So it turns out that having Dr. Yonker quiz me on the structure of succinylcholine in the bleak, blood-stained halls of Ben Taub's OR right before I intubated the right main bronchus under his direction was completely worth it today. I, Devika Rao, just finished placing an IV in a premature newborn! I'm really excited about this because a premie's veins are small. And I don't just mean small, but SMALL, even though I just wrote that in capital letters, ironically... When I mean small, I mean draw-a-line-using-a-pen-and-measure-the-width-of-that-line SMALL.
Ok, so I better explain so that I, the writer, do not lose my reader: I learnt how to start a bunch of IV's on my 2 weeks of anesthesiology (and I believe there's even a former blog entry regarding this experience), and today, I drew upon that experience to start this IV on the premie I admitted to the intermediate care nursery. Because I had some experience, I felt pretty confident doing it today... and that makes a world of a difference! I wasn't timid with the catheder or with gripping the baby's wrist. I wasn't discouraged if I didn't see a flash of blood right away when I first advanced the catheder, but I just kept trying different angles until I got my flash. I'm so happy! This sure is a good way to end my first month of residency. I hope it's a good omen of things to come in my next 35 months that I have left :)
I suppose it sounds a bit trivial that I'm writing about just starting an IV, but my attitude with this experience today is that it just makes me more confident about myself and my career choice and my abilities as a pediatrician. I'm going to try and be more proactive and make myself available and willing to do more procedures around the nursery so I can get better and better at this stuff.
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