Dr. Ahsirt - ICU Attending

Yesterday marked the final day of my ICU rotation. I entered the ICU to find that we were doctorless. Apparently the new attending required a mental health day following the week from hell, and all of the other physicians were scheduled off. After deciding that the ICU would not run on auto-pilot, they decided to contact the Chief of Medicine...who also had taken a vacation day. It was at this point that they all recognized my presence in the ICU. They took a vote and I was unanimously nominated to be the ICU attending yesterday. I had their full vote of confidence. One of them even said that I would probably do a better job than those trained to be there. HA! I informed that while I could round on the patients, I would not be able to write orders. At this point the administrative assistant looked up and told me that if I would write the orders, she would find someone to sign them. I hung out with the nurses most of the morning. They eventually got an attending around lunch time. I was in the process of planning on how to extubate the Green Beret when the pulmonologist showed up. I didn't want to step on anyone's toes, so I relinquished the extubation to him. *snicker* I returned to the dungeon in the basement after being bid farewell by everyone in ICU. Apparently, my presence will be greatly missed.

The tear jearker moment of the day happened at 2:45pm. Dr. M, the pulmonologist, paged me. I returned his call and he asked me to come to the ICU. When I got there, he stood and expressed his most heart felt condolences to the entire pharmacy team for our loss. He wanted me to know that he was with Marilyn the entire time, and that they did every thing in their power to save her. It got me a little choked up. He then told me that he was very sorry that he would not be able to work with me as I furthered my career in pharmacy. He told me that I was going to do great things. That also got me a little choked up. The nurses thanked me for all of my help. Then Dr. Mallea asked me for help using a dosing nomogram for one of his patients. The nurses informed me that they would not hang the drug until I gave it my blessing. It was very rewarding. I'm going to miss it immensely.