Hey guys. I'm Siobhan, a 3rd-year medical resident.
I really want to thank all of you who have been sending encouraging messages during this difficult time. Having a supportive community
really means so much.
The weird thing is that life just goes on during a pandemic and people are getting sick from things other than COVID-19 even
though that's all we hear about. So right now I'm currently finishing up my rotation in obstetric medicine.
So basically looking after pregnant patients who have other medical complications.
And so you're gonna come to clinic with me today, see what that's like. The hospital definitely looks different! And then next week
I'm starting a month of shifts in the emergency department. So that's definitely gonna be a change of pace.
Alright, let's get going.
Entering the hospital feels different. The parking lot is usually packed and it's mostly empty,
you're asked questions about symptoms before entering and
patients aren't allowed to bring in partners or visitors. So it's definitely a more isolating experience.
So from a coronavirus standpoint
I mean we're seeing the numbers increase as we expect, but we're still expecting the worst to come.
So right now I really feel like we're still all in preparation mode and all around you just sort of feel this tension, this
concern with everyone. You see someone, everyone steps away.
Everyone's doing their best, but you definitely feel a little bit of anxiety,
especially in the hospital. I'm grabbing my patient charts for the day and heading to clinic.
Looks like a crime scene here!
Alright, so now I am basically approaching things like everything has COVID on it.
Every surface could have COVID, so we need to just clean and wipe everything down.
So since this COVID pandemic we're trying to have patients come into the hospital less and less, so we're gonna be doing these
patient visits over the phone, like virtually.
It comes with its challenges.
So we'll see today how that goes. Okay, so this first patient is being referred for gestational hypertension.
So high blood pressure during the pregnancy and this could have a lot of different effects. It's pretty common,
but it can affect the blood flow that gets to the baby because it affects the placenta. Babies can be on the smaller side,
they can be delivered early if we don't manage it and for moms if this gets worse,
it can lead to actually organ damage in the body. So it's something we take really seriously.
And blood pressures that we wouldn't worry about too much in most people, we might freak out about in a pregnant patient.
So I'm really hoping that this patient has a blood pressure cuff at home or knows their blood pressure values.
Otherwise it's hard to do this over the phone.
And does that make the headache better or worse? Okay, let me just look that up here.
And ehm...
Do you have a blood pressure cuff at home?
Fantastic! Okay, can you tell me
some of the values that you've been seeing recently.
Yeah, exactly. Just going back, let's say a week.
The different values that you've been seeing. Okay phew.
I'm really glad that she had a blood pressure cuff.
If she didn't it would have made it more difficult
and we would have had to get her a blood pressure cuff or have her go to the pharmacy and check it a couple of times.
Because you don't want to start a blood pressure medication if you don't actually know
consistently what the blood pressure is. So in this case, we can safely start her on a medication called labetalol.
And then we'll follow up with her in
a couple of weeks to see how her blood pressure is doing and she'll continue to monitor it.
Okay, no answer. I'm not sure, I guess... You know what?! I'm just gonna check and make sure that
she's not actually the hospital or something more serious that I should know about.
Nope, not seeing anything on the computer there.
Don't see her admitted anywhere, so I mean that's a good sign. At least she's not
not answering cuz she's not feeling well. Let's just try one more time.
Nope, okay. Alright, we'll try again a little bit later.
But I guess it gives us a little bit of time. I can update you about some of the things that are
going on in my life, I guess. Okay, so I guess a couple of months ago
I told you guys that I was taking a break from making videos because I was studying for the biggest
exam of my career and of my life. The Internal Medicine Royal College exam, it's like Mount Everest.
I studied for
so long, so many facts just crammed into my brain and just less than 2 weeks before the exam it got
canceled, postponed, until probably September because of the corona virus pandemic.
Just
devastating for us and
it affected a lot of residents.
You know, whether they're moving, if they can work and a lot of things. So it was challenging! In the bigger picture
when we look at what's going on in the world, fair enough. It's just an exam.
So we're all recovering.
But we sort of pivoted from like the stress of studying for this exam to pivoting towards the stress of this pandemic.
And
personally, it's...
This is probably the first time that I've ever been confronted with
mortality and possibly catching something and dying in your job. I mean...
To be honest, I don't think I can kind of go there emotionally right now and I just sort of kept that
compartmentalized off for myself.
Because right now in clinic, I don't want to get emotional. I need to sort of stay focused and be able to see patients.
But if you guys are interested in me talking about this a bit more and how I'm feeling about it,
let me know because I'm happy to do that.
Maybe a little bit morbid, a little bit sadder than most of my videos.
But just let me know, because it's something that might even be good for me as well.
Okay, next patient.
Man, I feel like I'm not even moving from this chair. At least normally when in the hospital or during clinics,
I can kinda like walk around, get papers, go get patients, but I just feel so sedentary.
Anyway, this next patient we're seeing for gestational diabetes, so high blood sugars during pregnancy.
So hopefully she answers. Well, thank you so much for agreeing to have this call. Definitely appreciate that, that makes a big difference.
Well, hopefully it's convenient for you as well because
you know
it can be a challenge. Especially coming to the hospital and we're trying to avoid patients with exposure to COVID at this point,
so I'm glad you're doing better. Good to hear. Alright, I'll talk to you later. Bye.
Okay, so this is a bit of a challenge. This patient lives a little bit further out,
harder for her to drive places
and we're kind of worried that there's some kidney damage, so I really wanted her to get some blood work from the last appointment.
But unfortunately, she hasn't been able to do any of it because the labs near her are all closed for the pandemic.
So I'm asking her to call around and I'll call around a little bit as well to try to find somewhere near her that she
can do it.
Otherwise, really hard to know how to treat her if we don't know what the issue is.
Hmm... I'm gonna talk to my staff about this and see if she has any other ideas, a big challenge.
Also, have you guys noticed how many times you want to touch your face? It is so hard.
I keep catching myself just scratching and when I tell myself I can't, I just really want to scratch myself or rub my eye.
It's really hard.
Alright, so I just saw the last patient.
Now I'm gonna go and find my attending physician, chat with her about the patients that I've seen, what the plans are,
if there's anything she wants to add and then it's the fun sort of administrative paperwork stuff.
And because I can't hand patients prescriptions, I'm gonna be calling pharmacies and giving prescriptions over the phone,
faxing in lab recs that they can fill at their labs near them.
So a lot of little
administrative stuff that is not as much fun for you guys to watch.
So I'll leave it here and I just want to say that until I see you in the next video stay safe,
keep washing your hands, keep going with the social distancing. I know it's already been a long time and it's wearing on people,
so just know that we really appreciate all the effort you guys are putting in to keeping yourself safe.
Because it makes a huge difference for us in the hospital side of things.
So anyway, stay safe and bye for now!