Elderhealth

This week, I have been rounding at the VA in the mornings, and then going to Elderhealth in the afternoons. Elderhealth is a community center where UH has an outpatient facility for geriatrics patients. There is a general geriatrics clinic similar to the one at the VA, and also geriatrics subspecialty clinics.

Monday afternoon, I worked with a geriatric psychiatrist. Well, to be more exact, I shadowed a geriatric psychiatrist. This was my least favorite day. Not only did I not get to do anything, but some of the team members were kind of patronizing toward the patients. Tuesday, I worked with a geriatric neurologist. That was a lot more fun. The attending was cool, and he had me interview and examine a challenging patient who had several findings. He also had me write a note, which was less fun, because they don't use electronic medical records at Elderhealth. My patient's chart must have been at least two inches thick. I hadn't realized how spoiled I became at CCF (and even the VA), where we have electronic charts!

Wednesday, I worked with a general geriatrician who also goes out to nursing homes. She was great also, letting me see patients and teaching me a lot. Thursday I went with her to the nursing/retirement home. It was a lot nicer than I expected. If I had to be in a retirement or nursing home some day, I wouldn't mind living in this one. They had a computer room, a library, even a beauty shop, all on site. The patients all knew my attending and were excited about us coming to visit. I spent most of my time interviewing a couple of her patients who she thought would be interesting. One of them had no short term memory. It made having a conversation kind of frustrating, because she could tell me things from decades ago, but she couldn't remember what we had discussed a few minutes ago. I spent a lot of time telling her over and over again who I was and what medical school I attend.

Today I was at the VA all day. We have a new inpatient attending who is into teaching. He pimps us a lot, but it's mostly stuff we should know, like blood pressure drugs. Our patients were on two different floors, and he likes taking the stairs, so I got to spend some more time on the VA stairmaster. The other good thing about him is that he finishes rounds quickly.

I guess winter is here. It's been kind of flurrying every day, and now the snow is sticking. Definitely time to pull out my snow boots.