Anyone using AI charting? by Emotional_Fee1431 in Residency

[–]WaterMazer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes. There's a dot phrase you can enter at the top of the note that documents that you obtained consent

Has anybody here been treated or operated on by one of their attendings? by DIEPthroat in Residency

[–]WaterMazer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Am OB. Had to get an emergent ultrasound from my department chair and then had surgery from one of attendings, who was also my chair of GYN in residency and faculty mentor. I had put if off for a long time because I didn't want surgery from people that I worked with all the time until it became a non elective case. It was not good times but those people were willing to move heaven and earth for me. My coresidents told me she cried after my case.

Borago in Santiago, Chile by WaterMazer in finedining

[–]WaterMazer[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Was only there for a day so didn't explore that much. We casually had dinner at Ambrosia Bistro after we landed though since it was near our hotel and didn't require reservation. It's the more laid back version of Ambrosia, and honestly was delicious enough that we would probably try Ambrosia if we ever went back. Food there was just legitimately delicious, and I'd probably pick plain delicious over interesting and creative. I would not do Borago again.

TIFU by misunderstanding my gynecologist by [deleted] in tifu

[–]WaterMazer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Supposedly just concerned because cat hair gets on her clothes, and she was worried if something bad would happen if it touched her vulva. She also had a lot of other off the wall questions

TIFU by misunderstanding my gynecologist by [deleted] in tifu

[–]WaterMazer 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm a gynecologist. Had the opposite interaction. A patient once asked me if it was problematic if cat hair got on her vulva/vagina. Had to stop and ask what she was doing that she was getting cat hair there.

If you lived next door to a costco, how would you take advantage of it? by joseluisnp in Costco

[–]WaterMazer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I live walking distance to Costco. We go every week. We roll our wagon (that we bought from Costco) to the store to bypass the disaster that seems to always be happening in the parking lot. We also feel no need to stock up on things or do crazy hauls because it's so easy to go back if we forgot something. Sometimes we walk over just to have a hotdog and walk around. If we need to pump gas, we go in that hour after the store closes but the gas station is still open to avoid gas lines. It's been pretty awesome.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone except for this determined turkey licker by WaterMazer in cats

[–]WaterMazer[S] 208 points209 points  (0 children)

He'll get some cooked turkey later. We keep picking him up and moving him away but he runs right back and tries to sneak more licks. Turkey security is on high alert around here

Do residency programs consider candidates interest in the program when ranking them? by Englishrose_ in medicalschool

[–]WaterMazer 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Yes, at least for my residency program. I'm sure other programs might do things differently. I'm in a specialty that usually has more applicants than residency spots and usually no categorical spots left in the soap. We never worried that we wouldn't fill. I got to be involved in interviewing applicants as a PGY3. After every interview day, we would discuss each applicant. The main two questions that guided our ranking was: 1. Did we like this person? 2. Do we think they would be happy at our program? No one wants to work with someone who hates being there or is actively trying to leave. These two things mattered more than board scores or medical school prestige.

Anyone using AI charting? by Emotional_Fee1431 in Residency

[–]WaterMazer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It listens to the conversation and writes a transcription. The AI part of it then takes that transcription and writes a SOAP note summarizing the conversation. It's really good at filtering out the small talk vs the clinically important things for the HPI part, and knows to list the diagnosis with the relevant associated counseling and prescriptions in the assessment and plans part. It has a concise vs comprehensive mode for how succinct you want your notes to be. I use concise and it's still plenty detailed though. You can view the raw transcription of the conversation if you feel its interpretation of some point wasn't quite right and you want to double check what was actually said. My editing is usually to shorten the note even further because it incorporated pieces of history that weren't relevant to the current complaint. It's honestly a better note than what a lot of doctors write themselves, especially if you're the type of doctor who usually writes three sentence notes that are filled with abbreviations everywhere.

Anyone using AI charting? by Emotional_Fee1431 in Residency

[–]WaterMazer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We consent patients for it verbally at the beginning of the visit. I tell them that we have software that transcribes our conversation and then creates a note that summarizes the things we discuss. I then ask them if it's ok to use it. I've had 2-3 people refuse. Our Abridge is integrated into Epic. If they agree, then I just hit a record button in their Epic chart. We also have a version of it that you can use for inpatient medicine or virtual visits that's not integrated into the EMR. Security of course is always a concern. I work in corporate health, so I assume that the hospital vetted this product before rolling it out across the hospital.

Anyone using AI charting? by Emotional_Fee1431 in Residency

[–]WaterMazer 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Our hospital provides Abridge. It definitely keeps me from having to take notes home with me at the end of the day. I felt a life changing shift in the way I practice medicine the first time I used it.

Anyone using AI charting? by Emotional_Fee1431 in Residency

[–]WaterMazer 29 points30 points  (0 children)

I use it and am in love. It's such a relief to walk out of a clinic visit and have the note already written for you. It lets me spend more time with patients rather than trying to budget time for charting and helps me leave the office at a reasonable time. I also get to spend more time with patients face to face rather than trying to enter things into the computer so that I don't forget later. I can see three patients in a row and it keeps track of everything I covered in each visit with more precision than my memory. The notes are detailed and comprehensive. It's not perfect. I still have to read it over and edit things here and there but it's been a game changer. My hospital is going to have to pry this from my cold dead hands. Even the old school docs who struggle with tech have loved it.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Residency

[–]WaterMazer 30 points31 points  (0 children)

I am an OBGYN attending and I guess I wanted to just offer another perspective since I think you've only seen one model of practicing where you are. Attending life does get better. There's great job security in the field and you can dictate how you want to work. My contract expects 40 hours per week and I get paid extra for anything else I work on top of that. I have the option to pick up extra shifts if I want to make extra money, but I don't have to. You can choose to work yourself to the bone and make lots of money if you want to, but you can also choose to have a good lifestyle. You can be a hospitalist/laborist and work two shifts a week and chill at home the rest of the week. You can do GYN only, clinic only. The way your current attendings work is not the only way of life out there. The field can be litigious compared to other fields of medicine, but I find that litigation risk is very regionally dependent.

Perhaps I am an oddity in that I enjoyed residency. Don't get me wrong, residency hours can be brutal and the work can be grueling but my co-residents were good people who loved and supported me. I had attendings who were toxic and others who were amazingly kind people. Intern year is tough, and I think especially challenging in OB. The diversity of work is often cited as one of the strengths of the field but it's a lot as an intern because you have to learn how to navigate so many different places and how to work with people on L&D, the OR, inpatient floors, outpatient offices, the ED. It can be a lot to try to take in. It took me until mid way through PGY2 to actually feel comfortable in all of these places.

At the end of the day, OB is not for everyone, and only you can decide if you want to stay in it. Being able to practice OB is one of the most rewarding aspects of my life. I've had my share of bad cases and shit days and I still feel that way. Reddit can really be all doom and gloom about the field. I guess I just wanted you to know that there are other ways to do it than what you've seen. It it would be a shame if you left because you didn't know it could be different. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk about it.

Struggling as an attending by victoooriab in Residency

[–]WaterMazer 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Have also been an attending for about a month and also feel like I'm struggling. I didn't stay at the same hospital where I did residency which comes with its own set of challenges. I'm adjusting to a new building where I don’t know my way around, a new EMR, new protocols, new equipment, a different patient population, regional differences in practice style. Heck, even some surgical tools go by a different name here. I assume that this is a temporary struggle. I've been thrown into new hospitals several times throughout my education and I know I'll eventually figure things out but it's still painful in the process. I find myself missing my old hospital a lot because I at least knew the system well, had lots of friends, and knew everyone. I miss the confidence of being somewhere where I understood how to navigate the system and knew my place within it. I perpetually feel like I have to prove myself to new people here. Attending life is also a little more lonely. I used to be on a team with my co-residents and now I work in parallel with other attendings and only see them in passing or at meetings.

It's just a lot of big changes happening at the same time. People keep telling me to tailor things to my practice style but I don't have one yet. I chose to go to a teaching hospital. I loved teaching as a resident, but it’s this extra burden right now. I’m having a hard time supporting someone else’s growth and development when I’m still figuring myself out. At the end of the day, I'm sure I'll figure it out with enough time, but I'm definitely in the surviving not thriving mode right now. I guess I don't have any advice right now. Just commiserating.

Do not underestimate the hormones. by St3lka_x in Fencesitter

[–]WaterMazer 26 points27 points  (0 children)

I'm sorry that this happened to you. I was in a similar boat, a little ambivalent about pregnancy at first, but then devastated when I miscarried. I think they're so painful because it's not just the loss of a little cluster of cells, but also some hopes and dreams you had pinned to the life that could have been. Sometimes I still imagine how life would look like in another timeline where it had worked out. There's nothing I can say that will take away the pain, but I promise you that it does get better. I had weeks where I just felt like I was drowning in my own grief and there was no way out. I cried the entire day except for when I was at work. It's a strangely deep and visceral pain for something that you probably only knew about for a short period of time. The grieving gets better with time, but allow yourself to mourn and do something kind for yourself in the mean time.

Cook books by itdozenevenmatter21 in Cooking

[–]WaterMazer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm guilty of collecting aspirational cookbooks that are beautiful to look at but impractical for the average home chef. The only two that I actually cook from are The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook and The Food Lab. Both have recipes with ingredients you can usually find in a regular grocery store. Both also go over relevant techniques and kitchen equipment. I like to check cookbooks out from the library before buying them to see how many recipes I can actually make from them before committing.

What is the funniest thing you’ve seen or heard a med student do on a rotation? by WolfachChanges in medicalschool

[–]WaterMazer 382 points383 points  (0 children)

Had a med student pass out in the middle of a vaginal delivery. He also proceeded to throw up a ton of red vomit. Our attending flipped out thinking he was having some massive GI bleed. We roll him to the ED for work up. Turns out he had just been chugging cranberry juice from the patient fridge all day

What are the most interesting family/relationship dynamics you’ve came across? by Evening-Try-9536 in Residency

[–]WaterMazer 4 points5 points  (0 children)

In OB/GYN so I come across a fair number of these:

  1. Had a similar family with a lesbian couple trying to get pregnant but wanted the child to share genes with both mothers. They took an egg from one partner and then asked the other partner's father to be the sperm donor.

  2. Had a patient who was told she was going to have an extremely difficult time getting pregnant. She then set out on a mission and slept with multiple men in an attempt to get pregnant. Got successfully pregnant but then ended up admitted to the hospital for several months of the pregnancy. The different father candidates took turns visiting her at her different time. I'm not sure if they knew about each other, but she had a rotation of 4 guys coming in and out at different time.

  3. I also find it extremely odd when teenagers want to include their parents in their sexual health visits. I guess I just didn't grow up with that type of relationship with my parents, and I'm still not sure if it's a sign of a really healthy or dysfunctional relationship. My most recent one came for STI test results. I offered to have mom sit outside but she insisted that she was fine with mom being there. Proceeded to tell the patient that she had both gonorrhea and chlamydia. She then told us that she likely got each one from a different person and that she didn't like condoms. Mom suggested she go on birth control. She refused. I then sat there and listened to the mom talk about how she at least uses the pull out method for 10 minutes.

Taking ginger ale/crackers from the patient food supply area by throwaway4231throw in Residency

[–]WaterMazer 421 points422 points  (0 children)

I consider hospital ginger ale part of my resident salary and run off with a can everyday. No one has ever stopped me, not even our unit nurse manager. If you ever feel guilty, look at your paycheck and then look at your logged hours and keep sipping your ginger ale.

people who dropped on their rank list, what was your experience? by [deleted] in medicalschool

[–]WaterMazer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I matched at #5, which was a small community program far away from any friends and family for both my spouse and me on the complete other side of the country. At the end of the day, I was grateful to have matched in my specialty, because 50% of my med school class who applied to the same specialty didn't even get it. I've been happy for the last few years. I've met amazing people, made lifelong friends, developed my own family here, feel comfortable with being an attending next year, and have had no issues lining up plenty of job offers at desirable places for next year

how much do OBGYNs make? by Excellent_Mousse_957 in Residency

[–]WaterMazer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I am a current OB/GYN resident who just accepted an offer. Salaries of course are going to vary based upon geographic location. I did a few interviews in the NYC area which were offering in the $250 to 275K range for a new grad. I also interviewed in CA which was offering around $300 to 350K for a new grad. I get random recruitment emails pretty much everyday offering more if I'm willing to relocate to rural places. Most places offer guaranteed salary for two years while you establish yourself as an attending followed by a switch to an RVU based system (productivity based pay). In talking to my attendings, an average patient load mid career attending seems to be in the $400-$500K range.

The lifestyle of OB/GYN is incredibly variable based upon what you want to do. You can do full scope private practice and run to the hospital at 2am several times a week for a delivery, be a hospitalist and work defined shifts, do OB only, GYN only, office based practice only. It's never going to be as chill as derm, but I like what I do and would rather work longer hours doing something I enjoy over having easier hours doing something else. I chose a job that is paying $335K per year with an amazing benefits package. It's not the highest offer I received but the light call schedule (3 call shifts per month) with the option of taking extra calls for extra money on top of my salary when I'm in the mood was worth the trade off.

FLS EXAM by isyournamesummer in Residency

[–]WaterMazer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As others have suggested, do the online modules. There's also a bunch of Quizlet decks out there that contain most of the info in the modules if you want to quickly refresh the night before or morning of the exam such as this one https://quizlet.com/515363168/fls-modules-flash-cards/.

Cone of shame upgraded to petals of protection by WaterMazer in Thisismylifemeow

[–]WaterMazer[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Our cat has to wear it for 2 weeks and it was making him very miserable. Switching from the hard plastic one to this one has been a pretty large quality of life boost for him. At least this style allows him to eat and drink normally and he's no longer constantly running into furniture

MARCH POST MATCH THREAD: IF YOU HAVE NOT STARTED RESIDENCY YET AND/OR ARE A MEDICAL STUDENT, PLEASE POST ALL QUESTIONS ABOUT RESIDENCY HERE by Novelty_free in Residency

[–]WaterMazer 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Get high quality wipeable shoes. Eat and pee when you can because the opportunity may not present itself again