peds...at least the kids are cute

The month of December i spent working in a Peds office, in theory it sounds like a chill vacation of a month, the hours are great 9-5 M-F and 9-12 every other sat. Fortunately for me i have learned what i do not like in medicine and working 9-5 is one of them, especially in a field like Peds. The best description of a pediatrician is a veterinarian. In Peds you cannot talk directly with the patient and have to spend a lot of time counseling the parents or dealing with screaming siblings, over bearing grandparents or new parents that think every fever and runny nose is a reason to see your doctor. The other part of the rotation particular difficult for me involved working with the ancillary staff, that at times could be more of hassle then assistance.

For the most part i saw healthy kids ranging in ages from newborns to 20yr, and in terms of sick kids here is my top ten complaints
1. cough
2. runny nose
3. fever
4. diarrhea
5. rash
6. rash
7. runny nose
8. constipation
9. reflux
10. runny nose, runny nose, runny nose

if you can get the hint, every kid came in complaining of cough with a runny nose, sometimes with fever and most of the time without fever...on a happy note, the doctors i worked with had great personality and a quirky sense of humor that kept the craziness of crying, screaming and vomiting kids to a tolerable level.

Unfortunately i seem to lack fun and exciting stories from my time on peds, most of what happened is very boring day to day stuff....here are some of my highlights-

Story: "parenting 101"
it was a Friday afternoon, the doctor left to attend a meeting and the medical assistant, receptionist and I were staying until 5pm to administer vaccines, return phone calls and follow up on labs. A mother calls at 2:45pm to ask if she can bring in her 12 year old son for some vaccines. Not being terribly busy, she had been told to come in as soon as she had the time. I am in the lab working on the computer and hear some screaming/ yelling from the front, its 3:02pm and a mother is becoming irate because she got there at 3pm for vaccines and she has to leave...the woman had literally been there for 2 minutes. I checked the computer for the vaccines her son needed, and started mixing the dilutants to prepare for administration. I am working on drawing up 4 different injections and preparing the tray, by 3:14pm i walk out to the front to call her son back, and all i hear is her yelling, "i have to go, i have 2 kids in the car, this is supposed to be a fast process all i need is some vaccines!"

at this point i happen to mention, "why did you leave 2 kids in the car?"

the mother freaks out and invokes the 'head motion' to proceed to yell, "how dare you tell me how to raise my kids!"

I think she obviously misunderstood my comment....basically i wanted to know why a mother would leave 2 kids in a car alone, in a parking lot at a pediatrician's office. The waiting room is kid friendly and the staff are willing to play with kids, that there is literally no reason to leave children unattended in a car.

clearly, it makes more sense to yell at me for inquiring about the location of her two other children....on the bright side, at least she is taking responsibility and vaccinating her children.


(I take issue with the parents who dont want to vaccinate their kids, if i hear one more parent tell me it causes autism i will scream! the medical literature actually states that there is no link!!! I should just get mad at CNN or MSNBC for bringing it up in the first place, just like 2 months ago when they had headlines about a NEW super bug, MRSA!! MRSA has been around for more than 10years, its not new and 50% of the population have already been colonized anyway)



Story: "what is the jugular?"
So the office has a medical assistant student, who is also a certified phlebotomist (ie the person who draws blood from a vein). While in the back, the office manager told a story about how they had to draw blood from a childs jugular. The MA looked confused and then asked,
"what is the jugular"
we all starred in disbelief, astonished by the comment, since its almost a term that is in normal vernacular. After we educated her about the major veins of the head, she asked, "oh, so its the carotid!" Again, stunned in complete disgust, trying to explain the difference between a vein and artery, something most junior high students understand, to a soon to be medical assistant.

I tried to look past this, she is still learning, maybe others dont pick up science concepts as quickly as others....but this girl is 21years old, has a 2 year old son and is studying to be a medical assistant, she has a lot on her plate and i tried to give her a break. Until her next comment...

while discussing travel, citizenship and passports, she asked, "do i need a passport to travel to Palestine?"

i responded, "a passport and a time machine back to 1947."

"why do i need a time machine??"

"Because Palestine has not existed since Israel declared its independence in 1948, then fought a war to secure itself as a state."

"What are you talking about? Palestine exists and dont you dare tell an Arab, that Palestine doesnt exist!"

"First, i think Arabs know that Palestine doesnt exist, its part of the reason for all the fighting in that region. Secondly, you need a passport to travel anywhere outside the US, not to get out necessarily but more importantly to get back into the country."

After this conversation, i decided to not take anything she states seriously, and to not discuss certain topics due to limited education on the subject.


Overall- my peds rotation went well, until the last day when i became super sick sleeping for almost 20hrs, and finishing a box of advil cold and sinus, a bottle of cough syrup and 2 boxes of tissues. Stinky petri dish kids carrying disease!!