“A Day in the Life of A 1st Year on Medicine”
Ethan Hansen, MD
Intern Medicine Rotation
Monday-Friday: Boise VA Medical Center Inpatient Ward
While on internal medicine wards, the psychiatry intern is fully integrated with internal medicine and family medicine residents. Teams are usually composed of an attending physician, a senior resident, an intern, and a medical student. Much of the IM rotation takes place at the Boise VA Medical Center, though there are also opportunities to rotate at community hospitals.
Morning: Upon arrival, the day begins by checking in with and receiving sign-out from the night float team between 6:30 and 7:00 am. Next, I review vitals, lab results, etc., and pre-round on patients. We then round as a team, bedside. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are available for free to residents on wards, so there is often time for a quick bite in the morning!
Mid-morning: After rounds, we place orders, process discharges, and work on notes, before heading to (or logging onto, depending on pandemic conditions) Morning Report and Noon Conference. Morning Report features case-based learning, and Noon Conference (with a provided lunch) features didactic lectures by attendings.
Afternoon: During the afternoon, we follow up on consults and results, write notes, call family members, and perform procedures. Admissions are shared between two teams on a 4-day rotating schedule, such that a given team is on-call for admissions two days in a row, then off-call two days in a row, and so on (with an average of one day off per week). On admitting days, admissions are alternated between the two on-call teams, and we sign out to the night team at 7:00 pm. On non-admitting days, there is often time for teaching from an attending or senior resident in the afternoon, and we typically sign out to an on-call team between 3 and 5 pm.
“A Day in the Life of A 1st Year on Psychiatry”
Rachel Bryant, DO
Intern Psychiatry Rotation
Monday-Friday: Boise VA medical Center Inpatient Psychiatric Ward
While on Psychiatry services, the intern will experience rotations in the Behavioral Health Acute Care clinic and inpatient units at the Boise VA Medical Center as well as rotating at the Idaho Department of Corrections. During this six-month block, the resident will be fully integrated with their psychiatry cohort attending didactics, Journal Club, Grand Rounds, Case Conference, business meetings and process groups together.
Morning: I start the day with sign out from the resident covering overnight and then pre-rounding on patients. After that, I go to our daily interdisciplinary team meeting with social work, psychology, and nursing, where we coordinate each patients’ care for the day. Then, it’s time to round. Our team, my attending, myself, and usually med students, spend the morning interviewing patients.
Mid-Morning: We usually finish rounds late morning then it’s off to work charting, putting in orders, completing discharges, fielding new admits, and calling consults and family. Most days, we fit some teaching in as well.
Afternoon: We have a final handoff meeting with the night team before wrapping up for the day. I usually head to the gym right after work, then go home and spend the evening relaxing, reading, cooking, or embroidering.
“A Day in the Life of a 1st Year at State Hospital South”
Brycin Hanslits, MD
State Hospital South Rotation
SHS is our own big “away rotation” where we live in Eastern Idaho for 8 weeks to work at the state hospital. Eastern Idaho is beautiful and there are plenty of recreational activities (fishing, hiking, mountain biking, etc.) to partake in when not at the hospital. The program houses the resident and their family in a house in Pocatello, ID which is a big enough city to meet most people’s essential needs but also has quick access to the outdoors. As for the work itself:
Morning: Arrive to the hospital and review the chart for the patients your team is planning on seeing that day. Before the team meeting there is often time to meet with a few patients. At the team meeting, a multidisciplinary team of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, and PAs get together to discuss each patient and come up with an individualized care plan for that day.
Mid-morning: This time is flexible and often conferences are scheduled during this time. This is also a time for didactic sessions provided by the attending physician (or the resident as medical students are often on this rotation and this is a great opportunity to teach!). If no conferences or didactic sessions are planned, this is a good time to follow up on patient care tasks.
Afternoon: New admissions are scheduled for the afternoon and we coordinate with our medicine colleagues to determine the best time to meet with the patient. After the new patient intake, the remainder of the afternoon is used to finish notes or follow up on other patients that need to be seen. Heading back to Pocatello for the evening, it is easy to stop by local trails and get in a quick bike ride or hike before the day is over.