Today was less busy than yesterday, but we still saw our fair share of patients. The first appointment of the day was an 18-year-old well check, so I stayed in the nurses’ lounge/workspace outside the patient rooms while Dr. Villareal went in to examine the patient. The nurse schedule rotates daily, with each nurse in charge of one doctor’s patients, or working as a general nurse, or floating. Dr. Villareal’s nurse today was JJ, and during the first appointment she showed me how to draw up a vaccination shot. She showed me both half- and one-inch needles, explaining that a longer needle is necessary for intramuscular injections (administered to muscle) while shorter ones would suffice for subcutaneous injections (administered to fat). She took the required vaccine (in this case, meningitis B) from a special refrigerator and a one-inch needle, and connected them with a simple twist. The shot then had to be documented by the identification number on its label, type of vaccine, and patient. This same procedure would have to be done to each shot throughout the day.
There were a few slightly more memorable cases today. One was a two-year-old boy who was the only patient that Dr. Villareal could remember he had sent to a gastrointestinal specialist because of his weight. I saw that he was quite petite, but fortunately he was gaining weight and doing just fine. (Though he was in the 1st or 2nd percentile for weight, the important thing was that he stayed on his curve without major fluctuations.) Another patient was a 16-year-old boy who was abnormally dependent on his mother. Usually, when the nurse calls teenagers back from the waiting area, she asks their parents to wait outside; this boy insisted that his mother come (and couldn’t accurately say which medications he was taking). When time came for his one shot, it took JJ at least ten minutes of talking to him and soothing him, plus Dr. Villareal going into the room and distracting him, before he would sit still and relax enough to receive his vaccination. Overall, there are so many stories a doctor encounters in just one day, which I think is one of the best parts of the job. I can’t wait to see what the rest of my time here holds!
