Despite what people are saying, I am indeed working in the hospital while I am in Saipan. Outside of the snorkeling, eating, sunset chasing, and sweating; you will find me taking care of littles in the hospital. Lucky for me, there is a lot of learning here, both while on the pediatric service and in other departments as well! On Wednesday mornings there are lectures on various topics, the first I was able to attend was on neurology which was a great refresher on things to look for when we have concerns with the brain and spinal cord.
We have done some simulations here as well, which is when we practice what to do in an emergent “code” situation. We did simulations for both newborn babies and for an older pediatric patient where we learned how to properly help a baby breathe who is struggling after birth and how to manage different heart rhythms in older pediatric patients. The simulations are run by the Pediatric Chair here and attended by staff from pediatrics, labor and delivery, and the emergency department. It was really fun to see so many people show up to learn how to take care of kids, from doctors to nurses!
Note: Infant pictured is a mannequin for simulation.
A few of the visiting residents are training in emergency medicine and spending their time in the ED (emergency department) here. On top of their shifts they have also put on some fun ultrasound workshops for the staff. During their 3 lecture workshops we learned a few different skills: IV placement, eFAST ultrasound, cardiac ultrasound, and soft tissue and musculoskeletal ultrasound. As a pediatric resident we really don’t do as much ultrasound as other specialties unless we are in the ED so it was fun to do a little more hands on learning with other staff! I feel like I really got to spend dedicated time on a new skill in a very low pressure, low stress environment which honestly can be hard to come by in medicine. During these workshops we had lectures in the morning followed by some practice. We practiced on each other and then we got to head to the ED to use our new skills on patients. It was a super high yield and fun experience! Thanks to these new skills I was able to find the gallbladder of a patient and identify that they had gallstones causing abdominal pain. I also got to see my own gallbladder! According to the emergency department staff my gallbladder is pretty nice by their standards (:
XO,
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