PSICU: first day

One rotation down, one to go!  After three weeks in Family Medicine, I switched over to the Pediatric Surgical Intensive Care Unit (PSICU).  This would be a new experience for me in two respects:  this would be my first peds rotation AND my first ICU rotation.  I was introduced to my new preceptor, who went over the expectations and objectives.  One of the main differences between ICU and Family Medicine that I noticed right off the bat was, ICU pharmacists at NTUH attend daily rounds with the physicians.  Every morning at 8:30 am, I would be joining in on rounds with my pharmacist.  I would also have the opportunity to attend an outpatient infectious disease clinic with an ID physician as well as a day doing pediatric compounding.  

Following orientation, my preceptor provided me some handouts on pediatric dosing.  Since I have had very limited exposure to pediatric patients, it was difficult for me to compare NTUH and the U.S.  From what I saw, they appeared to use many of the same resources, one of them being the Pediatric Handbook.  Dosing would be mostly weight-based, which I would have to get used to.  In addition, many of the normal ranges for lab values, blood pressure, heart rate that I was so familiar with, would all be different!  

Looking at the patient list for my service, I noticed that every single patient had a heart problem.  It turns out that this service, being a surgical ICU, dealt most of the time with neonates with congenital heart problems.  As a result, the focus of pharmacy on this type of service would not be treatment and resolution of disease states, but rather, post-operative management of patients.  Needless to say, it's going to be an interesting experience the next three weeks!

My home for the next three weeks.

A view from the 14th floor of the pediatric hospital.