomes. This database is updated by the minute as it allows physicians to follow the progress of each patient and develop more accurate recovery therapies
4:30 pm: All details have been saved and it’s now time for my administrative duties.I start by checking the possible unwanted side effects for a new drug in the market. I write my report send it to the concerned physician
5:30 pm: Meeting with the oncologist: I have to write chemotherapy orders, review drug dosages and ensure accurate and exact figures.
7:30 pm: I am done with all my duties for today. Go up to the 7th floor to check on my patients one last time before I go home. Everybody is tucked in properly and ready for a safe good night’s sleep (I hope)
9:00 pm: Slip into the cafeteria to grab something to eat. 2 colleagues are having dinner. I join and we talk about life and work. I can’t be late. I have some research to do tonight about a potential mouthwash treatment for mouth sores. I am discussing this with a physician at 9 am tomorrow
11:00 pm: My research is ready. I hop into bed earlier than usual thinking about all the new things I learn and the wonderful people I meet in the hospital everyday. That place has become “home” to me after 3 years on the job. I read a bit from my Contemporary French poetry book, then put the lights off and force myself to sleep. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow.
